TIPS TO HELP PARENTS

SELECT CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Vivian W. Owens

1. Select literature appropriate for your child's reading level, if an adult will not be reading to the child.
2. Choose reading materials with print size agreeable to the child's vision.
3. Make an agreement with your child on books or periodicals that might prove enjoyable to both of you, as you read together.
4. Select some books that lend themselves to discussion between child and parent.
5. Overlap purposes. Books chosen for the deep pleasure they arouse can also satisfy informational or motivational needs.
6. Choose some reading materials that require a child to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant details.
7. Choose poetry or prose that require children to read aloud.
8. Allow your children plenty of time to choose books when they visit the library. Give them a feeling of the worthwhile existence of the library.
9. Encourage children to design purposes for reading and to follow-up by selecting books that fulfill these purposes.
10. Choose nonfiction books that promote and develop an ability to gather some information by surveying chapter content.
11. Advance children's inquiry skills through a selection of writings that prompt them to go to other sources.
12. Select books with progressive difficulty, as you see your child's reading skills improve. Keep book length in mind as you do this. A short, challenging book may prove more valuable and digestible than a long, difficult book.