Invite an infant to join in to look at a book about babies. Clap your hands while smiling and encourage the infant to clap his/her hands. Say “Clap! Clap!” Explain that the first picture in our book shows babies clapping their hands. Invite the infant to sit on your lap. Introduce the book by pointing to and describing the actions of babies on the cover. Example: “Look, do you see the babies? The babies are using their hands to clap! We just clapped our hands!”

Open the book and begin looking at the pictures and reading the text, using the following strategies:

• Invite the infant to help you turn the pages of the book. Turn the pages as slowly or as quickly as the infant seems to prefer. It is not necessary to look at each page.
• Read the few words of text on each page and use your own words to describe pictures.
• Spend more time on pictures that appear to be of particular interest to the infant. Offer more information about what is shown in the picture. Example: “You are looking at the babies making music. This baby is banging on a drum. This baby is pretending to blow a trumpet! The babies are having fun making different sounds.”
• Describe and respond to gestures and/or vocalizations.
• Help the infant connect book information to his/her own experiences. Example: “These babies are having a snack. This baby is putting food in his mouth. This baby is drinking from a cup. We have snacks in our room. You drink from milk from a cup. Look, the milk in this picture is spilling! Uh-oh!”
• Vary the tone and pace of your voice to add interest to the book sharing.
• Recognize the infant’s participation in the book reading. Example: “We had fun reading this book together, Logan. You looked at the pictures of the babies. The babies were doing different things. We clapped our hands like the babies in the pictures! You said ‘bye’ at the picture of the babies waving.”

Invite an older infant to read a book with you. The infant may wish to sit next to you or stand close while you read. Invite the infant to help you hold the book and turn its pages. You may wish to keep all 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. Follow infant’s cues as to how quickly or slowly to turn the pages. The infant may want to return to a favorite page several times. It is not necessary to look at all pictures.

Once the infant is comfortable and ready, point to the picture on the book cover. Example: “Look, the babies are moving their hands. The babies are clapping their hands! We can clap our hands, too. Let’s clap our hands!”

Use the following strategies to engage the infant in the book:

• Read the text on each page and use your own words to describe what is happening in the illustrations.
• Invite the infant to point to objects that you label. Example: “One of the babies in this picture is drinking from a cup. Where is the cup?”
• Spend more time talking about pictures that seem to be of particular interest to the infant. Offer more information about the picture. Example: “These babies are dancing. The babies are moving their hands and bodies. This baby is clapping. This baby is turning around! I think the babies are having fun dancing together.”
• Invite the infant to imitate some of the actions of the babies shown in the book, such as clapping, dancing, and waving hello.
• Describe and respond to the infant’s gestures and/or vocalizations.
• Help the infant connect book information to his/her experiences. Example: “The babies are waving. Sometimes we wave hello. Sometimes we wave bye-bye. You waved bye-bye to your daddy this morning!”
• Recognize the infant’s participation in the book reading. Example: “You helped me hold our book, Jordan. You turned the pages to look at the pictures. You clapped your hands. You waved your hands. You bounced your body and danced! We had fun together with our book!”