Invite an infant to sit on your lap to read a book. Introduce the book by pointing to the cover and encouraging the infant to look at the picture with you. Example: “Look, do you see the fish? Our book has pictures of different things. I wonder what we are going to see. Let’s open the book and find out!”

Encourage the infant to turn book pages with you. Share the book with strategies, such as the following:

• Point to and name objects pictured. Encourage the infant to look at the objects with you. Example: (Point to each object as you say its name.) “This is an elephant. Here is the elephant’s trunk. Here is the tail. These are the elephant’s feet.”
• Describe what the infant is looking at. Example: “These are cookies. You are looking closely at the two cookies. They are round with bumpy edges. Look at the tiny holes inside the cookies!”
• Pause and talk about the pictures that seem to be of particular interest to the infant. You may wish to provide additional context or information. Example: “You are looking at the glasses. I wear glasses on my eyes to help me see. Your mommy wears glasses too! We wear glasses on our eyes.”
• Describe and respond to gestures or vocalizations. Example: “You are touching the picture of the fork and spoon. You are smiling! You use a spoon to eat your cereal in the morning! I think you like this picture.”
• Help the infant connect book information to their own experiences and developing knowledge. Example: “This is a bib. You wear a bib when it is time to eat. Look at the next picture. What do you see? I see a spoon! First you put on a bib. Then you use a spoon to eat your cereal! What else do you see?”
• Use your voice to add interest and enjoyment.
• Follow the infant’s cues about the pace of looking at book pages.
  • Turn the pages as slowly or as quickly as the infant seems to prefer.
  • Watch the infant’s cues to know when to stop looking at the book.
• Recognize the infant’s participation in the book reading. Example: “We had fun looking at the pictures in this book together, Sam. You touched the picture of the glasses. You smiled at the cookies! You helped turn the pages. I think you liked this book!”

Invite an older infant to read a book with you. The infant may wish to sit next to you or prefer to stand close while you read. Introduce the book and invite the infant to help you hold the book and turn the pages. You may wish to keep all of the pages in your right hand except for the page to be turned. This will help the infant to turn one page at a time. A standing infant may want to use one hand to help turn the pages.

Once the infant is comfortable and ready to read, point to the picture on the book cover. Example: “Look, do you see the fish? Our book has pictures of different things. Would you like to help me turn the page to look at the pictures?” The infant may help you turn the page or turn the pages independently. Use strategies, such as the following, to share the book with the infant:

• Point to and label objects in the pictures. Example: (Point to each object as you name.) “This is a clown doll. Look at the little ball on the clown’s hat! Here are the arms of the clown. Let’s touch the clown’s legs! What else do we see?”
• Invite the infant to point to objects that you label. Example: “I see a picture of a spoon. Do you see the spoon? You can point to the spoon!”
• Describe what the infant is looking at and provide additional information. Example: “You are looking at a picture of the keys. The keys are on a chain. I am going to point to each key. Here is a key. Here is a key. Here is a key. And here is another key! Wow, there are a lot of keys in this picture!”
• Describe and respond to gestures or vocalizations. Example: “You said ‘baby.’ You are looking at the picture of the clown doll. The doll looks like a baby!”
• Help the infant connect book information to his/her experiences and understandings. Example: “This is a leaf. Leaves grow on trees and plants. There are leaves on the tree on our playground.”
• Invite the infant to say (repeat) names of items you describe, such as the spoon, cookie, or “baby” (clown doll).
• Follow the infant’s cues regarding how quickly or slowly to turn the pages.
• Conclude the activity by recognizing the infant’s participation. Example: “You helped me hold our book, Franco. You opened and closed your mouth when you looked at the spoon! You pointed to the bucket. You turned the pages to see what was next! We had fun reading our book together.”