Monday, January 28, 2008

Pick of the Week

Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Harcourt, 2007)

Jazz-lovers and non-jazz-lovers alike should relish in keeping rhythm and beat with this lively new picture book by Lisa Wheeler. Baby and his family get the music going ("Grandpa toot-toots, Granny sings scat. Bitty-boppin' Baby goes rat-tat-tat!") and then wind down to sleep with the music of jazz. Children may be inspired to get up and move while you read this story! The snappy, rhythmic text found in Jazz Baby also promotes phonological awareness - the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. Another way to promote phonological awareness is to share music with young children. Listening to the sounds and beats in music is not only fun, it can help prepare them for later learning success. Clapping out the syllables of the word as you sing together and listening to the rhythms of various styles of music can help tune a child's ear for phonological awareness. This is an important skill for learning to read.

Go Baby Go!

To round out your Jazz Baby experience, listen to Go, Baby Go! by Baby Loves Jazz, available at the Library.



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