Literacy Thursday and a Give-Away

**Welcome to Literacy Thursdays. This post is designed to highlight some of our favorite children's books in hopes that you will blog about yours. We are always looking for new books to discover. Literacy is so important and even at the youngest of ages is crucial to development. If you don't have children of your own volunteer at a school, read to a neighborhood child, but get involved. It's a great way to share quality time with the youngest of our society.

Here's the play by play: You blog about your book. Give me a shout out in your blog by creating a link to my blog using my Literacy button. Then at the bottom of my post, you will find Mr. Linky. Sign your name and add the web address of your post. Your post will automatically be linked to mine leaving a list for all to peruse. I hope you will join us.**



I'm just too excited about this one with the Give-Away. I had to post it early! This week I wanted to make sure that the very youngest of all have interesting books to read and look at. Our favorite is not necessarily a book as it is a sort of magazine. Let me introduce you to Babybug!


Babybug is a magazine just for infants through age 3, although Cavett still can enjoy them. It is published by Cricket Magazine Group who also publishes Ladybug, Click, Spider, Cricket and many more. It is published 9 times a year with May/June, July/Aug. and Nov./Dec. being combined.


As a parent, the best part about the books is the ease in transporting them. They are just over an 1/8" thick and printed on very durable, glossy cardstock. Many a time we have gathered up as many as we have and taken them on plane trips. They pack well and keep children engaged.

As a child, they love the stories, pictures and rhymes. Each book begins with a story about Kim and Carrots, her stuffed bunny rabbit. Kim does fun and interesting stuff or sometimes she is thoughtful or helpful. Each story has a purpose or can teach your child some objective. There are also usually 3-4 rhymes, poems or short narratives and then maybe one other story that also reinforces Kim's story. The illustrations are always good and varied. We like to count different things in the pictures or talk about the colors. Also, on the back, they feature 4 items from the book. You can use these in various ways--find where they occur in the book, do they have anything in common, which one is different, etc.

There are online parent guides to help you use the issue to its fullest. They are very helpful. Some of the issues I have read so much I have them completely memorized. Some of the poems I put to a random made up tunes. (If you look in the picture above, "Square Dance" is one of my favorite made up tunes!) But, one thing I will guarantee is that your little one will want to read it over and over and over.

Now, let me get on a soap box and tell you one more thing about repetition. Children need repetition. They thrive on repetition. The more times sequences, songs, patterns, words are repeated the stronger the neural connections become. My point is--don't not read a book because you have just read it. Read it again if they ask. You have to get over your boredom. You are building their brain.

It looks as if our next copy is on its way to our mailbox. And, a copy could be coming to your mailbox as well. The publishers of Babybug have generously donated a subscription to Babybug. Anyone who participates in Literacy Thursday this week by posting on your blog about your favorite children's book and linking back here will be eligible for the drawing. You have until Saturday, January 31 at 3:00 p.m. Just follow the directions at the top of the post!

Hosted by: jennifer @

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