Ready Start School!: Nurturing and Guiding Your Child Through Preschool & Kindergarten

In Ready... Start... School! Nurturing and Guiding Your Child Through Preschool & Kindergarten, Sandra F. Rief emphasizes that ""[t]he message of this book is to enjoy your young child."" This educator, who specializes in learning disabilities, concentrates on the crucial years from three to five, when great brain activity occurs and kids absorb enormous amounts of information. The most important thing is learning language, which facilitates reading, and each child develops individually within predictable stages. Enrolling a child in preschool or kindergarten can be a difficult decision and depends on the readiness of the individual child. Rief offers reassurance in short simple sections with checklists for each stage of development and an emphasis on talking with children and listening to them. She also provides ideas for developing cognitive and math skills, lists of resources and advice on what to do if there are signs of disabilities or difficulties. (Sept.)