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Start Your Reading Engines…

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There’s a lot of talk in education circles about the literacy gender gap. Boys are lagging behind girls in reading and writing.

I’ve heard author Jon Scieszka of Guys Read.com on NPR talk about how to close this gap. One of his suggestions for closing the literacy gender gap is encouraging male role models for reading. 

I love reading to Baby Mwah, and so does my husband. But our choices of reading materials are quite different. While I’ve been reading Dr. Seuss, Mother Goose, Richard Scary, and other children’s classics, I’ve caught my husband reading Car and Driver Magazine and the Wall Street Journal to the baby with far greater enthusiasm than I’ve ever seen him muster for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. As exciting as Car and Driver Magazine is, I’m trying to encourage my husband to read more child-friendly books.  

I recently received review samples of some new transportation-themed children’s books, and I was happy to see that my car-loving husband enjoyed reading them as much as I do.

Roadwork! is chock full of illustrations showing each step of how a road is built. Vividly-illustrated pictures of machines, rhyming verses and fun sounds (screek, squelch, swish, ping, bang, tap, and more) make this book a joy to read.

Clemence and His Noisy Little Fire Engine: A Mini Bugs Book is part of the Mini Bugs Series. Learn the parts of the truck and make siren sounds as you race to the rescue on a fire engine with Clemence the bug and his friends.

If you’re tired of making animal noises while you read, go along for a car ride to Grandma’s House in Beep Beep or for a train ride in Choo Choo instead. Your pre-schooler will VROOM VROOM and BEEP BEEP along with the car and CLACK CLACK and TOOT TOOT along with the train.

Win It:
Candlewick Press is giving away a set of Mini Bugs books to one lucky Mamanista reader. For a chance to enter, visit www.candlewick.com and leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm EST on September 19, 2008 letting us know your favorite Candlewick Press Children’s Book.

The opinions expressed on Mamanista.com are based on a single consumer user testing, and are solely those of the author. Any factual claims, including but not limited to safety testing, are based on information from the manufacturer. Mamanista.com receives sample products for testing. Paid placements, such as announcements of sales or sponsored contests are clearly marked. See our disclosure policy.