A Fish to Feed

A young tot buys a fish with her father.This board book's narrative describes the sea rch for a fish, but the real goal is helping little ones develop their verbal skills. A note for parents on the opening pages outlines the importance of constantly involving a toddler in conversation in order to expand their communication skills. Narrating the day's events and replying back to toddlers' single-word responses with affirmative language is key and readily displayed in the book's narrative. A father has decided to take his daughter out to buy a fish, and the pair pokes around the store before finding the perfect pet. "Look fish! Fish! Fish!" exclaims the enthusiastic African-American toddler (she has fabulous, wild hair). "Yes, I see the toy fish too," replies the dad. "That's a pretend fish to play with, not a fish to swim in our bowl." This is a book best read by little ones that are starting to talk here and there but are still developing vocabulary and sentence structure. A similar title, Red Socks, goes one step down the developmental ladder and is ai med at those that are barely cooing.A straightforward, informative, and joyous read for both parent and child.