Read, Rhyme, and Romp ─ Early Literacy Skills and Activities for Librarians, Teachers, and Parents

McNeil, a library youth services manager and storyteller, shows librarians, preschool teachers, and parents how to cultivate early literacy development in young children using specific techniques. She outlines the six basic pre-literacy skills children develop--print motivation, vocabulary, print awareness, narrative skills, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge--and what librarians, teachers, and parents can each do to develop them, using story time, singing and rhyming, and other techniques. She includes book lists and many recommendations; story time openings, songs, and movement rhymes; and tips for using props. She also outlines the research on reading aloud and recommendations for print resources, websites, and early literacy programs. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Heather McNeil is youth services manager for Deschutes Public Library, Bend, OR.