Early Learning Café Resources
Book Reviews
by Susan Ramsay and Guest Contributors
The ideas brought to us through professional books from leaders and thinkers in the field of early learning have always been incredible resources to spark thinking, dialogue, and inspiration within the early learning sector. In this Book Review section you will find books I recommend for individual or group study.
Interested in recommending a book that has had meaning to your practice? Let us know and you could be a guest contributor!
Book Review: Reggio-Inspired Literacy in Primary Classrooms by Jennifer Kelly
Though many of our provincial kindergarten programs in Canada endorse an emergent curriculum, we have a longer history of teaching by telling and drilling. Is it even possible for strong literacy skills to be borne through children’s curiosity and within a pedagogy of listening? What could this look like? This is the question Jennifer Kelly tackles in her book Reggio-Inspired Literacy in Primary Classrooms. Check out my review of her book here.
Review: You Can’t Celebrate That! by Nadia Jaboneta
This short, relatable, and wise book is a valuable read for early learning and care educators. We don’t have to wait for an unpredictable, uncomfortable moment to arise. Click to read my review of this valuable resource.
What Lights You Up?
I don’t know if it’s true for you, but I often associate summer with reading. A summer of good reads await us. What will you be reading?
Review: Documenting Children’s Meaning by Avery, Callaghan and Wien
Documenting Children’s Meaning is an invaluable resource for North American early learning educators who work in varied contexts (including drop-in family/child programs) The authors share inspiring and accessible examples of why we document and create documentation that is important to children, families, educators, and society. Read my review here.
Review: The Original Learning Approach by Suzanne Axelsson
My copy of The Original Learning Approach by Suzanne Axelsson is filled with circled words and underlined sentences with notes in the margins. It’s a book that I will never be ‘done’, but rather one that I will revisit often as I strive to grow in my work and living with young children. Read my review here.
Review: The Art of Land-Based Early Learning
I first discovered The Art of Land-Based Early Learning in 2019 at an Ontario Reggio Association conference in Toronto. It was at this conference that I also met Sophie Edwards, the leading editor of this book. This book has informed and inspired me as an educator to consider new ways of nurturing caring relationships among children and adults with the natural world.
A festive thought – Visual metaphor in children’s learning processes
A festive thought – Visual metaphor in children’s learning is published by Reggio Children as a culmination of extensive research carried out in the Isituzione of Preschools and Infant-Toddler Centres of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia’s Department of Education and Human Sciences.