Well we all know how important it is to read to young children. Young children who are regularly read to have a larger vocabulary, higher levels of phonological, letter name, and sound awareness, and better success at decoding words. Trouble is, they may not have the longest attention span at this age.
This is why I think The Paw Prints books stood out for me.
Written by Sarah Mounsey who is a primary school teacher; it is about a boy, Eddie and his playful dog Oscar who accidentally leave a trail of chaos wherever they go. Purple Paw Prints is about Eddie trying to get Oscar white again after painting it purple; Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa sees Eddie and Oscar on a magical adventure on their sofa; and Eddie tries to stop the itch in Paw Prints and the Itchy Spots.
The stories are humourous and silly enough to resonate with my 2 year old. It has repetitive catch phrases and rhymes that makes it easy for Lauren to follow along and guess what comes next. I also like how it helps increasing a child vocabulary by using different words to describe the same thing. Example, ‘popped, sprouted, ballooned and sprawled’ in Itchy Spots to describe how the itchy spots appear on Eddie.
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| Lauren enjoys counting the spots on Eddie. |
Each page is filled with big vibrant illustrations by Jade Fang that definitely captured my kids’ attention. Even 7 months old Georgia squeals delightfully every time I read the books to her. She would goo goo gaa gaa and try to reach out to the pages. Either she is really into it, or she is just trying to shove it in her mouth. Either way, she wants it.
So yeah, I definitely recommend the books to parents with young children between the age of 2 to 6 years. Don’t just take my words for it. It has after all, been awarded a bronze medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. They have been adapted into performances, educational tools and are being made into e-readers and apps.
The books are available on www.sarahmounsey.com at SGD13.90 each or SGD35 for the series (3 books). Alternatively they are in most good bookstores in Singapore such as Kinokuniya, MPH, Bookaburra, Tango Mango, Playdate Books and Woods in the Books.
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Giveaway contest ends 23 Feb 2015, midnight. Winner will be announced here and on my Facebook page the next day. Good luck!
