Read an Excerpt

The mode of the storytelling will change as the child develops and learns. For the youngest children, stories are exclusively oral; then later, images can support the narrative; later still, children also can interact with text. As children grow, the previous modes aren’t abandoned; the new ones are just added into children’s story repertoires. In high-quality settings, caregivers carefully plan a sequence of experiences that fit what children are like, what interests them, and what they can do. This applies to sharing stories, too. To be effective, experiences with sounds, language, storytelling, and books aren’t just offered randomly. Different story experiences are appropriate at different times, and certain experiences lay the groundwork for later ones. While the emphasis should always be on knowing children’s interests and ensuring that interactions and communication are warm, engaging, and appropriate, attention to the many changes that children undergo in the first three years of life, and the implications of these for the kinds of story experiences offered, is important.