Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Read Nonfiction to Kids, Too

The importance of parents reading to their young children is well known.

What isn't as well appreciated is the importance of reading non-fiction to kids as well as the usual fanciful, imaginative, well-illustrated fictional story books.

Kids love to learn about the real world around them, and will generally find carefully selected non-fiction books appropriate for their age level just as engrossing as Dr. Zuess, Where the Wild Things Are, Corduroy, Charlotte's Web, or Goodnight Moon.

Regularly reading fun, accessible nonfiction books (with great pictures, colorful engrossing diagrams, etc.) to young children will stimulate a faculty complementary to, and just as important as, imagination: that of curiosity.

Be prepared to admit your ignorance.

Once their natural curiosity has been sparked you may find your children asking interesting questions about the natural world (Why do clouds fly?), other societies (Why are some people so poor?), and different historical periods (What was it like before cars?).

At those times, straightforward honesty about what you don't know is by far the best response and models humility and respect for truth. "I don't know ... let's look it up!" is an excellent reply to thorny questions.

World Book's Childcraft How and Why Library is a fantastic collection of early nonfiction material for beginning readers (older editions on eBay are just as good and far less expensive).

Basically, kids love doing whatever parents do with them, providing Mom and Dad show genuine enthusiasm, offer plenty of affection, and make it fun ... including reading nonfiction together.

Below are more ideas to get you started:

DK's Big Ideas Series

Five Books Guaranteed to Make Kids Love Science

The Truck Book

First 100 Board Book Set

The Golden Book Encyclopedia

Castle (David MacCaulay)

Goodreads Best Children's Nonfiction

DK Kids Nonfiction

Amazon's Best Selling Science Books for Children

There's No Place Like Space

Children's Books for Teaching Math

Ruth Spiro's Baby Loves Science Series

Chris Ferrie's Baby University Series

The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War

Great Science Books for the Little Ones

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History Series

Place Books by Miroslav Sasek

Jill McDonald's Hello World! Series

100 Best Science Books for Kids

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