Dear Readers,
Books Before Birth and Beyond is about cultivating literacy and numeracy using any medium necessary. This movement is also about identifying and celebrating all readers.
When it comes to pre-teens, at one "forgotten extreme" of readers are the pre-natal, whom we know can interpret sound. They love Mother's soothing voice as she reads to them. At the other "forgotten extreme" of pre-teen readers are children in the so-called "gap years" from about 7 to 11 years of age. Many mistake these newly independent readers for confirmed read-it-yourselfers, when in fact, research shows that they continue to enjoy reading to someone and being read to by someone.
Just because you have exceled at making the "lap years" of 1 to 6 fun for the entire family, don't make the mistake that the family's literacy job is done. Far from it! :-)
For more about this subject, see Steve Leveen's blog, The Well-Read Life, at http://blog.wellreadlife.com/my_weblog/golden_age_of_books/. Find out why "We are entering the golden age of books"...
