By Jeannine at the Schweitzer Brentwood Branch

One of the best gifts I ever received when I had a baby was a magazine Look Book. A relative purchased a sturdy scrapbook with thick pages (resistant to drooling and tearing) and filled the pages with engaging, full-color magazine photos artfully displayed. It was such a simple and inexpensive gift, but it provided hours of exploration and dialogue with my baby! The photos were not grouped in any particular order, but they were full of animals, people, nature and even objects that provided fodder for identification, vocabulary, humor and stories. My daughter would take it out daily to pour over the images with me and even though she wasn’t saying more than a few words, the book was a bridge into the world of life and the words we use to describe and imagine. Repetition is a stepping stone for mastery for young children and after we looked at the book over and over, she began to recognize and anticipate her favorite pictures and would squeal and make gleeful sounds to show her excitement for the dog in the rain or the baby taking a bottle. It gave me a way to talk to her about people, places, things and ideas. This is the way babies and toddlers learn language best: through hearing about and experiencing the world around them with you. When baby number two arrived, this well-loved book quickly became a favorite of hers as well.

Make your own Look Book by cutting interesting pictures out of magazines and putting them in book form. You can use a photo album or scrap book or just glue the images to cardboard and cover with clear contact paper or page protectors. The possibilities - and the conversations - are endless!

Questions or want more ideas? Email racingtoread@thelibrary.org