Growing a Reader: Kids' Books, Tips and More

Paren'ts often come into the library looking for books that can help their children through stressful situations. My three-year-old needs eyeglasses and so I recently found myself in this very situation. I wanted to take out books that would help her understand the importance of eye care, what to expect when visiting an optician, and of course, books that promote the positive side to wearing glasses.

Here are examples of some of the books you can'take out at Toronto Public Library on this topic.

Dogs don’t wear glasses by Adrienne Geoghegan: Nanny Needles, a clumsy woman, insists that her dog Seymour needs glasses.  The end of the book has a delightful twist: the dog’s glasses solve someone else’s problem, just not his! This book introduces levity into what can otherwise be a stressful situation, and it made both me and my daughter laugh — the best medicine of all.

The patch by Justine Chen: For any child, patching their eye can be a very scary experience. This book a lifesaver since, in seeing their experience mirrored in someone else's, they learn that they are not alone.

Calvin, look out! by Jennifer Berne: This lovable bird, and self-professed book worm, channels the ingenuity of the Ancient Greek inventor Archimedes to get him out of a bind, and employs the power of his new glasses to do so. 

There are a number of popular children's series which feature main characters that wear glasses. Most people have seen the Arthur television series and of course we have the Arthur books (and DVDs) at the library too. Katie Woo is a sassy character in a popular beginning reader series, who also just so happens to don a pair of specs. Even Monty the dog wears glasses in the popular British easy reader series. I jumped for joy when I realized that Elephant in Mo Willem's popular Elephant and Piggie series also wears glasses, since he's already a regular fixture in our household.   

Need additional support? Check out the website Little Parachutes which "provides a unique and simple way to search for picture books that address situations and issues that young children experience." Little Four Eyes is also a great resource; it's a community of families of young kids with eyeglasses, patches or contacts. And of course, don't forget to check out all the great books that the library has to offer. Subject terms you might want to try searching for in our catalogue include: 

• Eyeglasses – Juvenile fiction
• Vision – Juvenile fiction
• Eye – Juvenile fiction