By DUANE HENERDEEN
Children’s Services Supervisor, Warsaw Community Public Library

As a child begins to learn the process of associating illustrations and the words on pages of books as being related, they soon find themselves seeking out books that will answer their questions about the things in their surrounding everyday life.

A simple drive to town might bring up the question of how that passing bus actually moves on its own power. With the aid of a book, you might be able to help a child understand why it’s so important to wash their hands regularly. We have a large supply of non-fiction books for elementary age children that can answer simple and complex questions at their age level.

What about a child that is just beginning to read or is still struggling with comprehension?

We offer beginning readers a non-fiction collection that is at their reading level. We call this resource the Easy Reader Non-Fiction collection and it’s conveniently located adjacent to our beginning reader fiction books. With a smaller size and less words per page, it’s more attractive to a child who can easily be intimidated by textbook style books.

Each page of the book might have just a short paragraph or something as simple as a sentence that is describing the corresponding illustration. It’s meant to be informative, yet not overwhelming.

As parents and teachers search for better teaching aides, we’ve found that this once forgotten collection is becoming an important and popular resource. Book publishers have also taken notice and as we’ve been ordering new titles, it’s been exciting to see the new topics that these books will cover.

From bulldozers to the planets that neighbor us, your child will soon be able to find a book that will educate them even if they’re not quite comfortable with their reading skills. I don’t want to give you the impression that these books are just for children.

These books are a great resource for adults who are just learning to read or for adults that are learning a second language. I believe we have some awesome books for all ages in Children’s Services, and I encourage everyone, regardless of age, to visit us so we can show you all the resources we have to offer.