The Invisible Toolbox

Read Out Loud to Your Child!

"Reading aloud to your child from birth is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give. This book will tell you why and what you can do to develop a lifelong love of books and reading with your child." —Jeff Conyers, president of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and The Dollywood Foundation

Reading aloud is the essential tool for preparing your child for kindergarten and beyond

The single most important thing you can do for your child. Longtime elementary school teacher Kim Jocelyn Dickson believes every child begins kindergarten with a lunchbox in one hand and an “invisible toolbox” in the other. In The Invisible Toolbox, Kim shares with parents the single most important thing they can do to foster their child’s future learning potential and nurture the parent-child bond that is the foundation for a child’s motivation to learn. She is convinced that the simple act of reading aloud has a far-reaching impact that few of us fully understand and that our recent, nearly universal saturation in technology has further clouded its importance.

Essential book for parents. In The Invisible Toolbox, Kim weaves her practical anecdotal experience as an educator and parent into the hard research of recent findings in neuroscience. She reminds us that the first years of life are critical in the formation and receptivity of the primary predictor of success in school―language skills―and that infants begin learning immediately at birth. She also teaches and inspires us to build our own toolboxes so that we can help our children build theirs.

Inside discover:

• Ten priceless tools for your child’s toolbox
• Practical tips for how and what to read aloud to children through their developmental stages
• Dos and don’ts and recommended resources that round out all the practical tools a parent needs to prepare their child for kindergarten and beyond

If you enjoyed books like Honey for a Child's Heart, The Read-Aloud Handbook, Screenwise, or The Enchanted Hour; you will love The Invisible Toolbox―from a 21st century Charlotte Mason.