posted on 23 Sep 2017

Raising a reader: Boden and his books at fifteen months

Since writing the piece about my grandson’s first three months of learning to love books I am delighted to report that at fifteen months, he is now starting to choose the ones that he likes best. He has plenty to choose from with piles available in his bedroom and on shelves in the living room. Although he has lots of exciting toys to play with, he often selects a book to read and then clambers onto a lap.

I recently looked after him for a couple of days and wanted to see how he made his selection from a pile of books and as usual he pushed all the others aside and selected ‘Wow said the Owl’ by Tim Hopgood, brought it across and held it out to me. It focuses on how an owl discovers different colours and he particularly likes the page with a rainbow arching across both pages. This seems to be his all- time favourite perhaps because he can join in with the ‘Wow ‘refrain on each page, and also because he loves owls. It is one that he always takes with him as a familiar much loved story if they stay away from home. I’m not sure at what age children recognise different styles of illustration but he is also very keen on ‘Tip Tap went the Crab’, a counting book by the same author/ illustrator. Both books use a relatively soft colour palette with lots of blocks of colour as background and repeated images – lots to look at and talk about.

Like most children, he also likes lift the flap books like ‘Postman Bear’ and  'Bedtime Bear’ by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler and is beginning to learn to wait and listen to these stories before rushing to look behind each flap. He quite often sits and looks at these books by himself and chatters away to himself. More often than not he is holding them upside down but he is clearly enjoying himself. I can see that they are all well- loved because most of the flaps have been torn off in his enthusiasm, but he doesn’t seem bothered.

Watching him closely over the months I have realised that learning to love books is not just about sitting down quietly. Now that he is walking he really enjoys pulling all the books off a low shelf, occasionally stopping to turn a few pages of one that has caught his eye and then picking it up to take across to the washing machine. He opens the door saying ‘door’ as he does so, puts it in safely and then shuts it looking extremely pleased with himself.  I would definitely count this as an important book related activity because, after all, I don’t always read my books when I look through them but stop and look at the covers, reorganise them and re-categorise them onto different shelves, even into different rooms. Ok, putting them into the washing machine might be a habit that he needs to change but he is definitely handling and organising his collection! Another one of his favourite activities is to lie on his back holding the Collins Gem Guide book of Birds above him, flicking back and forth through the pages and looking blissful.

He still usually enjoys a story as part of his bedtime routine and sits with his mum and dad as they read it together trying hard to keep him interested by using a range of different voices and various sound effects. He doesn’t always stay and wanders off while they continue the dramatic performance, but he always returns. I feel reassured that books are very much part of his everyday landscape which is great. I look forward to seeing whether he develops different tastes over the next six months – watch this space!

Karen Argent

September 2017