Welcome friend! As a reading parent, my home library doesn’t just have books for me. Since I found out about my pregnancy, I have been collecting books for my daughter. In this TBR Tales, I will share my early experiences of finding books for her. I am excited to share this post as a precursor to a brand new series on the blog called Growing up with Books which is my way of documenting the tiny, tender, surprising reading life unfolding beside me. Let’s get started.
Before
As a new parent when I imagined reading with my kid, I honestly had no idea about what she was reading at what age. I just knew that eventually we were going to be reading. I am forever grateful for coming across How to Raise a Reader that not only goes into what reading looks like at babyhood, toddlerhood, middle grade, and teenage, but also gives really good suggestions on the books to read at each stage. When I was in one of my book buying sprees, I went through the babyhood books list and I didn’t buy them all. I bring a lot of my own book curation experiences into hers. I’m super picky with my books so it’s not surprising that I do the same for her. If it doesn’t interest me, I am not getting it.
How to Raise a Reader also shares how as a parent I can encourage reading. Of course, the most important thing is for her to see me read but that won’t happen for a few years. In those early two years, babies are making sense of their world. She is just learning to hold and touch a book. The connection that I am holding something similar will not come for a while.
The Firsts – Bookshelf & Books
Building a shelf for my daughter is an act of love, hope, and memory making. Reading is something that is really close to my heart. Growing a reader in my house is the biggest joy and the biggest thrill. And how do I even go about doing that without a bookshelf to fill with books?
One of the first things that I did when I was pregnant was that I looked for a bookshelf for my girl. I loved the idea of a Montessori bookshelf where she could see the covers of the books and reach out and take out whatever she wanted. It was a beautiful dream to imagine her going towards her bookshelf and picking something that I had found for her. It is one of the first pieces of furniture we added to her baby room. But, of course, the number of books she has can never fit her tiny shelf because I am her mom.
Almost a year later, there are stacks of books that are uniquely hers. They are small board books, some with really interesting textures. At one time, I tried to label each of them by the age at which they would be read.
My bookshelves have changed a lot in the last year or so. I remember the first book that I bought for my daughter. It was a flip book called Home Sweet Home, and she wasn’t going to look at it till she was a year old, but it was the story of a little owl who discovered the world and then came back home. I thought it was a beautiful concept that we would explore one day. She is just starting to show interest in this book now. We haven’t read it together yet. She has flipped through it though.
The Dreams
The other day I came across a bargain book bin at a store. There were so many good and cheap books to choose from. I found Hello Whale, a beautiful flap book about ocean animals. It’s for 2- to 5-year-olds. She’s not even one year old yet, but as I flipped through this book, I imagined reading it with her, exploring the words and art, and then pulling up videos of what each creature looks and sounds like. Maybe a trip to the aquarium?
As I find books for her, I am learning that books at a young age are so much more than stories; they are sensory experiences waiting to unfold. I get to lead her through these for some years.
The Doubts
There are always doubts. Am I reading enough books to and with her? Am I reading the right books? I have quizzed many parents-friends about the books their kiddos love. I’ve been gifted books their kids liked. I have tried to have a list of popular books I should introduce her to.
As I write this, I let the pressure go. Much like I read for fun and don’t read every popular title out there, neither will she. We will give many books a chance and find our favorites. It’s not the book that matters, but the interaction – hers with it, mine with her.
Reading for Her & (Over) Filling Her Shelves
Reading for someone else is a completely different ball game from reading for myself. There is responsibility. There is curiosity, and there is also wonder. I’ve been fortunate in making connections with publishers who now give me access to their young reader catalogues, and it’s so much fun to find books that she will read maybe 5-10 years down the line while I get to enjoy them right now and imagine what it would be like to read with her. Would she like Lena the Chicken in three years or would she prefer whales?
What I’m finding for myself is that I love reading books with her that are about love, my love for her, the way babies are, and of course, she is, or just finding ways to tell her how much I love her, and one of the best ways to express that is through a book where we’re cuddling together, looking at picturing, pointing, laughing, imitating, and even though I am reading the words that say I love her and she may not understand it, she knows it from our proximity and body language.
Reading in the First Year
A baby puts everything in their mouth. They’re gonna chew that book, and that’s one of the things that I have looked for when I find books: are they durable? Are they a kind of cardboard that I’d rather she not put in her mouth? What kind of ink are they using? I never thought I would think so much about how a book is than its content. But once we get past that inspection, what does reading look like in the first year?
It looks like picking out books from shelves. It looks like flipping them and flipping through them, sometimes sitting on them. It is getting stuck on a page because it’s too interesting.
If they are flap books, doing peekaboo; if they are textured books, sometimes completely missing the texture, or sucking on it and licking it for endless minutes.
What I find fascinating is that she loves books that have baby faces. She knows people from non-people.
Growing up with Books
This post about creating a library for a young one is actually a marker of the beginning of a new series on the blog called Growing up with Books, where I will be sharing books that my daughter loves, probably a post each year. It might give parents and caregivers ideas about how babies interact with books each passing year because in the early years there is so much we don’t know. A lot depends on the baby but I think they all share how they interact with their environment.
The first post in Growing up with Books is going to feature 2 to 3 books that my daughter has enjoyed over the course of her first year. Of course, she did not start interacting with books properly till she was about six months old and had the dexterity in her fingers and enough strength to hold a book, but now I cherish watching her make her way to her bookshelf and pull out a few and sit and flip through them.
Documenting these moments about my baby reading or interacting with books is one of my highlights of these baby years. I hope that as I write this series where I capture her growing library and her reactions, I’m able to see her for who she is and to find her interests.
Growing up with Books is a miniature library within the largest story of my reading life. It has books that I have found for her. It has books that were given to me, and it has books that I want to read to her. Some of them are for a couple of years down the line, some of them are for right away, and some of them have bigger experiences associated with them that I’m excited to embark on with her when the time comes. And then one day when she’s able to talk and pick her own books and there will be two of us stacking my bookshelves and asking her dad for another one.
Of course, these shelves that belong to my baby will change way faster than my own shelves do. They are board books today; they’ll be picture books in a year and then eventually, in a few years, they’ll be chapter books, and then we will be done with this era of little hard board books or light short stories with beautiful colourful images.
We will move onto just books— the same old books that I read, but it’s amazing because building a library for a young one is something that’s ongoing, same as my own, but it’s different because it’s a shared story. We build this one book at a time with a future self that she can always pull books from and just see the kind of reader that she ends up being. I am so excited for her. I’m so excited to share all these books with her and occasionally bring you her favorites in Growing up with Books. First post in the new year. 🙂
About TBR Tales
Dive into the world of TBR Tales, where the journey through the to-be-read pile becomes a rich narrative of literary exploration. Join me as I navigate the pages of books, reflecting on the joys, challenges, and unexpected treasures found along the way. From rediscovering old favorites to embracing new genres, TBR Tales is a celebration of the reader’s life. Thank you for reading. 🙂
I think kids are so interesting in that sometimes there’s overlap between what I think is a good book and what the kid enjoys, and sometimes kids really fixate on and LOVE books I think are quite terrible. XD
Haha yes I am sure that will happen too with my daughter! Some interests will match and some won’t and that’s ok. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I love your thoughts about reading books and modelling your love of reading for your daughter… one thing I know for sure though, is that any time you spend cuddling with her and exploring books will help grow her love of reading. This is not because of the content of the books, but because of the warm feelings of connection she’ll have to you each time she picks up a book, remembering when you read to her with love. Reading at bed time are some of my favourite memories with my son… sadly he’s not a reader despite my efforts… but maybe he’ll develop that passion when he’s older yet!