10 Winter Books for The Family

📚 What Montessori says about family read-alouds and literature-based learning: Maria Montessori believed that beautiful books and rich storytelling are among the most powerful tools in the prepared environment. She designed her language curriculum to cultivate a love of literature long before formal reading instruction begins, because she understood that a child who loves stories will become a child who loves to read. Research on shared reading (Bus, van IJzendoorn, and Pellegrini, 1995, Psychological Bulletin) found that shared book reading is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual reading success. A 2019 study in Pediatrics found that children who were read to daily from infancy showed significantly greater language development, literacy skills, and parent-child bonding than those who were not, with benefits measurable well into the school years.