Great Read Alouds: Fun with words
Rhythmic rhymes, wacky word play and awesome alliteration are all often used in picture books. An adult might get just a little worn out after reading, and reading, and reading again, all those tongue-tying tales and silly sentences, but those are very important for kids. Word play and rhyming helps build early language skills and reading development. It trains little ears to listen for similarities between words and they start to pick up phonic skills. Rhyming books are fun to listen to and really, they are fun to read. I will end with these thoughts:
Rhyming books are quite plentiful.
Some of which are a bit pitiful,
But also many that are oh so very beautiful.
Whether or not they are extraordinary
All will help build a child's vocabulary.
Look around, you will find rhyming books to be numerous.
But be ready to giggle, there are many that are silly and humorous!
My favorite picture books have smooth rhymes, fabulous vocabulary or silly words and detailed illustrations. I have chose a few recently published titles I thoroughly enjoyed.
Mootilda's Bad Mood written by Corey Rosen Schwartz & illustrated by Claudia Ranucci
This sweet cow is having a stressful day! She is a bad mooood. Mootilda hopes her friends on the farm will cheer her up, but things only continue to get go wrong, or should I say terri-bull! This book is full of puns, expressive illustrations, laugh-worthy words, and great word play! Plus it has cows. It's great!
Walrus Song written by Janet Lawler & illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
Through short sentences and vibrant charcoal and acrylic illustrations, you'll learn about a walrus' diet, habitat and physical characteristics. This is an excellent story to read aloud. I was taken with the language in this book –"twirling, whirling, swirling," and "gleaming tusks, long and stout." There is a lot to love!
And a Cat from Carmel Market written by Allysa Satin Capucilli & illustrated by Rotem Teplow
It is time for Bubbe to shop at the local market and get everything she needs for Shabbat dinner. She has a list to follow and a cart to fill, but there is a lot of action at the market. Bubbe gets a little sidetracked every so often. She also doesn't notice the cat trail that grows as she makes her way around the stalls. Not even the one sitting on her shoulder! Bubbe heads home to get cooking, but what about all those cats?
Oh this one is so fun! There are Yiddish and Hebrew words, a light rhyming pattern, a bit of alliteration, illustrations to pour over, and a refrain kids can help repeat. It's a great story too!
