Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 60

Tallahassee Democrat Books Axd Entertainment BOOKING IT 1 (Y Children can learn ABCs with books at the library fltWt 16DTuesday, April 4, 1995 ByAnnSpady SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT YOUR Rook I JOHN ROBERGEDemocrat Discovering the magic zeroed in on a Zinnia for Alison." My First ABC," by Jane Bunting. Each page of this oversized book is filled with bright, colorful pictures of things children like. A little creature called Alphie the Alphabet builder builds an alphabet at the bottom of the page and children will like following his progress. "Ayes-Ayes, Bears and Condors An ABC of Endangered Animals and their Babies," by Neecy Twinem. A beautiful book done on black paper with a colorful border around each animal.

The borders are inspired by the cultures of people native to each animal's environment. They display unique patterns, architecture, clothing, jewelry, alphabets and other kinds of designs. The book also has a listing of animals shown and some hints on what you can do to help save these animals. The Wildlife ABCs: A Nature Book," by Jan ThornhilL Another animal ABC book, the letters are introduced through illustrations of North American animals with a brief rhyming text. The beautiful pictures also have colorful borders with small versions of the animals.

"It Begins With an by Stephanie Calmenson. Illustrated by Marisabina Russo. The author uses rhyming riddles, to help the reader guess objects beginning with letters A to Z. Each page has four pictures on it that give clues to "What is it?" a "A is for Africa," by Ifeoma Onyefulu. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a photograph of an Image from Africa.

The author is from Nigeria and she wanted to show what the people of Africa have in common. Ann Spady is head of the youth services division of the U'Koy Collins Leon County Public Library. Alphabet books are 'some of the first books children "read" as they point out different letters and familiar pictures. Learning the alphabet and how to read is an exciting time for a Library notes child, and this first introduction to language can have a profound effect on a child's interest in reading. There are so many wonderful alphabet books today that it is hard to mention just a few! Whether the subject is flowers or endangered animals, the format is usually similar.

Both the uppercase and lower-case letters are shown with a picture starting the letter. The Library has many alphabet books to check out, including: "The ABC Bunny," by Wanda Gag. The ABC Bunny was Hrst published in 1933, but it is still appealing to children today. The ABC song that is included in the book was written by Gag's sister, and the text was hand lettered by her brother. The black-and-white pencil drawings of the adventurous little bunny and the bright red letters on each page make this a book children will remember.

"Alison's Zinnia," by Anita Lobel. A perfect alphabet book for reading in the springtime: each letter is illustrated by a flower and a little girl. For example, "Alison acquired an Amaryllis for Beryl." It continues through the alphabet until "Zena fey It's exciting watching children siring together letters into words. By Michael M. Ashcraft SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT One of our kindergarten sons came home the other day with a book.

In one sense, this was nothing new. Our kids bring home books all the time. But in an incredibly larger sense, this was the most important book of all. Our son sat us down on the couch and proceeded to carefully, deliberately, haltingly verbalize the words printed on the page. He was reading.

Frankly, in all the excitement, I've, quite forgotten what the title of the tome was, but I do remember the basic storyline: "I will go. Wiil you go?" "Yes. I will go. Will he go?" "lie will go if we will go," and on and on like that until all were given the option. All told, there were probably eight or 10 words in the whole book, but it may always be remembered as a tale of epic PARENTS, Have of reading Either way, I'm probably still safe for quite awhile.

They're just now grasping the concept that everything they can sense as well as everything they can imagine has a string of letters to represent it To spur' this preliminary process on, we've taped construction paper signs all around the house. The first wave of which are simple nouns: door, sink, bed, chair. The next wave will be to modify the system of simple nouns to delineate everything from the front door to the kitchen sink. So it won't be long before we're verbosely interjecting conjunctions of prepositional phrases, though I haven't any idea where we might stick them. 1 1 Tlit' thing, is it's so incredible to see them lift the meaning off a printed page for the first time ever.

The learning process they are ju.sl now going through is a door they will open again and again. A door that can take them anywhere they want to go. Anywhere. Will they go? Yes. They will go.

Session I June 19-July 7 Session II July 10-July 28 Atatifmy proportions. The power to read is big time power. If you can read, you can do anything. You can learn to build a bird house. You can go to the moon.

You can laugh and cry and scare yourself silly, simply by reading ink marks on paper. No small feat on an individual basis, it is even more impressive on the evolutionary scale. As far as I can see, the ability to read what others have written is THE distinguishing feature separating us from all the other animals. As excited as I am or my sons to read, I am already concerned about what makes appropriate reading. For example, one of the things reading will enable my kids to do is to read all the stuff I've written about them.

This is somewhat frightening to me. I may have a hard time explaining how such-and-so seemed so cute that I just had to share it with several thousand total strangers. But then again, it may be that they will see my writing as just "something Dad does" and so it will hold no real interest for them. You Been Told Your Child: Does Not Pay Attention? Is Bright But Should Be Retained? Doesn't Keep Up in Class? Wofim ANin Ham to Cakes i( fwhitecake Muff ins rrXyU' i Coffee Cakes Hot cross Cakes 07 Buns (IJ c00kjes v' Danish Pastries Oni'-To-One Reading Small Math Groups Study Skills High School Credit Available Summer School Can Boost Academic Levels and Also flelp Students Who Have Attention Deficit Disorder, Dyslexia, and Specific Learning Disabilities WOODLAND HALL ACADEMY Call 893-2216 a non profit orwnhrtum.