A is for Algonquin: an Ontario Alphabet. Lovenia Gorman & Melanie Rose, $22.95

A is for Algonquin: an Ontario Alphabet introduces young readers to all the beauty of this spectacular province. Written with the charm and knowledge of a life long resident, A is for Algonquin teaches youngsters of all ages about Ontario's inhabitants, history, flora and fauna, movers and shakers.

ABC DREAM. Kim Krans, $21.99

This stunning and innovative alphabet picture book will dazzle little ones and engage the adults who share it with them! Each page is dedicated to a letter, and clever alliterations are packed into each ink-and-watercolor spread.

ABCs Write & Wipe! Lowercase Letters. Kumon Flash Cards. $11.50 (Ages 2 +)

ABCs Write & Wipe! Uppercase Letters. Kumon Flash Cards. $11.50 (Ages 2 +)

These unique write and wipe flash cards will help children learn to write their upper and lower case ABCs. Each card features the outline of a letter on one side with proper stroke order noted, and a picture and word illustrating the letter on the other. Each set includes a non-toxic dry erase marker so children can practice writing their letters again and again.

Also available: Numbers 1-30 Write & Wipe! Kumon Flash Cards. $13.50 (Ages 2 +)

Animal Alphabet Floor Puzzle: 24 Large Pieces. Ravensburger, $17.99 (ages 3+)

Large pieces make this fun floor puzzle easy for small hands.

ARCTIC A to Z. Wayne Lynch, $7.95

Each page of this beautiful book tells the story of a different plant, animal or natural wonder found in the arctic — one for each letter of the alphabet.

A-Z Animals: 35 Piece Puzzle. Ravensburger, $11.50 (ages 4+)

A bright and lively alphabet of animal fun.

Baby Sign Language. Sarah Christensen Fu, $26.95

What’s your baby thinking? You might be surprised. Babies have a lot to say, and they learn signs and gestures long before they are able to articulate themselves through speech. Discover through signing what your baby wants and needs! This kit offers a foundation to establish communication between adult and child. The kit includes a DVD, flash cards and a book on introducing your infant to sign language.  BABY SIGN LANGUAGE is a great resource for adults who want to encourage communication with the babies in their lives.

Baby Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers DVD. Monta Briant, $16.99

Make sign language a part of everyday life with young children. Includes over 300 ASL signs, songs and family demonstrations.

Also available in book format: Baby Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers. Monta Briant, $16.99

Baby Sign Language Basics Flash Cards. Monta Briant, $13.95

Talk and sign about the objects on the cards — just as you would with a picture book!

The Baby Signing Book, 2nd Edition. Sara Bingham, $24.95

This quick and comprehensive course in baby signing features a program that parents can customize according to their family’s needs. It offers age-specific advice, as well as ideas for working with children with communication delays, on how to teach sign language as your child grows and develops.

Baby Signing Essentials: Early Sign Language for Every Age and Stage. Nancy Cadjan, $20.99

Start “talking” with your baby today and discover what they’re really trying to tell you. With the gift of sign language, you can communicate with your child as early as four to six months, reduce tantrums, build verbal language skills, and create a stronger bond than ever!

Using trusted American Sign Language (ASL), Baby Signing Essentials is the go-to guide for parents, caregivers, and educators looking to create effective two-way communication. Designed to grow with your baby by covering physical, emotional, mental, and linguistic development at each age, this shows you how to start signing right from your baby’s birth or later on.

Baby Signing 123: the Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide for Every Stage and Every Age. Nancy Cadjan, $20.99

BABY SIGNING 123 provides specific signs and techniques for different age ranges, so you know how to work best with baby at each stage of development. Packed full of pictures that show and explain each sign, BABY SIGNING 123 makes learning and teaching baby signs a breeze.

Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, 3rd Edition. Linda Acredolo & Susan Goodwyn, $20.95

With the widespread popularity of signing with hearing babies and new and exciting research findings to report, the authors have completely revised and expanded Baby Signs to create this indispensable new edition. Featuring an American Sign Language approach, as well as a set of “baby-friendly” alternatives, this comprehensive new program offers all the information any parent needs to join the hundreds of thousands of families around the world who are using Baby Signs to help their children communicate.

Baby's First Words. Christiane Engelkstone, $18.99 (Birth to 3)

Learn over 100 early vocabulary words with a toothy toddler and her two dads! Cheerful acrylic illustrations and digital collage artwork will keep little eyes glued to the pages, searching for the silly woolly mammoth on each one. Designed to support babies' natural pattern of language development, this innovative board book reflects the earliest nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives and interjections that children learn. Sturdy tabs on the right edge of each page help little ones find their favorite scenes and encourage playful interaction with the book. A pure delight that baby will want to read again and again.

Beyond Baby Talk. Kenn Apel & Julie Masterson, $18.00

From speaking to spelling — a guide to language and literacy development for parents and caregivers.

Beyond Bedtime Stories: a Parent’s Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing and Other Literacy Skills from Birth to 5, 2nd Edition. Susan Bennett-Armistead, Nell Duke & Annie Moses, $29.99

In the face of today’s mile-high expectations for children’s achievement, how can families create a child-friendly home environment that also builds essential literacy skills — right from the start? This book provides guidance from three early childhood experts. Taking a “literacy-throughout-the-day” approach, the authors guide their readers all around the home — even into spaces where literacy isn’t typically encouraged, including the kitchen and the bathroom!

Parents will find the pages packed with try-today activities for building children's reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in every room. Beyond Bedtime Stories also includes tips, photos, and key milestones to watch for as children learn and grow. What’s new to the 2nd edition? Updated research, the most current expectations for preschool and kindergarten, and dozens of new resources and tips! 

The Big Book of Exclamations. Teri Peterson, illustrated by Chris McAllister, $19.95

A fun, educational book designed to promote speech sound development and imitation of gestures, sounds and words.

Bilingual by Choice: Raising Kids in Two (or More) Languages. Virginie Raguenaud, $23.95

In Bilingual by Choice, Virginie Raguenaud guides parents on how to introduce a second language to their children. She also provides insights, resources, and activities for raising children who will go on to become bilingual adults. This book is the first of its kind to address bilingualism from the cradle through adolescence. Raguenaud uses practical strategies and techniques for any family or instructor to ensure that kids stay engaged and active in every language available to them. By using creativity, consistency and commitment in the classroom (as well as the living room), teaching children a second language can be fun as well as beneficial.

The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language. Kendall King & Alison Mackey, $17.95

Many parents want their children to have the lifelong cultural and intellectual advantages that come from speaking more than one language. The Bilingual Edge translates the latest research into interactive strategies and quick tips that will help parents wade through the hype and provide clear insights into what actually works.

Book Smart: How to Develop and Support Successful, Motivated Readers. Anne Cunningham & Jamie Zibulsky, $27.95

Reading aloud to and with young children is an experience that serves a variety of purposes. In BOOK SMART, the experience of reading together is used as a vehicle for discussing the varied yet interconnected language and literacy skills that jumpstart the career of a successful reader. Authored by two passionate psychologists and educators, this book is a how-to guide rich with stories, lessons, activities, and ideas aimed at addressing the broad range of interpersonal, social, emotional, and motivational skills that must be fostered in young children. The early chapters in this book will help you get your child ready for school and ready to read, and the later chapters will help you foster your child's lifelong love of reading. 

Throughout the book, the authors also provide tips for building a special bond with your child through reading together — from giving appropriate praise to modeling persistence. Perhaps most importantly, this book serves as a guide along the path to becoming an independent reader. This journey begins with a discussion of oral language and emergent literacy skills and then moves into the child's early writing attempts, story comprehension, general knowledge development and social-emotional growth. A highly informative but light-hearted read, this book will allow you to bring the joy of reading into your home

Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age — from Picture Books to eBooks and Everything In Between. Jason Boog, $18.99

Every parent wants to give his or her child a competitive advantage. In Born Reading, publishing insider (and new dad) Jason Boog explains how that can be as simple as opening a book. Studies have shown that interactive reading — a method that creates dialogue as you read together — can raise a child’s IQ, and can have just as much of a determining factor on a child’s IQ as vitamins and a healthy diet. Born Reading offers a program for parents and professionals on how to raise kids who love to read, featuring:

• interviews with childhood development experts
• reading recommendations for kids from birth up to age five
• the top apps endorsed by teachers, librarians, parents

The Cow Says Moo: Ten Tips to Teach Toddlers to Talk, an Early Intervention Guide. Vicky McErlean, with Madelyn Bythell, $25.95

Is my child a late talker or should I be concerned?  My child pulls me to what he wants instead of talks, should I be worried? Will sign language stop my child from talking?

Do these questions sound familiar? You are not alone. Millions of parents ask the same questions about their child’s speech every day! Empower yourself to help your child now with The Cow Says Moo, an early intervention guide that will teach you the best, easy-to-use, proven strategies for helping children learn to communicate. In 10 easy-to-follow tips, The Cow Says Moo provides the same proven, common sense strategies that are used by practitioners who provide direct home-based speech therapy to toddlers and their families. The Cow Says Moo delivers speech therapy at a level that the average parent can understand and implement.

A Family of Readers. Roger Sutton & Martha Parravano, $17.00

A FAMILY OF READERS is an invaluable guide for enriching the lives of children — from infancy through young adulthood. Instill a passion for reading with this informative and entertaining resource.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. William Joyce & Joe Bluhm, $19.99

Morris Lessmore loved words. He loved stories. He loved books. Then one day, everything in Morris’s life, including his own story, is scattered to the winds and what follows is a story Morris could never have imagined. Visually stunning, this captivating story is destined to become a classic.

The Good Little Book. Kyo MacLear, $18.99

While banished to a dusty study one day "to think things over," a boy pulls a book off a shelf and with great reluctance begins to read. As the afternoon passes, the story nabs him and carries him away. Before long, this good little book becomes his loyal companion, accompanying him everywhere... until, one day, the book is lost. Will this bad little boy get back his good little book? Will the good little book survive on its own without a proper jacket? A quirky, enchanting tale of literary love and loss, and love found again, that will win the heart of even the most reluctant reader.

Help Your Child Love Reading: a Parent's Guide. Alison David, $19.95

Life is hectic for the modern family — it's often hard to carve out time to sit down with a good book, yet in our increasingly digital and audio sensory world, this is exactly what's missing from our lives, and in turn, our children's lives. In this practical guide, author Alison David uses her experience and extensive research to show parents how to instill a love of reading that will not only improve their child's life, but theirs as well.

Spanning from toddlers to teenagers, this accessible and straightforward guide will help parents inspire their children of all ages to read for pleasure and unlock their hidden potential.

Help Your Kids with English: a Step-by-Step Visual Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Writing, Canadian Edition. Stewart Savard, $21.95

The innovative visual approach of HELP YOUR KIDS WITH ENGLISH combines colourful diagrams and illustrations with step-0by-step instructions, making Canadian English usage easier to understand than ever before. Covering the four core English subjects — grammar, punctuation, spelling and communication skills — this invaluable new guide allows parents and kids to work together to understand even the trickiest concepts.

How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning and Languages Live or Die. David Crystal, $22.00

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we're from and even who we want to be.

I Spy a Great Reader: How to Unlock the Literacy Secret and Get Your Child Hooked On Books. Jackie French, $20.00

Does your child love books, but can't stay still long enough to focus on reading one? Would you like to improve your child's reading ability? Don't know where to begin to stimulate a greater love of reading in your child? Award-winning author Jackie French knows what it is to struggle with reading and literacy. Drawing on her own experience with dyslexia, Jackie has written this book to help parents identify the possible reading difficulties their children may have. All children learn differently, and Jackie offers many fun and rewarding way s to help launch your child into literacy. these include games for coordination, concentration and focus as well as helpful steps to kick-start your child into reading and to foster a life-long love of books. I Spy a Great Reader is filled with a wealth of advice, anecdotes and activities — it's a book every parent should own.

I’m Going to Write! Upper-Case Letters. $7.95 (ages 4-6)

This cheerfully illustrated workbook helps young children practice forming letters and numbers, while promotes reading readiness.

Also: I'm Going to Write! Lower-Case Letters. $6.95 (ages 4-6)

I'm Ready! How to Prepare Your Child for Reading Success. Janice Greenberg & Elaine Weitzman, $24.95

In this beautifully illustrated book, Janice Greenberg and Elaine Weitzman take the most current research in emergent literacy and break it down into fun, easy-to-use tips and strategies for promoting early literacy during everyday activities and conversations. Filled with practical ideas, clear examples, and useful checklists, the I'M READY guidebook helps event he busiest parent a make early literacy a natural and enjoyable part of the day.

Drawing on cutting-edge developments in biology, neurology, psychology, and linguistics, The Infinite Gift takes us inside the astonishingly complex but largely subconscious process by which children learn to talk and to understand the spoken word. Enlivened by Yang's experiences with his own young son, The Infinite Gift is as charming as it is challenging, as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. An absorbing read for parents, educators, and anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of that uniquely human gift: our ability to speak and, just as miraculous, to understand one another.

Learn to Read - Hooked on Phonics.

The Learn to Read - Hooked on Phonics reading kits each include a workbook, DVD with supporting content, a sticker sheet and a story book that the child who uses the kit will be able to read upon completion. Each kit details the skills needed to use the material, and which skills they will learn after completing the kit. While the kits are given age and grade designation, parents are encouraged to use the kit most appropriate for their child's reading level.

Learn to Read Pre-K: Unit 1. Hooked on Phonics, $9.95 (ages 3-4)

Learn to Read Pre-K: Unit 2. Hooked on Phonics, $9.95 (ages 3-4)

With these beginning reader kits, your child will learn:

• the alphabet
• recognizing and matching uppercase and lowercase letters
• identifying letter sounds
• phonemic awareness - rhyming words and beginning sounds

Learn to Read Kindergarten: Unit 1. Hooked on Phonics, $9.95 (ages 4-5)

To use this level, your child should already know:

• letter names
• letter sounds

Your child will learn:

• Short words ending in -at, -an, -ap
• commonly used "helper words"

Learn to Read First Grade: Unit 1. Hooked on Phonics, $9.95 (ages 6-7)

To use this level, your child should already know:

• short vowel sounds
• simple consonant-vowel-consonant words (cat, pig, etc.)

Your child will learn:

• beginning consonant blends
• commonly used "helper words"

Let's Get Ready for Reading: a Guide to Help Kids Become Readers. Toronto Public Library, $9.95

From the earliest age, children respond to stimuli that prepare them to enjoy books and reading. This guide offers a multitude of suggestions for parents and caregivers to foster a love of reading from the time a baby is born.

Whether it’s listening to the rhythmic cadence of chants and nursery rhymes, looking at brightly colored pictures, or listening to stories, children learn to associate reading with the warm and happy experience of spending time with a parent, grandparent, or caregiver. Filled with rhymes, songs, and games, Let’s Get Ready for Reading provides tons of suggestions for engaging kids, from using different voices for the characters in a book to helping them recognize shapes in preparation for learning the alphabet. A look at developmental milestones helps parents adapt strategies to the age of the child, while dozens of recommended books take out the guesswork during the next visit to the library or bookstore.

Little Hands & Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together. Kathy MacMillan, $19.95

Appropriate for adults who are completely new to signing, this authoritative guide on sign language helps them engage with children up to age five, regardless of their hearing ability. Each of the eight chapters contain a variety of activities, such as games, finger plays, songs, and crafts, which help children develop language learning, improve communication and self-expression, and raise their self-esteem. All vocabulary comes from American Sign Language (ASL). Illustrations of the relevant signs are prominently featured throughout the book.

M is for Maple: a Canadian Alphabet. Mike Ulmer, illustrated by Melanie Rose-Popp, $12.95

In clever rhymes and informative text, author Mike Ulmer shares the unique details of Canada. Illustrator Melanie Rose has captured the beauty and splendor of Canada, from the Northern Lights to brave Mounties and the beautiful cities of Toronto, Victoria, and Quebec. Destined to become a national classic, M is for Maple is a treasure for Canadians young and old.

Magnetic Poetry Kit® — First Words: Kid-Friendly, Creative Wordplay! $25.95

This box contains over 140 big, thick word magnets just right for little fingers. Your kids break the magnet sheets into separate tiles and install them on your fridge, a cookie sheet or any steel surface and watch a love of language emerge. Includes a special kid's guide to Magnetic Poetry. Great fun for families and educators.

Maisy's Amazing Big Book of Words. Lucy Cousins, $178.00

Open the cover and enter Maisy’s amazing world of words! This mega-Maisy book is bursting with pictures and first words perfectly suited to a preschooler’s brand-new interests, from friends to farm animals, favorite toys to things that go. Sixty-four pages, twenty-five fabulous flaps, and more than 300 wonderful words combine in a colorful, can’t-put-down collection from award-winning artist Lucy Cousins.

Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t). Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Michael Emberley, $22.99

A librarian and a contrarian face off in this tale of a reluctant reader.

My First Book of Hindi Words: an ABC Rhyming Book of Hindi Language and Indian Culture. Liana Romolo & Jaime Laurel, $15.95

My First Book of Japanese Words: an ABC Rhyming Book of Japanese Language and Culture. Michelle Haney Brown & Aya Padrón, $14.95

My First Book of Korean Words: an ABC Rhyming Book of Korean Language and Culture. Henry Amen IV & Aya Padrón, $14.95

My First Book of Tagalog Words: Filipino Rhymes and Verses. Rina Singh & Farida Zaman, $17.95

By learning a few words in another language, young children can appreciate the culture and beauty of  cultures different from their own. Bold and bright illustrations accompany these fun rhyming ABC books, and a helpful glossary at the end of each book makes it easy for readers — including parents and teachers — to review what they've learned!

a northern alphabet. Ted Harrison, $9.99 (ages 4 and up)

This beautiful alphabet book was created by one of the Yukon’s best known and loved artists, for the children of the North and for anyone intrigued by the beauty of life in far northern communities.

Numbers 1-30 Write & Wipe! Kumon Flash Cards. $11.25 (Ages 2 +)

These extra large and thick write & wipe flash cards allow children to count abstract objects (dots) and identify them with a numeral. Using a dry-erase marker and following the strokes in order as they are outlined on the card, children will learn not only how to count, but also how to write the numbers 1-30.

100 Concepts for Preschoolers: Important Ideas for 3 to 4 Year Olds. PBS Kids, $12.99

Every page of 100 Concepts for Preschoolers is designed to spark conversation between the grownup reader and the preschooler. From life cycles to opposites, to early math and literacy, to sorting and rhyming, the playful captioned pictures and themed pages encourage vocabulary growth and reasoning skills. Children three years of age and up (and their parents) will have fun exploring key concepts, while preparing for pre-school, and for life!

100 Words for Babies: First Words for the First Years. PBS Kids, $12.99

Research has shown that babies learn best when they're engaging with an adult. This fun, colorful book is designed to be read by a grownup to a child, to help babies up to two years old learn new words. From everyday household objects to animals, body parts, toys, and food, babies will love looking at the colorful pictures and learning the name for each item. The 100 words were selected by experts in child development.

100 Words for Toddlers: First Words and Phrases for 2 to 3 Year Olds. PBS Kids, $12.99

This fun, colorful book is designed to be read by a grownup to a toddler, to help 2-3 year-olds string words together for their very first phrases. Interesting photos and illustrations will encourage children to think about colors, textures, shapes, and size. (The ice cream is cold and sweet! The frog is green and bumpy...) Actions, everyday routines, and common expressions such as "more, please" and "thank you" are also covered. The Toddler 100 is a great tool for fostering learning — and together time.

One Hundred Words: Learn to Write Your First Letters with Little Mouse. Anna Kövecses, $10.99

A beautiful and fun book of handwriting exercises for children to learn to write their first words. Stylish illustrations accompany ledger lines with ghost-written, print-style letters, providing a fun way to reinforce important early skills.

One Thousand Things: Learn Your First Words with Little Mouse. Anna Kövecses, $18.99

Find out what one thousand really looks like in this visual encyclopedia of first words to see and say. Search-and-find Little Mouse on every page and discover new words with every turn of the page. Stylishly laid out, the book is arranged by theme and features fully illustrated collections of "things", each clearly labeled and easy to recognize. This value-packed 80 page book covers everything from space, to the human body, to the world around us, bringing contemporary appeal to a classic subject.

Out of the Blue. Vanita Oelschlager, illustrated by Robin Hegan, $9.95

Idioms often confuse young children because they express sentiments apart from the words' literal meanings.  They can also become a wonderful sources of verbal play, worlds of delight that mark a child's passage into advanced literacy. OUT OF THE BLUE explores color idioms and the meaning of these phrases through clever illustrations and fun wordplay.

Parenting a Struggling Reader: a Guide to Diagnosing and Finding Help for Your Child’s Reading Difficulties. Susan Hall & Louisa Moats, $18.99

The first completely comprehensive, practical guide for recognizing, diagnosing, and overcoming any childhood reading difficulty.

Acknowledging that parents often lose valuable years by waiting for their school systems to test for a child’s reading disability, Hall and Moats offer a detailed, realistic program for getting parents actively involved in their children’s reading lives. With a four-step plan for identifying and resolving deficiencies, as well as advice for those whose kids received weak instruction during the crucial early years, this is a landmark publication that promises unprecedented hope for the next generation of Information Age citizens.

Pick Up Your Pen: the Art of Handwriting. Monica Dengo, $14.95

With keyboards and touch screens dominating written communication, it can be challenge to convince children of the pleasures and benefits of handwriting. Monica Dengo’s guide to italic cursive will change that. It invites children to learn and practice handwriting with a fresh, modern aesthetic.

Offering ample room for practice, doodling and experimenting, Dengo emphasizes the inherent artistry of handwriting. Her expressive and easy-to-follow approach encourages readers to become artists with every letter they make. Handwriting has never been more simple, creative or fun!

Playful Reading: Positive, Fun Ways to Build the Bond between Preschoolers, Books, and You. Carolyn Munson-Benson, $39.95

Want to boost a child’s love of reading while making your time together more fun and meaningful? Playful Reading takes readers on a joyful romp through asset-rich children's picture books, emphasizing early literacy skills, reading for pleasure, and the eight asset categories. This collection is a terrific resource for teachers, daycare providers, parents, grandparents — anyone who spends time with children. Playful Reading comes full of activities, discussion topics, and ways to create memorable moments between children and the adults who read to them.

Preschool EnglishSmart Activities. $12.95

Preschool FrenchSmart Activities. $12.95

The PRESCHOOL ACTIVITIES series comprises systemically-developed collections of educational games and fun activities on English and French to help children develop the basic skills and concepts, as well as stimulate their interest in learning. One board game and three sheets of colourful stickers are included in each Preschool Activities title. Your child will find it fun and rewarding working through these delightful books.

Raising Boy Readers: With More than 300 Recommended Boy-Friendly Books. Michael Sullivan, $21.95

More than 300 boy-friendly books by age group are recommended, and commentary is provided for selected titles. By informing parents what is behind boys’ reading behaviors, the book helps build confidence and lower stress, and suggests ways to help boys become lifelong readers.

Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write – from Baby to Age 7. Richard Gentry, $18.95

In this empowering guide, Dr. Richard Gentry describes how to teach reading before your child enters kindergarten and how to make progress once your child is in school. He offers parents an easy-to-understand program outlining the five phases of kids’ literacy development, with age- and stage-appropriate activities that make reading and writing fun. Raising Confident Readers is a practical resource that will help to foster your child’s lifelong love of reading.

Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do. Daniel Willingham, $29.95

Everyone agrees that reading is important, but kids today tend to lose interest in reading before adolescence. In Raising Kids Who Read, bestselling author and psychology professor Daniel Willingham explains this phenomenon and provides practical solutions for engendering a love of reading that lasts into adulthood. The three key elements for reading enthusiasm — decoding, comprehension, and motivation — are explained in depth. Teachers and parents alike will appreciate the practical orientation toward supporting these three elements from birth through adolescence. Most books on the topic focus on early childhood, but Willingham understands that kids' needs change as they grow older, and the science-based approach in Raising Kids Who Read applies to kids of all ages.

Raising Passionate Readers: 5 Easy Steps to Success in School and Life. Nancy Newman, $19.99

Easy-to-do, enjoyable, science-based tips and strategies that even the busiest parents and educators can manage in the course of normal everyday routines to boost language and literacy skills and instill a love of reading in children from infancy through grade school.

Using accessible language, humor, and realistic examples of family life, Newman offers an update on recent scientific research, explains key underlying ideas, and describes dozens of effective strategies that help all children become skilled, avid readers. Raising Passionate Readers will inform, empower, and inspire parents, grandparents, educators, and pediatricians who want to help all children become lifelong readers.

Raising a Talker: Easy Activities for Birth to Age 3. Renate Zangl, $29.50

Combining fun, easy-to-do activities with research-based tips and developmental overviews, Raising a Talker helps parents and caregivers naturally transform play sessions into meaningful language-learning experiences. Little tweaks and easy changes in everyday play create nurturing environments where communication and discovery can flourish. These skills build the foundation for better communication, both now and later, and set the stage for success in school and beyond. This practical communication and language guide shows parents and caregivers how to play and talk in ways that foster children’s emerging language skills while building on their natural curiosity and exploring the world together. 

Read to Me! A Month by Month Guide to Reading with Your Baby in the First Year. Shanda LaRamee-Jones, Carol McDougall & Tracy Lowe, $7.95

Reading to a child from birth provides the sights, sounds, and touch that encourage brain development and to develop important physical and emotional bonds. Choosing books for your baby can be difficult considering the huge selection available and your baby’s quickly changing needs.

Read to Me provides helpful tips, book suggestions and a rhyme for each month of a child’s first year. The calendar format is designed to reflect the skills that your baby is developing each month. The cheerful photographs of babies playing with books encourage parents to explore the joys of reading with their baby.

The Read-Aloud Handbook, 7th Edition. Jim Trelease, $18.00

For three decades, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease's beloved classic to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. This updated edition of THE READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research (including the good and the bad news on digital learning), THE READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK offers proven techniques and strategies for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.

This is a must-have book for anyone who would like to understand more about how children learn to read — and how we can instill a lifelong love of books.

Reading with Babies, Toddlers & Twos. Susan Straub & KJ Dell’Antonia, $16.99

A guide to laughing, learning and growing together through books.

Red Socks. Ellen Mayer, $10.95

Baby has fun with Mama as she dresses Baby and talks about each item of clothing. But Uh-Oh one of Baby's socks is missing! Once the sock is found and Baby is all dressed, it's time to go play outside. Little ones will love spotting that missing sock and seeing Baby get dressed. What's more, adults can learn ways to support baby and toddler language development from Red Socks.

Small Talk Books™ are playful stories featuring young children and adults talking and having fun together. The books also show adults how to build young children's language through conversation, during everyday small moments together. Frequent Small Talks add up to big learning gains for young children!

7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child. Naomi Steiner, $17.95

For families whose children are learning a second or third language, this book offers insightful and powerful strategies to help with this enriching experience — at home and at school.

Signing Smart Board Books

My First Signs. Michelle Anthony & Reyna Lindert, $8.99

What Do You See? Michelle Anthony & Reyna Lindert, $8.99

Your child has a lot to say! Though he or she may not yet be speaking fluently, your child can tell you many exciting things — with signs.

Spell It Out! Forming First Words Puzzle. Ages 4+, $15.99

Find out which letters belong to which word! The self-correcting puzzle pieces show whether the words have been put together correctly. Several different games can be played to meet your child's developmental stage and guarantee age-appropriate learning and fun. Trains fundamental skills in association, spelling strategies, reading and word recognition.

Talk to Me, Baby! How You Can Support Young Children's Language Development. Betty Bardige, $38.50

Playful, engaging talk with young children is much more than a social activity: it's the foundation of language, intellectual, and social-emotional development, and it's also the key to narrowing the achievement gap between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Now there's a practical, easy-to-read guidebook that shows professionals and parents how to talk to and play with young children in ways that directly support their emerging language skills.

With passion, warmth, and wisdom, early education expert Betty Bardige takes readers on a fascinating tour through six stages in a young child's language development—starting with the "baby babbles” of infancy and ending with the early literacy skills of the preschool and kindergarten years.

Talking Baby: Helping Your Child Discover Language. Margaret Maclagan & Anne Buckley, $25.95

In this fascinating and informative book, Margaret Maclagan and Anne Buckley — two specialists in children’s language development — explain the subtle and extraordinary process in which children learn to talk and the very important role that parents and grandparents can play.

Combining a comprehensive understanding of speech development with fascinating scientific facts — did you know babies cry with an accent? — Talking Baby offers numerous practical suggestions and real-life examples of how parents can best help their children to learn to talk. The authors also provide many ideas for ‘talking’ topics, as well as ways to use the everyday things in life to encourage children’s comprehension and speech.

Teach Your Baby to Sign: an Illustrated Guide to Simple Sign Language for Babies. Monica Beyer, $16.99

You can hear — your baby can hear — so what's the deal?

Research (funded by the National Institutes of Health) has found that signing babies: talk sooner and have larger vocabularies; have stronger parent/child bonds; have less frustration, crying and tantrums; show more interest in books; engage in more sophisticated play; and have higher IQ scores. Teach Your Baby to Sign features photographs of babies signing, plus line illustrations of each sign. It provides 200 useful signs, so parents can have a wide selection to choose from, along with stage-by-stage guidance so they'll know which signs to teach first and which to add as they and their baby become progressively more skilled and comfortable with signing.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox & Elaine Bruner, $32.00

Is your child halfway through first grade and still unable to read? Is your preschooler bored with coloring and ready for reading? Do you want to help your child read, but are afraid you’ll do something wrong?

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a complete, step-by-step program that shows parents simply and clearly how to teach their children to read. Twenty minutes a day is all you need, and within 100 teaching days your child will be reading on a solid second-grade reading level. It’s a sensible, easy-to-follow, and enjoyable way to help your child gain the essential skills of reading. Everything you need is here — no paste, no scissors, no flash cards, no complicated directions — just you and your child learning together. One hundred lessons, fully illustrated and color-coded for clarity, give your child the basic and more advanced skills needed to become a good reader.

Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain. Dana Suskind, $36.00

Professor Dana Suskind, explains why the most important — and astoundingly simple — thing you can do for your child’s future success in life is to talk to him or her. Her book reveals the recent science behind this truth, and outlines precisely how parents can best put it into practice by following the three Ts: Tune in to what your child is doing; Talk more to your child using lots of descriptive words; and Take turns with your child as you engage in conversation. 

The neuroscience of brain plasticity is some of the most valuable and revolutionary medical science being done today. It enables us to think and do better, making a difference in the lives of both the old and young.  This landmark book is essential reading for parents and educators alike.

Time to Sign: Sign Language for Kids. Kathryn Clay, $9.95 (ages 5-9)

This helpful kid-friendly guide teaches the basics of American Sign Language (ASL). Kids will learn hundreds of words and phrases to help them communicate in everyday situations. Instructions on how to fingerspell the alphabet provides a good base to get started. It's time to sign!

Time to Talk: What You Need to Know about Your Child's Speech and Language Development. Michelle MacRoy-Higgins & Carlyn Kolker, $27.50

Wondering when to expect baby’s first word? Want to get your toddler talking? Worried your child is not speaking as clearly as his peers? When it comes to language acquisition, all parents have questions…and Time to Talk has the answers. Written by an experienced speech-language pathologist and mom, this practical and proactive guide will help you:

Understand the building blocks of speech and language • Monitor progress against expected milestones • Enhance your child’s communication skills • Spot signs of potential problems with hearing, speech, or language development • Address common concerns, such as articulation, late talking, stuttering, dyslexia, and more • Get the best results from speech and language therapy • Foster literacy • Raise bilingual children successfully • And more

From baby’s first babbling to reading readiness, this speech-language booster and trouble-shooter covers it all.

uKloo Early Reader Treasure Hunt Game. $16.95 (ages 4 and up)

uKloo is an early literacy game that makes reading fun, builds confidence and promotes independence. With three levels of achievement for early readers, it builds sight reading and research skills and provides the basics of sentence structure. Fun and easy to play, uKloo will have your child reading — and loving it!

Visual Guide to Grammar and Punctuation: a First Reference for Young Writers and Readers. Sheila Dignen, $21.99

A clear, precise, and comprehensive book that will give children the tools to build confidence in reading, writing, and comprehension through visual explanation. From when to use a preposition or pronoun to how to use a comma or colon, Visual Guide to Grammar and Punctuation covers all the most important grammar topics in DK's signature style. Each example provided is supported by a picture, making it accessible and comprehensible, and clear and simple text and repetition help to solidify knowledge and understanding.

Visual Guide to Grammar and Punctuation will improve a child's confidence in using the building blocks of reading and writing, and is a book they will refer to again and again.

What Does a LION Say? And Other Playful Language Games. PBS & the Between the Lions Staff, $17.50

With on-the-go games that are perfect for busy lifestyles, this book is filled with fun and easy literacy games for you to play with your children anytime, anywhere.

What to Read When: the Books and Stories to Read with Your Child and All the Best Times to Read Them. Pam Allyn, $19.00

A celebration of storytelling, What to Read When shows parents how choosing the right books can shape thoughtful, creative, curious children with a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

Wipe-Clean Words to Copy. $8.95 (ages 3+)

A wipe-clean activity book to help young children start reading and writing simple words. Each page has simple words to trace, from things at the beach to food, colours and toys, with friendly monsters to help out on each page. Great for pen control, and each page wipes clean so children can practise their new skills again and again.

The Write Start: a Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories. Jennifer Hallissy, $20.50

Jennifer Hallissy believes that if you give children a solid foundation of writing basics, they will develop a love of writing that lasts a lifetime. In this book, she shares the secrets for supporting young writers, from the smallest of scribblers to middle-schoolers mastering script. From teaching a child how to hold a pencil and form the letters of the alphabet, to creating writing spaces and meaningful writing rituals at home, this book gives you all of the information and inspiration you need to raise a confident writer.

52 playful activities offer specific suggestions to meet the needs of Scribblers (pre-writers), Spellers (emerging writers), Storytellers (beginner writers), and Scholars (more experienced young writers) — providing the just-right combination of fun and functional skill development.

The Writing Road to Reading: the Spalding Method for Teaching Speech, Spelling, Writing, and Reading, 6th Edition. Romalda Bishop Spalding & Mary Elizabeth North, $31.99

THE WRITING ROAD TO READING is a total language arts program that has been used by teachers and parents to teach millions of students to spell, write, and read. Now fully updated to reflect the latest research on how children learn language, this newest edition is easier to use than ever.

The Spalding Method helps train the right and left sides of the brain as children see, hear, read, and write. It is cost-effective and efficient; students use pencils, paper, and their minds. Children learn to connect speech sounds to print and begin to write and read almost magically. Spalding students perform well in the classroom and on tests — and, most important, they love to read and write.

You Make the Difference in Helping Your Child Learn. Ayala Manolson et al, $24.95 (also available in French, Dutch, Chinese, Spanish, and an Aboriginal edition); DVD format $55.00

Parents of all young children will love this easy to read guidebook. It provides a simple, step-by-step approach to improving parent-child interactions and creating language opportunities for all children, especially those who are at-risk. The simple language, colourful illustrations and humorous cartoons help make the book especially useful for parents who prefer simplified text and those whose first language is not English.

Your Child's Writing Life: How to Inspire Confidence, Creativity and Skill at Every Age. Pam Allyn, $19.50

An illuminating resource to help parents foster a love of writing in their child's life.

Z is for Zamboni: a Hockey Alphabet. Matt Napier, illustrated by Melanie Rose, $9.95

Z is for Zamboni is an ode to hockey fans young and old across North America. Matt Napier's ‘breakaway’ rhymes and ‘hard-checking’ expository text team up with the top-shelf illustrations of Melanie Rose to elucidate this increasingly popular game for every beginning hockey aficionado. Highlighting rules, players, coaches, teams, and the history of the game, it is both fun and educational.