The Return of High Contrast Books

High Contrast books were our son's favorite books for about the first four months of his life.  But as his eyesight improved my husband and I move onto other books.  After all, we were a bit sick of looking at the same simple black and white pictures with one word per page.  So when our son started to show interest in other books we were more than happy to put those books aside to accommodate his changing tastes.    However, three weeks ago I pulled out one of his high contrast books to move into our family room for the week.  (We keep most of his books in his room, but actually do most of our reading in the family room so I pull a fresh selection of books to move from the nursery to the family room each Sunday.)  It wasn't that I thought he'd be that interested in the book, it's just that we hadn't read it in awhile and I like to pull a new selection of books each week.  Well, imagine my surprise when he loved the high contrast book.  I pulled it out to read and he was captivated.  His eyes were focused on the page, and his hands were involved too.  He kept slapping the pages, not really pointing at different things but just reaching out to touch all over each page.  I truly hadn't seem him that excited about a book in ages!  I was shocked.  I thought he'd be mildly interested, but mostly just board with the overly simple black and white drawings.  Boy was I wrong!  I thought maybe it was just a fluke.  Maybe he was just excited because he hadn't been read that book in about three months.  So, I pulled it out the next day too, curious to see if his interest would still be high, and it sure was.  There, for the second day in a row, was excited exuberance to look at the pages of this book.  I told my husband about the unexpected response when he arrived home from work and he sat down to read the book with our son and even though we'd just looked at the book about an hour ago, he put on the same display of enthusiasm with my husband that he did for me.  Needless to say, we learned our lesson.  A seven month old is not too old for high contrast books.  We'll be sure to keep our three high contrast books in our regular rotation, at least as long as our son's enthusiasm lasts.

Just in case you'd like to get your hands on some high contrast books, here are a few titles.  The first three we own and love.  The last three we just check out of the library.

1. Fish and Canoe by Flying Frog Publications
2. Me and You by Flying Frog Publications
3. Sock and Shoe by Flying Frog Publications
4. Cluck and Moo by Flying Frog Publications
5. Look Look by Peter Linenthal
6. Hello Bugs!  By Smriti Prasadam

Favorite Books at 4 months

Over the Thanksgiving holiday our son turned 4 months.  So I thought I'd take a moment to write about his current favorite books.

1. High Contrast Books- I've written about these before.  These books are my son's favorite books and have been for about 2 months.  The high contrast books we have feature simple, very large black and white pictures.  Each page has one or two words so we mostly fill in the story as he stares at the pictures.  We picked up our set at our local used book store and they have proved to be worth every penny.  No other books at this stage come close to holding his attention the way these books do.
(Shop: Sock and Shoe, Fish and Canoe, Me and You, Cluck and Moo)

2. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton- We have several Sandra Boynton books, but my son seems to prefer this one right now.  This book features a simple rhyming story about some barnyard animals square dancing.  It is simple, cute, and silly.  It has Boynton's trademark illustrations.  When we read this to him we try to get him physically involved with the story.  For example, when the text says "stomp your feet" we'll take his feet and tap them on the floor.  So he may just enjoy this one since we make it so interactive for him.

I know the list seems short, but 4 month old babies don't have a huge attention span for reading at this point.  I can't wait to see how his reading interests grow and change as he develops.

High Contrast Books

The first books we read to our son when he came home were high contrast books.  At 3.5 months age they are his favorite books.  We were lucky enough to stumble upon three high contrast books at our local used bookstore.  For just $1 a piece we purchased  Fish and Canoe, Me and You, and Sock and Shoe.  All three books are published by Flying Frog and written by Frida Bing.  (There is a fourth book, Cluck and Moo, but sadly we couldn't find it at the used bookstore.)  All four of these books are sturdy board books.  These were the first books that our son showed any interest in. 

The idea behind high contrast books has more to do with the development of a baby's eyes than his reading abilities.  Babies are not born with 20/20 vision, it takes time to develop.  So, at first what they are most drawn to look at are bright colors, and high contrast items.  They make high contrast flash cards, but why use flash cards when you could read a book!  His interest in these books really started to pick up around 2 months of age.  As an adult you won't be all that impressed with the books, but just watch your baby stare at the pictures and you'll soon fall in love with them yourself!  The books feature simple illustrations in black and white with one or two words of text per page.  It is one of my favorite activities to put my son in my lap and read to him and talk about the pictures while he looks in wonder at the images in front of him.  In addition to exercising his developing eye sight, he is learning the joy of sitting in a parent's lap and being read to.  If you haven't given high contrast books a chance they are worth checking out for the truly young readers in your house.