Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age—From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between

In his first book, former GalleyCat blogger Boog surveys current research on early childhood brain development and shares experiences of raising his daughter, Olive, to appreciate books from infancy. The result is a paean to the advantages interactive reading gives children by the time they reach preschool. Boog’s “Born Reading Playbook” contains many good ideas. He suggests that parents can engage young children with reading by extending the ideas in books to learning about the world in an age-appropriate manner. Although Boog does not object to electronic media, he does object to parents who use media and electronics as a babysitter, especially for children younger than two. His book, audiobook, and app recommendations are thoughtful, current, and specific; “Born Reading Bundles” suggest ways to combine books, new media, and conversation topics. The concluding comparison between kindergarten Common Core standards and the skills developed through interactive reading methods focuses on academic readiness and advantage rather than the love of reading. Despite the book’s strengths, Boog’s focus on the successes, but not the challenges, of his daughter’s experience, inadvertently makes him seem like a know-it-all rather than an educator or peer. [em]Agent: David Patterson, Foundry Literary + Media. (July) [/em]