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Mem Fox is picture book author of many beloved books for children, including听Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Assistant Editor Meghan Dombrink-Green interviewed Mem about children鈥檚 books and why reading aloud to children is so important. 听

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Can you talk about the bonds between parents and children that come from reading aloud?

Parents get to know their children through the way they read to their children and what they鈥檙e reading. Parents get to know their children鈥檚 character, and children get to know their parents. There鈥檚 a fondness that develops that鈥檚 just gorgeous.听

When they鈥檙e reading to their children, how can parents expand on the book or text or the words in a book?

The book will initiate conversations that go for miles, on this detour and that. They talk about the world and the way it works, relatives who live close by or don鈥檛, things that happen during the day. The book is a pathway to the rest of the world, to a huge conversation about what鈥檚 going on in the child鈥檚 life.听

Your book听Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes听contains a lot of repetition. How does repetition works in read-alouds and how does it help children learn to read?

Rhyme, rhythm, and repetition are incredibly important in books for small children. When children are born, they鈥檝e been used to the mother鈥檚 heartbeat in the womb. When they鈥檙e born, they鈥檙e rocked and cradled. There is a rhythm to life itself. There鈥檚 rhythm in the nursery rhymes and songs that are sung to children. And those rhythms and rhymes are like a bridge from spoken language to the written language.

As an educator, I know that if children cannot learn the skill of predicting what鈥檚 going to come next in language, they can鈥檛 learn to read. They have to know what鈥檚 coming next in a sentence. Otherwise they might read a sentence as, 鈥淗e galloped away on his house.鈥� He or she might not know that doesn鈥檛 make sense. But a child who can read 鈥済alloped鈥� will know that it鈥檚 going to be听horse听next and not听house. The child can predict what it鈥檚 going to be and then check it with the print. The ability to predict language is crucial to learning to read and picture books teach that prediction.

How can parents of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers encourage a love of reading?听

Read from birth and keep doing it. Start from birth with the right book and know your child. Know what they can stand, know whether they need a very short book or not. You have to know your child, and you have to know your books.

Finding the right book is about asking friends, asking librarians, and asking childcare teachers. It鈥檚 about looking online at blogs by people who love children鈥檚 books, read them to their children, and blog about it. I think people will be surprised by what their children like and don鈥檛 like. Our grandson loves a particular book about a witch and a cat, but neither my husband nor I can bear reading it to him. You can never account for what they want, but you have to go with their taste. So we read that darn book over and over again!

I鈥檓 also very, very surprised at what my grandson can cope with in terms of length. My book听The Goblin and the Empty Chair听is not appropriate for his age group. He doesn鈥檛 understand what it means. He can鈥檛 possibly know what a goblin is. He can鈥檛 know what a 鈥渟till pond鈥� is, and yet he is absolutely mesmerized by that book. I would鈥檝e said that that was a book for 5- to 7-year-olds. So, just because a book is long doesn鈥檛 mean to say that the child won鈥檛 like it. Conversely, just because a book is short doesn鈥檛 mean a child will like it.

Can you tell us about your two new books,听Two Little Monkeys, which came out in May, and听Tell Me About Your Day, published in September, about a boy who talks to his stuffed animals about his day?

I鈥檓 thrilled about听Two Little Monkeys听for two reasons: (1) I grew up in Africa and it鈥檚 a very African book, and (2) it鈥檚 the kind of book that I know children will learn to read by because of its repetition and rhythm and simplicity.

You know when you ask children 鈥淲hat happened today?鈥� they often say nothing happened. In听Tell Me about Your Day Today,听I wanted to nudge children into remembering that when they are dropping off to sleep they can look back on the day and think about all the things that happened.

I know that lots of children have a special toy, and I love the idea of a child telling the toys鈥攁nd the toys telling the child鈥攁bout their day, after the lights are out and when the child is alone in bed.

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