How timeless children’s books can strengthen your connection with your reader

Children’s books are like walking into a record store and hearing your favorite song from your teen years playing– pure nostalgia. Suddenly, you’re not there, but transported to another blip in time with another body, another spirit. Often, I think of children’s books as the same. 

We look at these picture-filled stories and fawn over them with a deep admiration and nostalgia for the past. The colors, the pictures, and words from gentler times come out from memory, the days when we were held in moments of connection, sitting on the carpeted floor of a library with our favorite book. 

As I watch a tutor grab a Chikka Chikka Boom Boom book with excitement on their student’s face, I watch two relationships unfold at the same time: the student and tutor and the student and reading. It couldn’t be more rewarding. The unfolding of the relationship is like opening a new book, where you never know what you may get but are open to the magic that happens afterward. 

Children’s books are really about connection, and a great way for students to develop a better relationship with reading is for tutors to pick a book that they both enjoy. The timelessness of classic children’s books can help create stronger tutor-student connections. Here are some tips for how to cultivate them. 

Connecting with kids through timeless children’s books

A great point of encouragement that allows tutors to ease into the curriculum as well as gain strides with students is reading a book that interests both the student and the tutor. One way to do this is to think about your own favorite books from childhood and see if you can find them for you and a young reader to read together. Program coordinators in reading centers can have on hand well-known classics for tutors to choose from, such as Where the Wild Things Are orCorduroy. In my reading center, I witness students and tutors easing into the rhythm and play of the words, carefully holding the book, and taking their time to read all with the same interest in getting to know the story again, just like their students. 

When a tutor grabs a book and is excited to read the story, they look forward to reading it and becoming a model for their student. When students can observe in real time a tutor re-entering a story from their childhood, slowly inviting themselves to reexperience this joy again, it becomes a moment that students can be a part of as well. 

We don’t just read because we have to – we read because we get to. Because we love a good story, it stays with us forever. It can even turn into a lively conversation once you ask students questions like, “What do you think makes this story a favorite over the years?” Adult readers can share their own memories of the book, why it carried significance to them, and ask their student why they think the story may still be relevant today!

My timeless book choice: Corduroy

I don’t get excited for every story my kids choose, but am tender-hearted when I get to read Corduroy by Don Freeman to my students. The story feels familiar. The pictures and pages make me not feel so out of place and I know exactly where we are, where the story is going, where we end up, and I can easily guide the student through the questions throughout the read-aloud. 

I also have fun reading it. My voice rises, falls, and pauses at just the right moments because I get to act out one of my favorite childhood stories. I remember the wonder I felt at watching a toy come to life at a department store on the page, that there was another life in unexpected things. 

Often, children’s books allow us to imagine another life and world, which creates that feeling of timelessness in a book. It is an unimaginable experience and a special gift to read a timeless book with a young reader for the first time. Plus, if you’re a tutor nervous about your first session with your student, reading your favorite childhood book with them could help you comfortably ease into the lesson and be the spark you need for a deep, long-lasting connection.” 

Overall, classic, timeless children’s books are a great way to engage students and tutors and can help them connect over stories that have been with us for generations.

Continuing to find the joy in reading

If you’re tutoring a student or have a young reader at home, I recommend sharing some of your favorite books from childhood with them. The connection of a good childhood story is timeless. Once a child finds the joy in reading, the rest is history. 

What are your favorite books from childhood? 

Some timeless children’s book recommendations:

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• Chikka Chikka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Rainbow Fish by Eric Carle
• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• No, David, No! by David Shannon
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Froggy Rides a Bike! by Jonathan London
• Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown