HOORAY for Books!: Read to Your Child

My earliest memory is of my Mother holding me in her lap and reading aloud the rhymes of Mother Goose. I still have the book. I was three. I once saw a book-list created by librarians calling books for pre-schoolers, “lap books!” An appropriate name. Do take time in your busy day to relax and read aloud to your preschoolers. You will find mutual enjoyment and anticipate the time spent reading together.

“Mother Goose” Rhymes are a nursery classic, and I believe, part of our Cultural Literacy. Reading Mother Goose yields many enjoyable benefits to you and your children. The traditional rhymes emphasize the importance of language and you will enjoy sharing emotions, word play, rhyme, and laughter.

One of our family favorites we recite every time we bring the grandchildren to Mississippi or go on trips with them and arrive back home. “To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again, jiggety, jig.”

You missed Mother Goose in your childhood? Read them now!

• Read about the merry old soul, “Old King Cole.”
• Feel sorry for the poor dog that had no bone in Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.
• Every baby needs to have toes squeezed one-by-one as “This little pig went to market.”
• Springtime brings thoughts of “Mistresss Mary’s garden with rows of silver bells and cockle shells.”

There are puzzles and riddles in Mother Goose. I remember enjoying the rhyme and pictures and surprise of the seven wives with seven sacks of seven cats and seven kittens. How many were going to St. Ives?

I always liked the delicate “Little Nanny Etticoat” in her white petticoat standing by a candle.My daughter loved “Little Bo-peep” and the rhyme about the little girl playing gently with a pussy cat.

Play is the young child’s work. The riddle, “How many days has my baby to play?” names each day of the week but repeats Saturday and Sunday, meaning: Baby plays all the time.

Before I knew the word, I liked the alliteration of “One misty, moisty morning, When cloudy was the weather…” I can still recite the rhyme! Such drama and such fun! The man is clothed all in leather and politely greets you in rhyme!

As your children grow, introduce the beautiful poems by Robert Louis Stevenson in A Child’s Garden of Verses. For awhile this wonderful anthology was hard to find but now many editions are available. Browse and choose a favorite illustrator. Share and savor the lyrical poems a few at the time until you read all these lovely verses and find favorites!

My son loved to watch The Lamplighter punch holes in the darkness. Our daughter loved The Swing. On beach trips, I recited At the Seaside to my children and now to my grandchildren. Imagination soars in Foreign Lands, and My Shadow is a wonderful story for children to visualize.

Rosemary Wells has done a delightful volume for parents called Read to Your Bunny (Max and Ruby), emphasizing the value of reading together twenty minutes a day as one of the most important gifts you can give your child. Share her delightful animal characters with your children, and then read the short essay for parents. “Read to your bunny and your bunny will read to you.”

“Nana let me read this to you!” Sweet words to my ears from my children and grandchildren.

Books, books, books! Our house is literally filled with books. My husband Bill and I regularly read quotes to one another from books we’re reading! I recommend the habit for your marriage.

After you read aloud to your children at the end of each story, exclaim, “Hooray for Books!” What does the word HOORAY mean? “An interjection used to express joy, approval, or encouragement.” Yes and so it is!

Today HOORAY for Books! recommends: Mother Goose Rhymes; A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Read to Your Bunny by Rosemary Wells, Scholastic.