Have you registered your little one for Hamilton Public Library's TD Summer Reading Club yet? During our visit to the Concession Street branch the other day the librarian asked if toddler would like to join the club. I thought he was too young but she reassured me that all children can take part and enjoy the program.
The TD Summer Reading Club is free, and officially starts on July 1st. When your child registers, they'll receive a badge on a lanyard. You can then register their badge online and you can track how many books they've read this summer. As they read, they receive badges and are entered into draws for reading incentives!
The physical badge has detachable tabs which the children redeem at the library for various things like a reading club booklet, entry into draws, reading incentives and a book. In order to redeem tabs, the children complete activities on the back of the badge, like reading books, attending programs or doing things with their family.
Although toddler is only 2, I've enjoyed taking him to the library since he was about 3 months old and I'm hoping that in doing so I'm inspiring a love of reading. He knows that when we go to the library we pick out books, he takes them to the librarian, and she helps him sign them out. I feel like the library is a great place to offer him some independence-- he can pick whatever books he wants and I'll gladly read them to him. I love seeing what he chooses and I'm really starting to see him take away lessons from the books we've been reading. It's hard as a parent reading to a little person when you're not sure how much they're absorbing, but hearing him say "oh no, Mama's in a tizzy" (straight from Llama, Llama, Red Pajama) opened my eyes to just how much he's taking in.
Since we're almost at age 2.5, I thought I'd do a quick run-down of some books that we've been enjoying over the last few months in case you're looking for suggestions while taking part in HPL's TD Summer Reading Club this summer!
Ok, I'll start with one that made me well up a little bit when I read it to toddler. This book is actually all about loving reading, and it's called Mousie, I Will Read to You. Honestly, this book pulled at my heartstrings as I read through the ages we've already surpassed and was reminded of the ages that are yet to come. Toddler loved the illustrations as we read.
My friend and I decided to get the Little Boy Who Lost His Name book for each other's toddlers for Christmas presents last year. If you haven't heard of the Lost My Name books, they are beautiful books customized to the child's name, where each letter is represented by a magical character or creature who helps the child find their name. You can choose from a few options of which creature you want for each letter to make the book fully customized to the interests of the child. The books are super high quality, with the illustrations colourful and engaging, and the storyline is whimsical and fun to read (we love to read in the voices of the characters as we proceed through the adventure). I've given Lost My Name books as gifts to several special little people in our lives and was so excited that toddler had one of his own. The books feel genuinely personalized, unlike some custom books where you type in the child's name and you get a book that has their name inserted into the storyline here and there, in obvious bold letters.
Any of the Stanley books by William Bee have been very popular in our house lately. The stories are quite simple but I think toddler likes them because he can memorize the lines and say them along with me, and they include elements like lists of items, shapes, numbers and sound effects. We're particularly fond of Stanley's Diner and Stanley's Store.
Toddler continues to be a fan of Oliver Jeffers' stories, and lately he's enjoyed Lost and Found, a touching story about a little boy and a penguin. Toddler has much of this book memorized as well, and enjoys calling out "penguin, where are you?" when the penguin goes missing. I find that all of Oliver Jeffers' books have great messages about friendship, loyalty and being kind which is something are working hard to instill as values in our toddler.
I brought home Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney, the author of the Llama, Llama series and I've enjoyed reading it to toddler because it has the same rhythm as the Llama, Llama books. I have come to realize how important a good rhythm is when reading aloud to toddler, and get totally tripped up when the story seems out of sync. Toddler loves cheering on the little excavator as he becomes the hero of the day at the end of the book.
Hopefully our list gives you some new and refreshing ideas to add to your toddler's reading list this summer! Please, please share your favourites with us! We go to the library regularly and love to change things up!
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