Little Lambs x 2 Also Known as Piggie and Monkey

Little Duck and Little Lamb in front of a Little People farm.  See how well-loved the books are? Pictures posted with permission.  Please note the wonderful artwork in the background of the thumbprint picture.  My sister's house is like a wonderful little preschool for two.

Borrowing from My Sister's Bookshelf

I decided to do a monthly segment called "Borrowing From My Sister's Bookshelf", similar to borrowing from my sister's closet, but more fun. For this inaugural review, I ended up choosing a book from my sister's bookshelf called Little Lamb, Finger Puppet Book.  Well, let's be honest, this book was chosen for me by my twin niece and nephew, also known as Piggie and Monkey.  How did they choose it?  My bookworm girls gave some of their board books to their cousins that I took along when I went to visit earlier this week.  Included in the bunch is a Little Duck, Finger Puppet Book, which Little Lion Bookworm and I spent many hours playing peek-a-boo with when she was a tot.  The twins immediately went over to their reading corner to get the matching Little Lamb book.

In general for this blog, I prefer to review books that have been recently published, usually within the last year or two.  But, for this segment, we'll make an exception. Because when a book chooses YOU, for whatever reason, you read it, right?

And read it we did.  With lots of giggles.  Even though I kept calling the lamb a 'sheep', they didn't mind or question me.  I guess they both know that a lamb is a baby sheep? Smart twins! We read through the rhyming text with the lamb playfully 'baaaing' along with Piggie and Monkey.  And then the unthinkable happened.  They ATE the lamb!  Well, they were kissing it Piggie-and-Monkey-style, which involves an open mouth.  And then their Ninang (which means special aunt or godmother in Tagalog AKA Me) couldn't stop giggling.  What's a two year old to do but continue eating the lamb?  While taking turns, of course. 

Monkey reads through Little Lamb with me.

Little Lamb has fun rhymes and the puppet is visible throughout the story.  In addition, we of course read Little Duck--this animal version lends itself to a lot of peek-a-boo play so I make the duck crawl into the hole and pop out again.  By the end, Piggie was trying to mimic me.  And, yes, Little Duck got lots of munching, er, toddler kisses too. 

Piggie is playing peek-a-boo with Little Duck, just like I taught her to.  Posted with permission.

1000 Books before Kindergarten

There's a new goal to read 1000 books before kindergarten--there's even a book to commemorate your journey.  Though I don't think it's necessary to keep track of books, unless you want to show it to your child, I think it's a fantastic idea.  As I said before, I had worked for more than a decade in a community clinic setting, but no matter where my office is, I always encourage reading with a young child.  Reading at a young age was the whole impetus for this blog (see our About Us page), and I love that there's this new campaign to spread the word.  BTW, I know without thinking that both my girls have read thousands of books before starting kindergarten.  The easy way to calculate if you don't want to keep track?  If you read at least one book a day to your child, you're already at over 1800 books by the age of 5! 

30 million words before age 3

There's also a campaign to help your child diversify and learn language at a young age.  There was a study that showed a 30 million word gap between higher and lower income families.  Granted this study only involved 42 families, but I still believe that there's something to it.  There's a huge initiative to support families in closing this gap by teaching and discussing things with your baby/young child early on, using descriptive words etc.  Basically, you want to talk more and listen more to your child.  See what they are communicating to you.  Pay attention to what you are communicating to them.  Essentially the study showed that 86-98% of the child's vocabulary was derived from their parents' vocabulary.  It makes sense.  Let's build those words early on! (Clearly this is a cursory glance that I've written--for more info, please click on the links.)

Back to Little Lamb

Rating: In the toddler bookshelves (aka lower booksheves) for easy access by chubby, delicious toddler fingers.  Though I had a blast reading it too.  Obviously.  In fact there are many different animal versions of this book. I don't think you need to buy them all, two or three favorite animals should suffice. 

Age: Newborn on up.  Yes, I know newborns see better in black and white, but reading starts early.  And so does playtime and bonding, so this is the perfect book series for early newborn/baby reading. 

Next up for February:  Dr. Bookworm will review two books from my sister-in-law's (and nephews') bookshelves!

PS If there's a book you think we should review, please contact me by email, either through the round button on the upper right corner of this post, or see our 'Contact Us' page, or click the link!