Making parenting choices has never been easy, but in the digital era, the dilemmas seem both more numerous and more difficult. Among the questions modern parents face is how to instill a love of literacy and learning in children in the age of mobile devices. Jason Boog--a journalist and former lead editor of Mediabistro's publishing news site GalleyCat--interviewed librarians, educators, child-development experts and children's book authors in a quest for answers; the result is this playbook for using traditional picture books and new digital media side by side to foster a lifelong enjoyment of reading starting at birth.
Boog bases his instructions on well-known research that indicates children whose caregivers employ interactive reading methods enjoy benefits such as raised IQs and greater school readiness. Boog delineates these techniques--including conversation and simple dramatization--in chapters geared toward the first few years of a child's life, through kindergarten. Balancing anecdotes from his experience with his daughter, Olive, with advice and opinions from experts, Boog offers strategies to expand an existing fascination with books or draw in a reluctant pre-reader. He also provides convenient lists of great children's titles, some of which he combines with companion activity suggestions in "Born Reading Bundles."
The introduction of digital media to children comes with two major questions: How early and how much? Boog suggests adhering to current American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines but also illuminates how to introduce digital media into a child's life in stimulating, nonharmful ways, rounding out this useful guide for any new parent or caregiver. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads