Books in Disguise: Discovery

Does your little one like to dress up and play pretend? Or play peekaboo with you or another favorite grownup? Mine still loves to hide under the covers or behind a door and pop out with a "BOO!" and a cascade of giggles. That sort of play is just what little kids need for their social, emotional, and physical development.

Take a look at these titles I've gathered to find your ideal book "in disguise"!

My favorite little person is very into Little Blue Truck's Halloween right now. It's a lift-the-flap board book, where a character is first shown and described in costume and then ("Under the mask -- who do you see?") revealed as a familiar friend. Even though we've read it dozens of times, she loves throwing open the final spread to reveal the big surprise. This is the first year that she'll be choosing her own Halloween costume (and it changes from moment to moment!) so it's great for her to see examples of how creative disguises can be.

In the grand tradition of asking children to make guesses and solve puzzles we have books like Whose Knees Are These? and Who Has These Feet? The clues and repetition allow young ones to work out the answer from incomplete information (very useful practice for a growing brain) and reinforce it with the correct result on the next page or at the very end of the book. Even the simple rhymes in many picture books help a child predict and anticipate what words come next to make the right sound.

Play is one of the 5 things we ask grownups to do to encourage literacy in young children -- and it's just plain fun! Hope you enjoy these books.