I was puzzled the first time I heard the term “go-along books.” I soon found out that these are books that are related to each other by theme, topic, location, character, or other story elements, and are therefore read together. It’s a wonderful idea that makes reading interesting and enriching! A loose tooth can make us read Audrey Wood’s Tooth Fairy that will then remind us of Doctor De Soto, and then will inspire us to look for a fable about cunning foxes.
- To provide additional and factual information about a topic
- To explore an example of an idea found in another book
- To look at an idea from a different perspective
- To provide children with the opportunity to make connections between and draw conclusions from different materials
- To teach that information has different sources, and you only have to look for it in a book or other media
Connecting ideas between various sources is a skill that children must master. Choosing the right books that will provide them opportunities to think and relate ideas is easy to do, and so rewarding in the long run. Being intentional about the books that we read will inspire learning in your child – and definitely in you too!
I will leave you with a quote that has been attributed to William Butler Yeats. Though I am unsure of its provenance (as I have never read the original source myself), it does speak the truth.
