First books (ages 0-3 >)

In the very beginning books mean nothing to a new baby. The child however is by no means a passive agent, so even small babies can soon be actively occupied in learning about their environment by a continuous process of assimilating and adjusting to new experiences. At some time picture-books can start playing their part in exploring by providing children with simplified images of the outside world. If children under 1 year old appear to enjoy some picture-book it will probably not be because the can recognize the illustration but because other factors (colours, shapes, materials, comfortability…)

By around the age of one and a half they will generally have developed the ability to recognize familiar objects in picture for mainly whole objects (but close attention to detail and naturalistic colour may only be preferred around the age of seven or so). But even quite small children are interested in more than simply recognizing familiar objects, in this way, children should both have books that they can start managing for themselves where they can understand at first glance at least a number of the pictures, and also books which may have more need of an adult interpreter to go through the pages by looking at illustrations that symbolize objects and events in the outside world, children will start developing their own reactions.

NURSERY RHYMES

As well as enjoying pictures, children will also react to the sound and rhythm of language. Children from the very earliest are attracted simply by the sound of the human voice. Long before, children can speak for themselves. They can react non-verbally to adult speech. For some children traditional nursery rhymes may still be the first literature they experience. It does seem that radio and TV have begun to interfere with the transmission of nursery rhymes as favourite nursery rhymes still belong to an oral tradition.

Nursery rhymes are almost always brief simply presenting a situation usually without further explanation or justification. They usually have rustic settings that have now disappeared for most children but their vocabulary is still fairly easy to remember and repeat.