Age by age, 0 to 8

Birth to 12 months

Sharing a book with a newborn is not too early. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends shared reading beginning at birth.

• Shared reading beginning at birth and continuing at least through kindergarten.¹
• Choose books with simple rhymes and bold pictures, and name and point to the pictures that catch your baby's attention.²
• Babies learn through back-and-forth: they babble, gesture or cry and an adult answers with eye contact, words or a hug. Harvard calls this serve and return.³

What our stories do: Otter & Moon

Pim's Bath has one step and one naming word on every spread, a clear last page and a refrain to say or sing. It is made for 6 to 24 months and is only a minute or two long.

12 to 24 months

• Let your child hold the book and turn the pages, and follow their lead on how long to read.^{4, 5}
• Talk about the pictures. Young children need to hear the same story many times to understand it fully, so rereading is a feature.⁴

What our stories do: Pim Holds On

Made for 9 to 30 months. Holding on moves from outside to inside: Mama's paw first, then a piece of kelp, then Pim's own paws. A short parting comes with a reliable return.

2 to 3 years

• In one experiment with young children, children who heard the same stories repeatedly recalled and retained new names for objects far better than children who heard different stories.⁶
• Toddlers are building self-control, and a reason plus a timer they can watch helps with waiting.⁷
• Tantrums are a normal part of development and happen most between ages 1 and 3.⁸
• Try asking open questions, adding to what your child says and following their answers while you read. This is dialogic reading. In a one-month home trial, parents trained to read this way had children who did better on expressive language measures, and a later meta-analysis looked at the effect on vocabulary.^{9, 10}

What our stories do: Tully Tidepool

Made for 2½ to 4. Each book is one change: a new baby, a first day. Tully's shell is too small, too tight, too big and then just right. Under four, plots run on wants and feelings, and the big events are told simply.

3 to 5 years

• Imaginary play, storytelling and play plans are all practice at thinking first and then acting.¹¹
• Children learn to take turns and share in small groups.¹²
• As children get older, questions can connect the story to their own life. One set of prompts used in dialogic reading is called CROWD: completion, recall, open-ended, wh- questions and distancing, which makes connections to the child's life.¹³

What our stories do: The Quillers and Pop's Workshop

Made for 4 to 7. Pretend play and sibling games in the canyon, and a granddaughter who checks her grandfather's tall tales at his workbench. Surprises start here, with a gentle twist at the end. Pop's Workshop books end with a make-it project for ages 6 to 8, with adult supervision and safety notes.

5 to 7 years

• Games with rules become fun, and strategy games give practice at making and holding a plan.¹⁴
• Play remains a main way children build social, language and self-regulation skills.¹⁵

6 to 8 years

Shared reading does not stop when children start to read alone. The AAP statement says to continue at least through kindergarten, and many families keep going well beyond.

• Shared reading continuing at least through kindergarten.¹

What our stories do: Stilts & Snip

Made for 5 to 8. Speech bubbles carry the story, one or two a page, with common sight words for new readers. Plan First! is for ages 5 to 7 and Snip Gets Stuck for 6 to 8. They end on a joke or a reversal, not a moral.

Milestones and concerns

The CDC publishes milestone checklists for 2, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months (listed as 1 year), 15 and 18 months, 2 years, 30 months, and 3, 4 and 5 years. Milestones are placed at the age when about 75 percent or more of children would be expected to do them. Every child is different, and a checklist is a prompt to talk to your pediatrician, not a test.

• CDC developmental milestone checklists, by age.^{16, 17}
• The AAP's Ages & Stages hub on HealthyChildren.org covers each stage.¹⁸