I have just discovered a wonderful new series of books published by Marshall Cavendish (author Dana Meachen Rau) for very young children that comes in both Spanish and English as well as just a Spanish edition. There are three levels of readers; Emergent, Early and Fluent. Animals are the focus of the Emergent Level for those kids just learning to read. “Go, Critter, Go!/¡Vamos criaturita, vamos! books are small and square, easy for young hands to hold. Each photograph has a one sentence description. The English words appear first. The English text is followed by a line and then the Spanish text. The nine pages of photographs are followed with a two page spread highlighting the new words learned in that book. The creatures featured in the stories include bees, ladybugs, fireflies, butterflies, spiders and worms. Despite the small size of the books, the scale of the photographs is large and inviting. The colors are bright and the images provide lots of information. These books would be a very nice addition to your library if you are looking for bilingual books for your young child.

I have found another fantastic site for parents and young kids learning Spanish and English. Reading is Fundamental (the largest US children’s literacy organization) has developed a segment of their website for children 0 to 5 called Leading to Reading in English and Semillitas de aprendizaje in Spanish. This section of the RIF website is designed for children to use on their own…but parents will want to join in too. As the mouse rolls over any text menu item a narrator speaks the text. So children do not have to be able to read to explore the many options.

The Babies section includes lullabies, nursery rhymes, stories, games and finger play. The Spanish pages have the story/rhyme or lullaby in Spanish with an English translation. The Preschool section includes menu items Read/Leer, Sing/Cantar, Play/Jugar, Doodle/Dibujar, Explore/Explorar and Meet Riffy and Rita/Conoce a Riffy y Rita, the site hosts. Select play and then La araña pequeñita to find a video of a young woman singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song with the text in both Spanish and English.

An adult portion of the site provides book reviews and parenting advice. Want tips on how to maximize the benefits of reading to your children? This article will help. You can even watch a video of Eric Carle reading “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See”. Take advantage of this great resource.

I play with babies and read to 3 year olds once a week at Elizabeth’s Early Learning Center. I love to read to the kids about animals. (surprise) There is a wonderful new series of books put out by Capstone Press in their Pebble Plus collection about sea life. Here is a link to their site. Sponges, Jody Rake, Capstone Press

What a fantastic find - a series of books about sponges, manta rays, jelly fish, lobsters, puffer fish and more (20 titles total) designed for very young kids. The large format, library bound books feature one very large photo per spread and about four lines of large text. Easy to read and easy to digest. Pre-readers will be fascinated by the topic and the photos. A fun related activity is to have the kids mimic the ways these various animals move around…or don’t more around for that matter. We were using our hands to make lobster claws, slithering like eels and flapping our arms like manta rays.

It is so critical that we teach our children about the importance of biodiversity for all life on earth. What better way to do that then to share the fascinating stories of sea creatures with our preschool children.

I made a great discovery the other night. Libraries have been buying our DVD in great numbers and I am always interested in making contact with more libraries to let them know about our products. I went onto the Yuma (AZ) public library site and discovered their link to TumbleBooks. Ciber-libros para ciber-niños includes 12 books with limited animation that can be viewed online in Spanish, French and English. There are two options for “reading”. There is an audio version with each sentence highlighted as it is being read, or a manual version with no audio.

On the Temecula (CA) site I found this link to the ALA Association for Library Service to Children page with Lugares en español para niños. There is a legend indicating the appropriate age range for each site. Colorín Colorado is one of the sites they feature for preschool kids. Miscositas.com has stories in Spanish from Mexico, Argentina and Columbia. Links provide definitions of key vocabulary.

Enjoy these sites with your children. It’s a great way for all of us to learn Spanish. If you know of additional library sites or other online destinations with resources for families with young children learning Spanish, please let me know.

Hasta luego.

I spent a wonderful hour with seven 2 year olds on Thursday at Elizabeth’s Early Learning Center here in Lynchburg. I have been reading to this group of kids for over 6 months. I love walking into the their classroom and hearing them squeal with delight at the prospect of a new batch of books. When you think about it two is really a very special age. They have learned to control their bodies enough to be very mobile. They have mastered language well enough to communicate. Of course this is why they have been called the terrible twos. They are flaunting these wonderful new “powers”.

I took a series of books about animals for kids 6 to 9 years old. The text was not appropriate for two year olds, but the photographs were fine for a discussion about the animals featured in each book. We had a great dialogue about deer, rabbits, opposums and skunks. This reminded me of when my son was a toddler. He was fascinated by large photo books about space travel. Of course I read him plenty of picture books, but his interest in non fiction and space have been life long. He is currently a professor of astronomy at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

My point is don’t be afraid to expose your toddlers to books that have appropriate photographs or artwork even if they are designed for older children or even adults. It’s a great opportunity for a dialogue about the subject matter at hand. Reading is always a opportunity to make a real connection with your kids and maybe even snuggle if they are in the mood.