The Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy

Selection Criteria for Family Literacy Recommendations

1. Recent outstanding trade books whose text and illustrations are particularly suited to the interests and developmental characteristics of children between three and six years of age. Fiction and non-fiction as well as wordless books are considered.
   
   
2. Books that are accessible to adults enrolled in family literacy programs, particularly those characterized by:
   • Text that is easily approachable because of attributes such as these:
     • use of language that is primarily natural as opposed to literary
     • use of repetitive words and phrases
   • Print that is easy to read because of features such as these:
     • large lettering with ample space between letters and words
     • few sentences per page without many sentences that break to the next page
     • print that appears at about the same place on each page, and generally reads left to right and top to bottom
   • Illustrations that support and extend the text
   
   
3. Books that are enjoyable for reading aloud and have appeal to a wide range of families.

A Baker’s Dozen is co-sponsored by the University Libraries.