New book-CD-ROM toolkit offers hundreds of hours of quality programming for the lapsit set

New York, NY (January 11, 2008)—Once a rarity, programs for infants, young toddlers, and their caregivers have become a staple in many public libraries. Research demonstrates the importance of pre-literacy activities for babies’ cognitive development, and the popularity of lapsit programs is a clear indication of their value to parents. Like everything, however, putting together and promoting such programs—and doing so on a schedule that meets community demand—takes time, resources, and know-how.

In 1995 Linda Ernst provided the know-how, outlined the resources necessary, and saved children’s librarians hours of time with a popular primer on lapsit services that School Library Journal declared “one of the most valuable resources” on the topic. In 2001 Ernst authored an acclaimed companion volume full of program ideas and suggestions that School Library Journal praised as “an essential tool for busy librarians trying to serve their youngest customers.”

In Baby Rhyming Time, to be published by Neal-Schuman on April 14, 2008, Linda Ernst has done it again—but this time with dozens of complete, ready-to-use programs that make it easier than ever to plan, promote, and roll out infant-toddler services. The first of Ernst’s books to include a companion CD-ROM, Baby Rhyming Time also offers video recordings of successful programs plus hundreds of time-saving, print-ready templates, scripts, lyrics, forms, props, displays, and posters that can be adapted and easily reproduced for use in any library or classroom.

As in her two earlier volumes, Baby Rhyming Time offers the very latest information on brain research and language acquisition and lays out the implications for age-appropriate programs—programs that will stimulate cognitive, emotional, and social development. Says Ernst, a children’s librarian in public libraries for over 30 years, “Research demonstrates how important very early childhood can be. Exposure to activities like rhymes, actions, and simple stories during these crucial months can have a significant impact on how easily a child ventures into the world of reading.”

With practical tips on everything from the space used to the best materials and where to get them, Baby Rhyming Time is a practical guide to the logistics of both rhyming time programs for infants (age 0-12 months) and story time programs for young toddlers (age 12-24 months). In addition to detailed annotations for hundreds of books that she personally recommends (helpfully organized by theme and by title), Ernst offers suggestions for a wide range of activities featuring music, games, puppets, balls, flannel boards, bubbles, and more.

Throughout, Ernst emphasizes the importance of sensitivity—to the perspective of the caregiver, who learns as much from lapsit programs as the child—and to the unique needs of different types of families—including bilingual families, families headed by teenagers or grandparents, and families with special needs children. In a discussion of ways the library as a whole can support early literacy, Ernst looks at facilities, collections, staffing, partnerships, and possible funding sources.

Ernst also addresses topics that have attracted great interest in recent years, including the use of sign language to communicate with the preverbal child, using movement to encourage brain development, and the importance of play. In every chapter, she offers dozens of useful print and electronic resources. Innovative and practical, Baby Rhyming Time is the ideal guide to serving the library’s youngest patrons and will be of interest, too, to educators in child care centers, Head Start programs, and preschools.

Baby Rhyming Time
ISBN: 978-1-55570-540-4.
2008. 8½ x 11. 183 pp. $59.95

About the Author
Author previously of the acclaimed Lapsit Services for the Very Young (1995) and Lapsit Services for the Very Young II (2001), and a children’s librarian for over 30 years, Linda L. Ernst currently works for the King County Library System in Washington. A popular trainer and workshop presenter and a former chair of the Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee for the Association for Library Service to Children, she was awarded the Washington Library Association’s Children’s and
Young Adult Services Award for Visionary Library Service to Youth in 2004 and was chosen to serve as a member of the 2007 Caldecott Award committee.