Jennifer Birckmayer has been an early childhood educator, speaker, lecturer, and author for more than forty years. She recently retired from her position as senior extension associate for the Department of Human Development at Cornell University (New York, USA). She is a consultant/trainer for Libraries for the Future, Family Place Libraries, and the State University of New York Early Childhood Training Strategies Group. Among her publications are Bookstart (with B.J. Westendorf) and Discipline Is Not a Dirty Word. Anne Kennedy has worked in the field of early childhood education for more than thirty years as a teacher and child care director and also as a teacher educator at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). Dr. Kennedy’s research and publications have focused mainly on ethics in early childhood education and early literacy. She is currently the chairperson of Community Childcare Victoria, which represents community-owned children’s services, including long day care, family child care, and out of school hours care. Anne Stonehouse is an early childhood education leader in both the United States and Australia. She has worked for more than thirty-five years as a trainer, academic, consultant, conference speaker, and writer. She has authored a number of publications, including Prime Times (with J. Greenman and G. Schweikert) and Making Links (with J. Gonzalez-Mena). In 1999 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, an honor that recognized her outstanding contributions to early childhood education in Australia and beyond.
* About This Book
* Chapter 1. Why Stories Matter: The Joys and Benefits for Infants and
ToddlersChapter 2. About Very Young Children: Characteristics of
Early Abilities and Development
* Chapter 3. Sharing Spoken Language: Sounds, Conversations, Told
Stories, and Language Games
* Chapter 4. The Special Role of Books: Building a Story Collection to
Share
* Chapter 5. Using Stories Effectively: Telling, Reading, and Showing
* Chapter 6. Planning Story Experiences to Benefit Every Child:
Preparation, Observation, and Evaluation
* Chapter 7. Partnering with Families: Enriching Story Experiences
Through Communication
* Chapter 8. The Gift of Stories: Ours to Give to Very Young Children
* Appendix. Good Books for Infants and Toddlers
* References
