Read To Your Baby Every Day

Read to Your Baby Everyday by Rachel Williams
Embroidered by Chloe Giordano
Published by Murdoch Books|Francis Lincoln Children’s
Date: March 2019
R.R.P. $24.99

At work we run a program which introduces new parents to the importance of reading to your baby everyday, it is the perfect introduction to early literacy.  One questions that I often get asked in these sessions is how old does my child need to be to have a library card and I always respond with from the day there are born, so, when I saw this book, I couldn’t pass sharing it with you.

There are many reasons why reading to your children every day is important, starting from when their babies.  Not only are does it nurture a child’s love of reading and books but:

• The first three years of a child’s life a child’s brain is like a sponge, they take everything in and makes it the perfect time for to expose them to words and builds the blocks for future literacy development.
• Babies learn through all their senses – touching and yes putting books in their mouths, seeing colour and patterns, hearing sounds and arrangement of words.
• Singing and reading rhymes teach children how words work.

It may seem overwhelming to find the time with your child to sing and read to them but just a few rhymes out of the book each day is achievable.  Here are just a few ideas of how you can do this:

• When you’re having a cuddle.
• During a nappy change or potty training.
• During a quiet time.
• At bath time.
• Make it part of bed time routine.
• Or, after feeding baby.

About the book…

This keepsake is a beautifully illustrated book of nursery rhymes with old favourites such as Hey Diddle Diddle, This Little Piggy, Twinkle Twinkle, and I’m a Little Teapot.  What I find stunning about this book is the embroidered illustrations by the talented Chloe Giordano.  I can only imagine how beautiful it would have felt in its entirety before being processed digitally and onto paper.

For new parents that are not familiar with nursery rhymes, I believe this to be a great introduction to classic nursery rhymes that you can sing or read aloud.  In my experience there are some cultures that don’t use nursery rhymes that we have grown up with in countries such as Australia, USA and UK, but want to learn them now.  I can not think of a better resource that could achieve this and would make a treasured gift for new parents.

What I discovered…

I discovered that Old Mother Hubbard has 15 verses, I thought it only had one!  I think I would loose interest in this rhyme very quickly.   I also noticed that some of the rhymes varied from what I know and love, for example what I would call Incy Wincy Spider, in this book it’s The Itsy Wincy Spider.  The book  was published in England so I imagine that versions of songs vary from country to country

Read to your baby every day and see them become little sponges of information and full of imagination and whimsy.

Thank you Murdoch Books/Allen and Unwin for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.