While a vast majority of books have text in them, there are certain books that help strengthen our little ones’ print awareness skills more than others. Print awareness is the ability for young children to notice letters and words and knowing how to handle a book and follow text on a page with their finger. This skill is necessary for children to master before they are even able to start learning how to read. There are plenty of ways to build this skill – including sharing books!

Some of the qualities that great print awareness books possess are: large text; a clear, easy-to-read font; different sized fonts; few words; and repetitive text. Children under the age of five are still learning the shapes and orientation of letters, so overwhelming them with excessive, small, and unclear text can lead to children becoming uninterested. The following books are a great tool for building children’s print awareness skills – and best of all, they are fun to share, too!

Trucks Go
written by Steve Light

All aboard this noisy book! This is a great infant and toddler title that helps build print awareness skills. But babies can’t read! I hear what you’re saying, but I know that babies are good at making noise and this book highlights all the different sounds various trucks make while they are on the go. This is fun for babies and readers alike! To accompany the simple, yet vibrant pictures is large, repetitive, and clearly written text to help babies begin to make those very crucial connections between the shapes of letters on the page and the corresponding sounds these letters make. This book is also great fun for preschool-aged children who are just beginning to experiment with letters and sounds. Honk, honk!

Fire Engine No. 9
by Mike Austin

ALERT! ALERT! This book is full of large, clear text, and it’s great fun for all! Pretend to be a fireman while you WHOOSH, HONK, and WEEEOOOOO! through the town to save the building that is on fire. This book features plenty of exclamation marks (!!!) and is a great introduction to punctuation for older children. It also features different sized texts, so give it a try and play with different volumes and intonations. You’re showing your little one that the letters and symbols on the page imply a direction – loud, excited sounds have large print and exclamation marks. Quieter sounds are printed in smaller text. What does a fire truck sound like when it is far away? How does it sound as it gets closer? Explore these concepts with your child to make the reading interactive and fun!

Egg
by Kevin Henkes

E-G-G: Three little letters, one big mystery, and lots and lots of fun!

This might be one of my favorite children’s books of all time. The sweet and calming illustrations in this book will be a hit with children of all ages. For younger children, you can begin to work with colors and shapes, which will ultimately help them in identifying the shapes that make letters – and that’s the first step towards developing print awareness skills! The simple text corresponds with the images above it, and this repetition helps your child work through the mystery of this one green egg. Its simplicity allows even preschool children who are just beginning to identify text to successfully predict what the word bellow the illustration might mean. Practice drawing letters in the sky and making their sounds! While the book may move a bit slowly, the big surprise at the end will C-C-C-CRACK you up!

Print Awareness is just one of the American Library Association’s essential six skills of early literacy. Keep an eye on the Tandem blog for more book reviews featuring children’s book titles that strengthen children’s early literacy skills.