FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS!

Since my son played more independently when he turned 9 months old, I started reading while he played. I suppose children truly love to imitate and within a short period, he started to show an immense interest in books. Kids love repetition and my boy will request for certain books every single day till he knows them inside out :) When it comes to reading, I am definitely an advocate for it to be kids directed. To encourage his interest, I have acquired books on topics which he finds fun.

Below are some of his favourites:

All Around Us by Eric Carle was a gift from my friend Joanne and the first series my two-year old read aloud. While he is still learning to recognise words, the pictures help him with recall. My husband and I sit amused whenever he is going through each page with a serious look on his face and reciting "The sun shines", "rainbow shimmers", "bears hibernate", "miners dig" and so on.

He also enjoys the Mr Croc series and some of the Lucy Cousins titles as they are so creative, imaginative and fun to read! He will sometimes think of the content while he is at play and says them aloud "Mr Croc, are you ready or not?" "Yes and I'm coming to eat you!" is his favourite line of the moment.

Boys will be boys! Books on vehicles have always been his hot favourites. I was impressed when he said "Nee naw, Nee naw, the big red fire engine is on its way. Splish, splash, hiss, fire is out!" when playing with his toy fire engine! These were part of the text from his Fire Engine storybook!

Karen Katz books are often on his request list too as they teaches about relationships, manners and even potty training!

My son adores What's Wrong with My Hair by Satoshi Kitamura. It's an immensely interactive book which engages the reader and invites participation as you can see below.

Reading has definitely helped in shaping an imaginative mind. My son made up his first story two weeks ago. He held his toy panda to my husband and said "Panda is sad." He brought the panda over to his old crib where there's a picture of another panda and said "Papa panda kisses panda and panda is now happy!"

I feel very blessed that I am living in the East of Singapore. There are often book sales by Times, Borders and Popular at the Singapore Expo where I bought most of these titles from and at a fraction of their original price!