Setting Up for Success with Book Introductions

Introductions

Imagine yourself being introduced to someone new at a party. When your friend introduces you, they often give you the person’s name and something about them that you can connect over. Your friend uses this connection to hook your attention and give you a point of focus for your conversation. Book introductions function in much the same way. You introduce your child to a book by telling them the title and a little about the book. You then follow up with something you want them to keep in mind as they read.

Book Introductions

A book introduction can sound something like, “Check out this book, Wallace and Grace Take the Case. This book is about the Owl Detectives Wallace and Grace that we read about in The Lost Puppy. As you read this book, think about how they might solve this new case.”

Reminding your child to notice something about the text focuses your child’s attention and gives some information in advance that can give their comprehension a boost.

Set Your Child Up for Success

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Summarizing:

As your child reads a text, he starts to summarize by noticing the important information like the big ideas and evidence in a nonfiction text, or the plot, characters, and problem resolution in a fiction text. As he moves through the text, he should constantly make judgements about the important information. (Sometimes, he may even go back to check something he has forgotten or missed.) At the end of reading, he can construct and articulate a logically organized summary that includes all (or almost all of the important information). He should also include his interpretation of the message or messages in the text.

REMINDER: Summarizing is different from retelling – minor, unimportant details are included in retells, they are not included in summaries.

How to Help

If you want to help your child with summarizing, remind him/her of what to keep in mind before they begin reading.

If your child is older, you may feel like this approach is too leading, however, summarizing requires higher level thinking and needs to be reinforced.

Example

After you say something brief about the text, you could say something like: “As you read this book, notice the important information and the writer’s message so that we can talk about them later.”

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Making Predictions:

Making predictions are easy to do before your child begins reading a text. To encourage their predictions, you can provide just enough information about the setting, characters, or problem to get their thoughts started. As shared in the Wallace and Grace example above, you can prompt them to make predictions.

Some predictions your child may make when reading a fiction text:

• What is likely to happen next
• How the characters will solve the problem
• What a character will do next
• How the story will end
• Whether the characters will have to deal with challenges related to the setting (and why)

Some predictions your child may make when reading a nonfiction text:

• What information they will learn based on how the text is organized
• What information they will learn in a particular section based on the heading
• The writer’s opinion about a topic

You also may want to remind your child that as they move through a text, they need to continue to make predictions and either confirm them or discard them based on what they read in the text.

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Making Connections:

The more connections your child can make between their life, the world, or other texts, the more they will understand a text.

Ways you can prompt your child to make connections:

• Ask them what they already know about the topic of a nonfiction book.
• Remind them if they read (or heard read) another book by author or illustrator.
• Remind them of another book in the series.
• Ask what they will expect of a text based on what they know about the genre or topic or author.
• Ask them if they are like any of the characters and in what ways.
• Ask what questions they have about the topic.
• Ask if they think this book will be like another book with a similar setting.
• Give them some information about the setting so they can apply background knowledge while reading.
• Ask what an illustration or another graphic reminds them of.

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Synthesizing:

Your child encounters new information and ideas as she reads. She makes connections to what she already knows and what she is currently thinking. Sometimes when she reads a new book, it changes her attitude about something or makes her think in a new way or expands her knowledge about concepts.

When you introduce a book, you can prompt for synthesizing by asking your child to think about the writer’s message (what the writer is really trying to say).

REMINDER:The big idea or message or “big idea” is always greater that the facts.

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Inferring:

As your child reads, he often needs to think about what the writer is implying rather than telling. He can also compare the ideas with what he already knows and/or thinks.

You can prompt your child to infer by offering statements like these:

• As you read, think about how the author shows his point of view.
• As you read, remember that sometimes the writer says something and means more, so think about what she is really saying.
• As you read, notice the conflict in the story.
• As you read, notice how the setting affects the characters and what they do.
• Remember to think about what the writer wants readers to learn.

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Analyzing:

When your child analyzes, she uses a wide range of actions to notice aspects of the writer craft. You can draw your child’s attention to information in a way that will prompt your child to think analytically about it. For example, you can ask your child what they notice about how the text is organized. You could also aske your child to think about what they notice about the characters at the beginning of the text and how they are being presented by the author.

Using Book Introductions to Encourage Critiquing:

You can encourage your child to think critically about a text when you introduce them to a text. You can remind your child to continue to ask themselves questions like these:

• Is this text accurate and unbiased?
• Is it written in an interesting way?
• Are the writer’s arguments valid?
• Does the writer offer counterarguments or neglect important facts?
• What is the writer’s point of view?
• Does the text show a particular group of people in a bad light?
• Is the writer clear in stating her points?

Book introductions are a simple but powerful way to boost your child’s understanding of a text and help focus their work as a reader. Simply giving your child a little information about the book and a point of focus can help their comprehension tremendously.

Want to learn more about each of these strategic actions?

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