"Get nice and fat for my stew!"

If you read my blog last week, you will remember that I decided to do a review of some great children's books for the next few weeks.  These books are kid-tested and family approved.

This week's book is The Wolf's Chicken Stew written by Keiko Kasza.  In this story, the wolf gets a terrible craving for chicken stew.  He searches for the perfect chicken for his stew, when he finds her, he decides to fatten her up a bit so that he would be able to have more stew.  Each night, he cooks some scrumptious food and delivers it secretly to the chicken's home.  After a time, when he decides the chicken should be nice and fat for his stew, he returns to the chicken's home to find a surprise awaiting him.

This is a great book for reading with expression.  The language is fun and though not a pattern book, the language makes it easy for the kids to memorize.  My son would "read" actually, recite from memory, this book.  This is great.  He was developing one to one correspondence, he knew that for every word on the page, a word needed to come from his mouth.  He was developing directionality and fluency.  All great early literacy concepts.  These concepts are not particular to these books that I am reviewing.  These are just some of the books that we enjoyed.  The important thing is to read with your child.  Help them to develop a love for language.  Rhyming words, help children to internalize spelling patterns which will help them in both reading and writing because reading and writing are inverse operations.  I am not advocating formal instruction for very young children, but rather help them to notice and become active with print.  Build their listening vocabularies by reading to them.  Through your modeling, children will come to school knowing that the text carries the message, they may have many early literacy concepts at least partially under control and so much more.  Happy reading!

I would love to use your photographs and write a story for you and your family to enjoy for years to come.  Send me your pictures, approximately 24 to 30, from any event that is special to you.  I will talk to you about the event to get some information from you and then I will write a story about that event using your pictures.  This is a fantastic way to get your child interested in print.  Kids will love seeing their name in print.  They will be motivated to read because the book is about the people they love.