In today’s blog I will write a little more about facilitating phonological awareness in your child. I recently read in the New York Times that the old favorite, Good Night Moon, was banned from bookshelves for many years in the UK. What? How could this be? Good Night Moon was the gold standard for bedtime reading to my toddlers and thousands of others. The author, Margaret Wise Brown, penned a gentle bedtime story about a little bunny getting ready for sleep. He studies all of the items in his room, and then wishes each goodnight. This simple story, with its brightly colored illustrations, was easy for a young child to relate to and understand.
However, in the 20th century, an influential librarian in the major New York Public Library declared the book to be “overly sentimental" and it was pulled from shelves and sadly began to fade away.
Yet, Margaret Wise Brown clearly knew how to write for young children. The cadence, the repetition, and the simplicity are all factors in developing phonological awareness, an early building block toward reading. Happily, the book sold in the millions by 2018 and is available today in bookstores.
Clair 09/07/2022
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