CHILDREN BOOKS 101

Children books have always caught the attention not only of the youngest members of the family but of adults as well. Their covers full of bright colors and big block capital letters, their characters and their plots have been part of our and of our children’s lives for years on end.
For many of us, children books have been our first encounter with the written word and with the experience of reading. In most occasions, our parents and grandparents used to read to us our favorite stories and now that we are parents ourselves try to replicate that same pleasant experience with our own kids. In fact, we feel proud of ourselves and of our children when we see how trapped they are in the story we are reading to them, how interested they are in the development of the plot and the way in which they come to us asking us to read the same story for them over and over again.
Books written especially for children have the invaluable advantage of offering them plenty of benefits that will probably be part of their lives even in adulthood. For instance, children who have been exposed to books and to reading since their early childhood have less spelling and grammar problems than those who have been deprived of books and they are also much more creative. This creativity flows not only when they have to write their own stories or when they are creating their own games but also when they face the challenge of coming up with innovative ways to solve a problem or undergo a stressing situation.

In addition, needless to say, young readers do not give up their reading habits as they grow older and they are more fond of exploring new genres or authors as a way to expand their knowledge.
There are many reasons that support the idea of encouraging children to read not only because their school teacher tells them so but also because it is a pleasant activity.
To begin with, literate children will be better citizens in the future. They will have a more open mind to understand different points of views and they will be more prepared to face the future challenges.
What is more, it is very likely that they will be able to support their ideas and views in a much more solid way than those who have been deprived of the exposure to the written word. Children who read naturally learn how to state an argument in a polite but convincing manner.
Other important reason is that reading children books allow kids to naturally and slowly build up their vocabulary and learn to guess the meaning of words according to their context.