My daughter has picked up a babysitting job this summer. Our delightful six-year-old neighbor comes to our house three or four days a week. I have loved seeing my daughter take on the responsibility of planning a variety of activities for them to enjoy together–cooking, crafts, writing letters to Disney princesses, history explorations, dolls, swimming, art (did you know you can make ice cube paints?), and more.

My favorite, though, is watching my daughter share her love of reading. They go to the library for storytime and summmer reading programs. Every day–several times a day–they read together. At the beginning of the summer, the girl’s parents shared they were worried about her reading abilities because her teachers thought she was behind.

I’m not an expert in early childhood education, but I see much to celebrate in her reading. Is she reading chapter books on her own yet? No, but should all kindgergartners be reading at that level? As I’ve read with her and watched her read with my daughter, I see that she knows all kinds of things about reading:

• She already has favorite authors and series: Mercer Mayer, Biscuit, Junie B. Jones, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious.
• She knows that books share stories and that the best stories are for sharing. She enjoys reading and being read to. She loves reading books with repetition where she can help read.
• She makes meaning out of what’s on the page–both text and pictures. When she’s not sure of a new word she encounters, she looks at the page to figure it out. Even if she guesses a different word that what is printed, her guess usually makes sense with the story,

Here are some of the books I enjoyed reading with Melanie last week while my daughter was busy with judging at the 4H Fair.

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Biscuit in the Garden by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, pictures by Pat Schories – Biscuit is a new character to me, but he must be popular with my neighbor since I found several books about Biscuit in the library bag. The simple, repetitive text is perfect for beginning readers to join in with the reading. The bright illustrations are delightful. Biscuit is so cute, it’s hard to stay mad even when he gets into the birdseed and makes a mess in the garden. This book invites discovery and surprise as Biscuit explores flowers and bugs and birds in the garden. The next step will be to invite our neighbor to our garden as it begins to produce lots of veggies and fruit.

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My Dog Never Says Please by Suzanne Williams, pictures by Tedd Arnold – This book elicited lots of giggles as we read it together. Ginny Mae is tired of being told what to do. She has to remember to say please, use her best manners at dinner (chew with her mouth closed and use her napkin), clean her room, put on shoes. Through it all, her pesky little brother Jack points out that he does all these things. She also looks enviously at her dog Red, who doesn’t have to do any of these things. Why couldn’t she be a dog? Ginnie Mae gets her wish and moves into the yard with Red, who even shares his fleas. I love the imagination that spills across each page–and the hope that leaves the door to the house open any time Ginny Mae wants to come home.

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Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems: For some time now, I have been hearing my Nerdy Book Club friends sing the praises of Mo Willems, so on our last trip to the library I pulled a few of his books off the shelf for the girls to peruse. Knuffle Bunny came home with us, and I get it now. This book is genius! The first thing our neighbor pointed out was, “Those pictures look real.” Yep, there’s a black and white photograph on each page. Within each photo–and sometimes running out of the frame–are vivid cartoon characters. We had as much fun looking at the pictures as we did reading the text. The text, by the way, captures more drama and adventure than I could have imagined on a trip to the laundry mat. I don’t know about the girls, but I will be looking for more books by Mo Willems. I hope our neighbor has found a new favorite to add to her growing list of things she loves about reading.

What are some of your favorite books to share with young readers?

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