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Have a story read to your child by famous actors: James Earl Jones, Robert Guillaume, Pamela Reed, Al Gore, Jason Alexander, and other Screen Actors Guild (SAG) members!

Storylineonline.net is an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children's books. There are 22 titles to choose from, and each story has an accompanying activity guide that you can download and print out, to enhance your child's learning.





Source: Freebies4Mom

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Dolly Parton launched a fantastic initiative which promotes reading for children called the Imagination Library. The initiative would provide for a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 and mail it directly to their home.

The Imagination Library is available in select Canadian locations. The newest location is the Yukon, and other Canadian locations include Edmonton (AB), Kelowna (BC), Merritt (BC), Dauphin (MB), St. John (NB), Acadia (NS), Deer Lake (ON), and many more.

To find out if there is an Imagination Library initiative where you live, check with the Imagination Library website here.

Read more about the Imagination Library and starting the program in your area. I'm hoping an organization will start this initiative in Vancouver!



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It's never too early to start exposing your baby to the alphabet and reading! Studies have shown that the earlier you begin reading to your child and exposing him or her to more vocabulary, the faster the child will learn when he or she eventually starts schooling.

Starfall.com offers free online learn-to-read games and other learning activities. There are dozens of interactive learning activities to choose from, all very professionally done.

I particularly like the ABCs interactive section, it is perfect for playing along with baby or toddlers! There is also a hand signing section!

The site also has lots of fun stuff like building a gingerbread man. There is also a downloads section with lots more great learning printouts.

Primarily designed for first grade, Starfall is also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade, and perfect for homeschooling.

This site is recognized and highly rated by The Reading Teacher named Starfall.com one of "Five Internet sites too good to miss" (May 2006). In 2005 and again in 2008, Homeschool.com recognized Starfall as one of their top five educational websites.

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Why do I love the book Goodnight Moon?

I was reading this book tonight to my 7-month old boy, and was in awe of the development of the tiny human being. I was in awe because it seems that my boy can now understand the concept, and perhaps even the words, "turn the page".

I had received Goodnight Moon as a gift, having never heard of it beforehand. My initial reading of the book - about saying good-night to various objects in a room - left me very unimpressed. I found the drawings and the colours unimpressive and I couldn't understand what was so great about the writing. I abandoned the book.

A few weeks later I read the book Baby Read-Aloud Basics: Fun and Interactive Ways to Help Your Little One Discover the World of Words (another book I love, for another posting!). This book lists Goodnight Moon as recommended reading material for baby. So I decided to give it another try; baby was 4 months old at the time. To my surprise he was mesmerised by the book. Every time we opened the book I had his undivided attention. I found myself enjoying the book - there is something quite charming about the words when read aloud slowly and deliberately for my son. I now found the drawings quaint and a reminder of a time long past.

My husband reads the book to him on most nights now; it is good bonding time. Sure some passages don't make sense - the "old lady whispering hush" is drawn as a rabbit, not a lady! But I still look forward to many many nights of reading this with my son, and as he grows, we can discover all the little items in the drawings in the book together.

While we read to our son as much as possible, our Goodnight Moon bedtime reading has been the one constant read-aloud routine we have established. I love seeing how baby is becoming more aware of the book's contents and touching the pages. And maybe that's why baby seems to now understand "turn the page".

That's why I love Goodnight Moon. Makes it a good Mom deal to me.

What baby read-aloud book do you love? I'd love to hear about it.