The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
- Elizabeth Hardwick
C did not start talking until he was 2 years old. I was very worried at the beginning. But then, quickly after his 2nd birthday, he talked and talked and asked so many questions. Until today, he still asks so many logical questions that intrigue him - and I never thought about them before but they kind of intrigue me, too.
C has the need to read non-fiction books and he told me it's his way of learning after playing all day at school (hahahaha!!). We never force him to read any of these. We just make these books available within his reach in our house and he voluntarily read them whenever he feel likes doing it. Unlike fiction books (picture books) that we usually borrow from the library, for non-fictions books we prefer to own them especially those really good ones.
I found these "I Wonder Why" series a few years ago from a 2nd hand bookshop and found them very interesting. There are explanations about many different things (each book covers one topic) with interesting pictures. In total there are about 39 books but we only have six books. I Wonder Why Soap Makes Bubbles covers questions about science. I Wondery Why The Sun Rises covers questions about Time and Seasons. Highly recommended. C likes to read these series over and over again.
When C was 4 years old, my husband researched for an encyclopedia and found this The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia very interesting. A 309 full-colour-pages with pictures and explanations about various topic - Our World, Animals and Plants, How Your Body Works, History, How People Live, Science, How Things Work, Space, Maps of the World. Massive coverage. Highly recommended!
C loves this encyclopedia. Just last week on Saturday, in the middle of the night when my husband was still awake, he opened C's room and found the light was switched-on and he was reading this encyclopedia!
A Child's First Library of Learning - Things Around Us is another amazing book I found in the 2nd hand bookshop (yeah, I am a regular customer here and buying books is really hard to resist). This book covers questions and answers about our day-to-day mysteries such as: How do they make chocolate? How are cups and plates made? Why does a match light? Why won't oil and water mix? Where do they take all the trash? What happens to letters we post? All pages are in colour with many pictures and easy to understand explanations. This is definitely C's another favourite book.
C is so much into science and this book he loves sooooo very much is "Usborne Activities - 50 Science things to make and do", a present from his Aunty M on his 4th birthday (or maybe 3rd?).
There are 50 very simple science experiments - what to do, what to observe, and the scientific explanation why or how it happens.
C loves to read them one by one and sometimes do if he feels like doing it. He did Fire a balloon rocket during his holidays last year, when he was 5 yeard old.
Those are the top non-fiction books (encyclopedia kind) C loves to read. I will cover the non-fiction picture books (stories) in a separate posting. They are very interesting, too! :-)
Happy Reading!