Helping your baby or toddler to enjoy reading and prepare for them for school
Your child will enjoy regular access to books, which will help them become a enthusiastic reader.
When you read with your child set aside some quiet time. Sit close, smile and use funny voices.
Encourage your child to look carefully at the pictures. Talk about
the story: ask them about what they think will happen next and explain
the characters’ actions.
Reading with your child will improve their attention span and
listening skills. This will help them when they learn to read at school.
Babies and toddlers feel safe within established routines and
rituals. A bedtime story is the perfect end to their day. Recent
research shows that
babies learn most just before they sleep.
Your child will often want to borrow the same book several times.
Choosing their own books and showing a preference for a particular story
is the beginning of their lifelong journey as a reader.
Reading ideas and suggestions
Bookstart, who specialise in young children's reading journey
Our libraries are family friendly places that offer free internet use and wifi.
All our libraries run activities for children of all ages, including craft sessions, story times and author visits. We also run the national Summer Reading Challenge every year.
Children can have their own library card and borrow books for free.
What we stock
We arrange children’s books to match with the way your child learns.
We don’t stock reading schemes. Instead, we buy as wide a range of other books as we can that will support your child’s reading at school. These include:
Beginner reads: stories for children just starting to read independently
Short chapter books: stories for younger readers
Picture books for older readers: includes cartoons and graphic novels
Junior novels: longer stories aimed at more confident readers
Using the library to improve your child’s reading skills
You can help your children by bringing them to the library to choose books.
We stock thousands of books for all levels:
When they’ve just learnt a few letter sounds
When they’re beginning to read with some support
When they can read short sentences
When they’re independent readers
You can be a reading role-model for children. As well as reading imaginative books to and with them, you can ask them to:
read the recipes for you when you cook
read out a shopping list when you go round the supermarket
read road signs, labels and instructions or the TV guide
Using the library to help your child’s emotional development
Children who read for pleasure do better at school. Before you even get to the educational stuff like increasing vocabulary and phonic awareness, you can also help nurture a child’s emotional development, self-esteem and capacity to empathise with others.
