Getting a Read on the Holidays
Five Counties Offers Tips on Best Buys (and Types) of Books for Kids This Holiday Season
Speech-Language Pathologist Ida Lloyd is among clinicians at Five Counties Children’s Centre encouraging parents and adults to give the gift of reading to a child this holiday season.
PETERBOROUGH, ON (Nov. 27, 2025) – Turn the page on the usual toys and electronic gadgets by giving a child the gift of reading this holiday season. That’s the suggestion from Five Counties Children’s Centre clinicians, who work to support children and youth with speech, language and communication needs in Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland and Haliburton/Minden.
“Books can make the perfect holiday gift for kids, especially to expand their language and support their communication skills for life,” says Ida Lloyd, a Speech-Language Pathologist at Five Counties. “An engaging, age-appropriate book can take you to new worlds and introduce you to interesting characters. Books allow families to connect and spend time together, having fun and discovering a mutual love of reading.”
Reading books benefits all ages. According to Lloyd, reading with a newborn, toddler or pre-schooler can give them comforting contact and establish an early reading routine. Reading also exposes young kids to new words and ideas, allowing them to become familiar with sounds and rhythms of language. And it doesn’t just have to be books, she adds, noting that anything with print or letters can be read together with a young child – even traffic signs or grocery lists.
For older children and teens, reading can help them to think and better express themselves in new ways. Books may also introduce them to a new topic that engages and interests them. Adults can play a role here, says Lloyd, by putting down their phone or tablet and swapping it out for a book.
Recommended Reading List
The speech-language pathology team at Five Counties offers a variety of book authors and titles that make for great holiday gifts for children. Among them are works by popular children’s authors: Sandra Boynton, Richard Scarry or Robert Munsch. Other book titles worth exploring include: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown; Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw; Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell; Where’s Spot? or Spot’s Birthday Party by Eric Hill; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann; and any of the Little People Lift the Flap Books.
Types of Books to Give
Some books do better to capture and hold a young child’s interest, with these types of books being recommended by Five Counties’ speech-language pathology team:
Books without words (or very few) can be ideal for very young readers. This gives an adult and child the chance to say what they see is happening on the pages (e.g., Good Night Gorilla).
Books with flaps that lift or that have different textures to touch can be fun for kids (e.g., Where is Spot? and Little People Lift the Flap books). These book features can make reading more interactive and interesting, especially for kids with short attention spans.
Books with a repetitive structure are fun because kids can start to fill in the blanks themselves when an adult pauses from reading (e.g., Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Sheep in a Jeep).
Books with words that vividly describe sounds can let adults be silly when they read. These silly sounds are more likely to catch a child’s attention and make reading the book more fun for them (e.g., Robert Munsch books are ideal for this).
Search-and-find books can be fun for kids, because there is so much to talk about on each page (e.g., Richard Scarry books, Little People Lift the Flap books).
Reading With a Young Child
Because very young children have a short attention span, Lloyd encourages parents and caregivers to follow their lead, letting them select what book to read and how to read it. “When a little person has a book – and you’re sharing it with them – let them hold the book and show them how to turn the pages. Those are all early skills that you need to become a reader,” she says. “And remember, it needs to be fun, because if it’s not fun, kids will be gone.”
Given the long-lasting benefits that come with it, giving the gift of reading to children this holiday has tremendous value. As Lloyd notes: “Books bring people together across generations, space, and time, reminding us that the greatest holiday gifts don’t require batteries or screens.”
