Thank you Net Galley, Familius, and Cathy Allen Falk for the eARC.

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you are a parent who doesn't read often yourself. Falk goes in depth on how to start the literacy journey for your children at a young age. The book starts off with the general idea of how to get your child started. Then goes into detail per chapter on how to involve your child in certain practice/games depending on age.

I don't have children myself, but I have a nephew that visits almost every other day. He already has a love of reading - will come to sit on our laps the moment we crack open a book. However, Falk's book has given me a better understanding on how to include the child in more activities. I will definitely be trying some of them out later with my nephew. I also love how Falk provides a lot of examples for the different activities. It makes it easier, especially for busy parents, to easily set up for activities without having to put in more brain power.

One thing I might recommend is for the book to be published with a little more spacing in between paragraphs/activities. The formatting does make each example distinct. However, if I was reading this will tired, I may start to lose track of where I just read up to.

As a new mom, I'm always looking for tips to help foster my child's development. As an avid reader, I was excited to see that this book provides straightforward, practical guidance for helping foster literacy in early childhood. While at times this read felt a bit repetitive, it was very thorough and full of a lot of different activities to try no matter what level of development your child is in.

Ahhh! I’m head over heels for this book! Okay, this book is PACKED with activities to do with kids, books recommendations, & other ideas on how to get your toddlers to love books. As someone who loves reading, I always have a physical book or my kindle in hand. My kids copy this behavior even if just to look at pictures and/or words. What I loved was when my (then) 4yo started reading level 1 books, and now will sometimes read level 3! My two younger kids still ask me to read for them but all of the ideas/activities provided in this book have motivated me to do things a little different and do some extra things so they also have that love for reading. My almost 8yo is still not reading at her level, but I’m confident with this book, she will soon catch up.

Thank you NetGalley, Cathy Allen Falk & Familius for this eARC.

As a homeschool mom, I appreciated that Planting the Seeds of Reading focuses on preparing young children to read without pushing them before they are ready. Cathy Allen Falk explains early literacy concepts such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary, letter recognition, and fine motor development, then connects them to playful activities parents and educators can use at home or in the classroom.

The activities were the strongest part for me. Most require little preparation and use ordinary materials, which makes the book feel practical rather than overwhelming. I also liked the emphasis on spending a few intentional minutes with a child instead of turning reading readiness into a formal lesson or another source of pressure.

Some of the information will be familiar to parents who have already researched the science of reading, but having the ideas and activities gathered in one place makes this a useful resource for the preschool years. My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance review copy.