I've been trying to collect my thoughts around the posts I've been making and the questions people ask me. As I learn more about blogging I've come to see this as a way to collect information that I've shared with people in a variety of formats in a contained manner. In this way I hope to be able to send the information as a a link, or perhaps just a specific entry to someone when I realize it answers the question I've rewritten again and again. Sometimes it justs creates a starting point for a conversations, as some of my financial posts have done for my husband and I. I've started this entry because there are in fact three books that I constantly post about and I've decided to collect them here so I can remember the titles without having to go search for them myself on Amazon. I actually have thought about bookmarking them as favorites on my wishlist so I can just go and click on them when I want to give the link to someone so they can research the title.
There are two books I most often buy for parents. The first I often give as a shower gift or a gift when the baby is born. It is a great resource for parents on reading to children. I've never met a parent that didn't know reading aloud to children was a good activity for their child and that they really needed to think about doing it but I have met parents who are intimidated by the process. They don't feel they read well aloud, they are nervous about "doing it right" and they still have those uncomfortable feelings that linger from childhood about reading in public.
One of the reasons I buy this book for so many people is that it addresses a multitude of issues with reading aloud from the nervous readers, to those who are truly bored with hearing the same story night after night and are begging for strategies to introduce new literature to their children, and those who want to know what books really are better read alouds than others. While some books are long cherished childhood favorites, some books truly do make better read alouds than others. Some books are meant to be shared and others are better when the child is ready to read them independently. This book has gone through several generations since I first read it as an undergraduate but it is still the one I order when I have a friend or family member expecting. I just haven't found a better replacement.
The second book, in fact is a series of two books by the same author on the same topic, geared toward two separate audiences, teachers and parents. One I've given to parents and the other to teachers. I can't tell you the number of times I've posted this to websites when parents ask for a book about disipline and children that works. I bought the teaching one the first year I was teaching when I ended up with five children who had major disipline problems. The special education teacher I was working with had no experience with behavior disorders, her background was very strong however, in learning disabilities. So I needed to become self taught and quickly as my lack of understanding and resources made the job extremely challenging. At the same time a family member was also struggling with a child who was very strong willed. When I found the teacher's version of the book I immediatly went on-line to find out if they had the parent's version and ordered a copy. It was a great book. Like the book above it has surfaced in several versions because people keep reading it. The advice hasn't gotten old.
If nothing else I think I've just saved myself time and effort from searching for the titles and I can now refer to my own blog when looking for them instead of hopping on the Internet and searching for them. For those who are concerned this is a random post to generate clicks, I would encourage you to read the books at the library first. See if in fact they are books that work for you and then purchase them. There are thousands of books on the market, free previews are always your best option for determining which books make it into your permanant library. I've certainly done my share for these authors by bringing them into people's homes.
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