To help celebrate and encourage the invaluable practice of reading aloud and to bring attention to the importance of literacy across all countries and for all of humanity, we're joining forces with LitWorld, an organization aimed at ending illiteracy by spreading the power of story. 



Beginning this week, we will be launching What To Read When Wednesdays-- each Wednesday, we'll give you a list of books compiled by LitWorld's founder and Executive Director Pam Allyn. Broken in to categories of Babies, Toddlers, Preschool, and Ages 5-8, Pam's list of books will help guide and encourage you to share in the joy of reading aloud with your child.



The possibilities are endless when it comes to reading.... Here's a great place to start though!



Baby:

    •    Baby Animals Black & White by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes (Charlesbridge Publishing: 1998)

    •    Black & White by Tana Hoban (HarperCollins Publishers: 2007)

    •    Look, Look! by Peter Linenthal (Dutton Children’s Books: 1998)

    •    Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Aladdin: 2000)

    •    Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (Harper: 1947)



Toddlers:

    •    Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry (Golden Books; 1998)

    •    Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton (HarperTrophy: 1993)

    •    The Berenstain Bears series by Jan Berestain and Stan Berenstain (Random House Books for Young Readers)



Preschool:

    •    Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (HarperCollins Publishers: 1987)

    •    Corduroy by Don Freeman (The Viking Press: 1968)

    •    Frances books by Russell Hoban (HarperTrophy)

    •    Grandmother’s Pigeon by Loiuse Erdrich, illustrated by Jim LaMarche (Hyperion Books for Children: 1996)



Ages 5-8:

    •    Corduroy Goes to School by Don Freeman (Viking Juvenile: 2002)

    •    Wow! School! by Robert Newbecker (Disney Press: 2007

    •    Transformed: How Everyday Things Are Made by Bill Slavin (Kids Can Press: 2007)

    •    Talking Like the Rain by X.J. Kennedy, illustrated by Jane Dyer (Little, Brown and Company: 1992)

    •    The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers: 2006)

Pam Allyn is the Executive Director of LitLife, a nationally recognized organization specializing in transformative school improvement through literacy education. She is also the Executive Director of LitWorld, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing quality education to the world's most vulnerable children. LitWorld is producing a global celebration of reading on March 3, 2010, World Read Aloud Day.

 Pam is the author of an inspirational book for parents, teachers and caregivers entitled What to Read When, published by Penguin in April 2009. What to Read When has won the 2009 Gold Award from the National Parenting Publications Association and has been featured across the country on radio and television programs, in publications and throughout the blogosphere.

To read her full bio, visit PamAllyn.com