An essential guide to understanding children's language from the first days of babbling through a five-year-old's mastery of reading. HOW CHILDREN ...
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Jun 11, 2010
Jessica
rated it: 
This is a terrific book - great for parents of children up to age 5. There are even tips at the end for parents who have older kids who are poor readers. Most of the book focuses on language development, the premise being that in order to be a good reader, you first must be a good listener. The author extracts information from studies done on language development and literacy up to age five. She basically does the research for you, then gives you the important points. She also has lots of tips o
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Jul 28, 2010
Nathan
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This was a pretty good book about language development. It was interesting to read it at the same time as the Read-aloud handbook. The two books cite some of the same studies and give some of the same advice. Then they diverge, one focusing on reading aloud, and the other focusing on teaching the English code correctly. I'll let you guess which is which.
It is a good idea that she has, to teach how to read. Rather than saying "this letter says..." you teach them "this/these More...
It is a good idea that she has, to teach how to read. Rather than saying "this letter says..." you teach them "this/these More...
Apr 07, 2009
Christina
rated it:
good if you want to learn how we learn how to read. good if you're a parent with a child who is learning to or is going to learn how to read. good if you're a teacher confused about the reading wars. she writes clearly and informatively, and she includes useful examples from life recordings, studies/experiments.
the end chapters will make you frustrated with how we are teaching reading in america.
the end chapters will make you frustrated with how we are teaching reading in america.
Nov 20, 2008
Heidi
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This is a very informational book, a bit boring at times, but has some very valuable info too. It helped me better understand how young children develop language and made me realize how important it is to talk and interact with your young children. If you are looking for more information about early childhood development this is a great book to try.
Jan 12, 2008
Robina
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I recently re-read this book (having read it for the first time in the summer of 2004, I believe) and unsurprisingly found it even more engaging now that I have an infant. Less an obnoxious "how to make your child precocious" manual and more a really accessible overview of many of the studies done on how children acquire language from infancy and beyond. Be forewarned that those studies sometimes come to some pretty classist conclusions and the author really emphasizes the role of th
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May 04, 2010
Ransom
rated it:
Language develops in children quickly. It isn't easy to quantify how much a child understands, but this book gives good ideas about how to manage it and turn your child into a reader.
Breaks up the book into pieces determined by age and vocabulary to understand what the child needs in order to succeed.
Breaks up the book into pieces determined by age and vocabulary to understand what the child needs in order to succeed.
Dec 18, 2008
Ginger
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Challenging perspective on how children develop language in preparation for becoming readers. Intriguing, although some of it seems far-fetched.
Feb 15, 2010
Danine
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Nothing new if read as a parent, and know your grammar. Redundant and dry.
Jul 10, 2008
Kristi
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There's some good stuff in here -- e.g. the reminder to draw your child into conversation rather than asking lots of yes/no questions or giving your child lots of commands. Give your child the opportunity to listen to and to learn to tell stories.
All in all, though, I found it guilt-inducing (and John already loves books) and sometimes confusing. The author doesn't like picture books, which puzzles me. I figure that if we read to John a lot, he will become an avid reader, just lik More...
All in all, though, I found it guilt-inducing (and John already loves books) and sometimes confusing. The author doesn't like picture books, which puzzles me. I figure that if we read to John a lot, he will become an avid reader, just lik More...
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Nov 16, 2007
Ashley
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I have been interested in children's literacy lately, and the way our society is drifting away from the written word. I felt compelled to look into this book and see how we as a society can work on facilitating our next generation toward being a culture of readers. Overall it pointed out so many things that I never knew and it has given me a lot of information to consider should I decide to get involved with a library program, or a school program promoting literacy.
Jan 10, 2009
Holly
rated it: 
I still haven't finished it because I like to read just the sections that pertain to my child's age. However I have read enough to know that it's a three star book. Some information is good, but like most books of this type, there's too much explanation of unnecessary things. I like to get right to the point--just tell me what to do to make my child love reading.
May 07, 2010
JaneyAdelyn
rated it:
Very very interesting. I had to start skimming through and wasn't able to get to the most important chapter at the end before having to return it to the library. Perhaps I'll check it out again or look at other McGuinness' books about reading/writing.
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