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Teaching reading with children’s books, magazines and even
encyclopedias
As parents, we want our children to be fluent readers.
Too often, when teaching reading to young children we focus on “children’s
books” with a hero and a villain, where things end happily ever after.
Truly fluent readers should be able to read a variety of genres for different
purposes. So when teaching reading at home, make sure that your library of
children’s books includes not only narratives, but nonfiction texts,
magazines, and even reference materials.
While narrative texts are not the only thing that should be used
for teaching reading, they are an important part of developing fluency,
comprehension and a general love of literature. When choosing children’s
books for your library keep in mind your child’s interests,
reading level, and the quality of the literature. Choose new titles
as well as the classics, and include different versions of the same
stories for comparison. Try Newbury and Caldacott Award books for
an assurance of quality. These books can be read for enjoyment, moral
lessons, and to understand basic story structure.
Nonfiction, or expository texts, should also be used when teaching
reading. These texts are often overlooked as being too advanced or
not of interest to children. On the contrary, children are often
very motivated by the real life information and photographs in these
educational children’s books. In a homeschool library, nonfiction
text can include animal books, magazines, and even newspapers (many
newspapers include a short children’s pull out paper on the
weekends). Once more, keep in mind your child’s interests and
reading level when choosing nonfiction text.
Finally, it is important to include reference books in the library.
Teaching reading also means teaching children how to use their reading
skills to find information they need. In their library keep a set
of encyclopedias, a dictionary and an atlas. These important fact
finding tools are as much “children’s books” as
Jack and the Beanstalk or Little Red Riding Hood.
You can find great deals on all these library essentials online!
Zoobook.com – childrens magazines.
Turn your child’s love of animals into a love of reading. Excellent magazine to motivate children to read, with full color photographs and interesting articles.
World Book Store – Encyclopedias for your home library.
World Book Encyclopedias offers a variety of encyclopedias, activity books, CDs and DVDs to develop study skills for all ages.
National Geographic Store – Childrens books, magazines and more.
Childrens books, magazines, games and DVDs that focus on science and social studies education.
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