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From Books to Bonds: The Impact of Reading with Mom on Early Literacy


Spring 2025

Neva Frankhouser

Nursing Major- Spanish Minor


At 2.5 years old, reading with Mom is more than just a cozy activity—it’s a powerful learning experience. Shared storytime helps build essential pre-literacy skills like vocabulary, comprehension, and phonemic awareness. As the child listens to words

and points to pictures, they learn how language works, developing early communication abilities that will support future reading success.

According to a systematic review published in 2019, reading to your children is incredibly important for vocabulary building. This article states that the benefits of shared book reading, like Mom and Me, allow for the growth of pre-literacy skills. (Dexter & Stacks 2014).


Furthermore, reading to children plays an integral role in promoting phonemic

awareness. This is the child's ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken

words. This was a very popular topic among teaching communities in the 90s but the

proof is timeless. According to research, shared reading experiences help children

develop phonemic awareness by exposing them to the sounds of language in context,

facilitating the recognition of rhyming patterns, and enabling the connection between

letters and their corresponding sounds (Dexter & Stacks, 2014). Additionally, interactive

moments in reading, such as identifying initial sounds or playing with word patterns,

help strengthen this skill (Egan & Hoyne, 2019). These early literacy experiences lay the

groundwork for later reading success and foster the development of essential

pre-reading skills (Massaro, 2017).


Reading comprehension is another important aspect of fostering good pre-literacy skills. For young children, comprehension involves more than just

recognizing words; it requires the ability to understand and connect ideas, follow

storylines, and make inferences. By engaging in shared reading experiences, children

learn to listen attentively, process information, and answer questions, which strengthens their ability to comprehend both spoken and written language (Massaro, 2017). Interactive moments, like naming objects or predicting what happens next, also

encourage critical thinking and foster a love of learning. Reading together strengthens

the bond between parent and child while laying a strong foundation for cognitive and

social development, all through the simple joy of books.




More About this GGAB Featured Title


Catching Flight by Rebekah Lowell
Catching Flight by Rebekah Lowell

Catching Flight is a beautifully illustrated picture book by Rebekah Lowell that brings the resilience and hope found in the natural world to life. Through the eyes of birds, such as the Yellow Warbler greeting the sunrise and the Canada Geese supporting each other against the wind, this poetic story offers a soaring message of encouragement. Catching Flight is a gentle reminder that, no matter the challenges we face, we can always trust our wings to carry us forward. The book also includes an insightful afterword, offering readers fascinating facts about the featured birds.



Sources:


Egan, Suzanne M., and Clara Hoyne. "Shared Book Reading in Early Childhood: A Review of Influential Factors and Developmental Benefits." An Leanbh Óg, vol. 12, no. 1, 2019, pp. 77–92. ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/SuzanneEgan/publication/335627073_Shared_Book_Reading_in_Early_Childhood_A_Review_of_Influential_Factors_and_Developmental_Benefits/links/5d70ff75299bf1cb8088a81c/Shared-Book-Reading-in-Early-Childhood-A-Review-of-Influential-Factors-and-Developmental-Benefits.pdf.


Dexter, Casey A., and Ann M. Stacks. "A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship Between Parenting, Parent-Child Shared Reading Practices, and Child Development in Low-Income Families." Journal of Research in Childhood Education, vol. 28, no. 3, 2014, pp. 394–410. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2014.913278.Massaro, Dominic W. "Reading Aloud to Children: Benefits and Implications for Acquiring Literacy Before Schooling Begins." The American Journal of Psychology, vol. 130, no. 1, 2017, pp. 63–72.

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