I want to comment on the following excerpt: "Don't be enslaved by the text, which is the least important part of the book for infants and young toddlers. Your child may become bored quickly if you just try to read the words as written: "In. Out. Up. Down. Wet. Dry." Instead, encourage your baby to take part in the reading. In enthusiastic tones, talk about the pictures you both see: "The puppy's in the basket now. See? Oh, look. Now the puppy got out of the basket." " I think there's a lot to be gained from including the text, pointing at the words, and giving your baby a clue that the story, and the words you say, are linked to the mysterious symbols on the page. That's the whole idea behind a newish book called Native Reading, which I found when trying to figure out whether my two early readers were geniuses. Turns out they are, but so are all kids who learn language at about one year old, which is pretty much all of ours. I don't disagree that it's good to use the pictures and liven up the reading play, but consistent correlation of text and pictures, and giving your baby and toddler the idea that those symbols mean something can give your child a huge leg up. There's a website too: nativereading.com that has the first chapter online.