Freight Train by Donald Crews is a very simply book that will please any young lover of trains. As an added bonus it uses colors to describe the different train cars. The text is very simple and so are the pictures, which is one reason why I think my toddler loves this book so much, I am sure it has nothing to do with his train obsession! He requests that is be read to him several times a day by saying, "Choo Choo?" And we must read this book before he goes to bed.
As you can tell I have read Freight Train enough that I have the book memorized. I know a lot of parents with young kids are familiar with this. As parents we often complain about reading the same book over and over and think to ourselves, "If I have to read this book one more time I will scream!" I want to take this time to ask you to please not give into that voice in your head that wants to throw the book in the garbage so that you never have to read it again but instead take your child in your lap and read the book to them, one more time, again and again and again.
Repeated readings are so important for learning early literacy skills. It is through reading familiar books over and over that children begin to recognize letters, words, phrases and sentences. If you read it to them enough they will have the book memorized and will therefore be able to "read" the book. The next thing you know they will be able to recognize those same words in a different book.
So please, as much as it might pain you to read that one treasured book 100 times a day, do it you are helping your child along on the road to literacy and there is not much you can do that is as important as that!
Happy Reading!
Laura
My toddler loves trains too! I will have to try this book out!
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