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Home › Articles › Family › Fun at the Library

Fun at the Library

Cultivating a Love of Reading in Young Children

By Carolyn Campbell

Pages:  1  2  

At Mount Lebanon Library in Pennsylvania, 2-year-old Lydia's mother told the librarian, "Everyone comments on Lydia's vocabulary. We started reading to her at birth. Her vocabulary grew because of her exposure to books."

Janell Mattheus, youth services librarian at Whitmore Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, receives similar compliments. "At least once a week, a parent tells me that his child reached a milestone because he attended library story time as a young child," she says. "A mom will say her 16-year-old passed the advanced placement English test. Or she'll tell me her child is now in the highest reading group because of the library."

Spend Your Time Wisely
Mattheus and other reading experts offer the following suggestions for making the most of quality time at the library with your child:
  • Begin a "library relationship" by introducing your child to the librarian. Mattheus is impressed when parents say something like, "This is Matthew. We're here on our first visit. He likes books about dinosaurs. Can you help us find a book he would like?" When the librarian becomes acquainted with your child's reading preferences, she's better equipped to help find books he needs and wants. When new books arrive in the children's department, she may recommend those she feels he will enjoy. By meeting the librarian at a young age, your child will also learn that she is a valuable resource. Librarians are informed about age-appropriate books and love to help tailor their suggestions to a particular child, such as a toddler, preschooler or child with special needs, says Cynthia Richey, president of the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.
  • Visit the library and attend story time regularly. Richey says that the Association for Library Service to Children's research indicates that library programs encourage parents to play greater roles in their children's literacy development. Some 94 percent of public libraries offer regular preschool programs, according to the state library of Pennsylvania. Mattheus recommends making story time a weekly habit. "I find that kids and parents who attend story time every week still come to the library weekly after story time ends," she says. "They have set time aside and already have a habit of visiting the library." Libraries offer books and recordings for babies, along with books of rhymes and poetry, because language rhythm is important in learning to read. There are also tactile books that appeal to a child's five senses.
    • Pages:  1  2  


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