As we learn more about early childhood development, it is becoming widely accepted that shared reading should begin at birth. The beautiful time when a baby is forming relationships with their caregivers is stressful and intimidating, but incorporating moments of peace in reading together establishes a bond as a foundation for the child’s entire life. In 2023, when we partnered with Dr. John Hutton and Blue Manatee, we were very excited to add SHARE This Book to our catalog and website for our customers. This book provides some gentle instruction to the caregivers, easing the minds of those who may be nervous to read to a newborn. We wanted to ask Dr. Hutton for some insight into the development of this book, especially in anticipation of the release of the Spanish-English Bilingual edition.
AAB: What was your inspiration for SHARE This Book?
Hutton: A huge part of my motivation as a writer, pediatrician, and researcher is rooted in experiences reading with my three daughters, which started when we brought each of them home from the hospital. As a dad – and I think lots of dads feel this way – I often felt anxious and/or helpless when so much of our babies’ life revolved around the cycle of feeding, calming, feeding, repeat... And while I couldn’t breastfeed, I could feed them words and love by reading to them, frequently transitioning into Dad freestyle audiobook as we rocked, bounced and paced the bedroom. This intimate yet often messy experience fueled a bond that deepened as our reading routines evolved through school age, something I am ever grateful for.
As a pediatrician, advocate and researcher, a large part of my work has involved creating and using children’s books to convey health and parenting information in a clear, evidence-based and culturally sensitive way. Published research has shown that this is an effective strategy in teaching safe sleep habits, calming strategies, and promoting healthy behaviors. SHARE This Book applies this strategy to reading with babies, helping families develop the kinds of reading routines that were so meaningful to me.
When encouraging reading with babies, a major challenge and opportunity is to convey what this “really looks like” and to manage reader expectations at this young age. Guidance materials tend to make reading look sweet and perfect – which it sometimes is – though often it’s unpredictable and messy. SHARE This Book was developed as a sweet and simple “training manual” for the SHARE/STEP approach described below, where interactive reading behaviors are shown through illustrations of diverse families reading with their babies. The idea is for parents to “see themselves” in the story, serving as a mirror in the “windows and mirrors” concept, which encourages the development of reading routines that reflect each family’s strengths, temperaments, and resources. This requires patience (the P in STEP) but is well worth the time!
What is the SHARE/STEP method?
Shared Reading has been described as “the single most important thing adults can do to promote emergent literacy skills, attitudes and family relationships of young children.” This aligns with the fact that “parents are their child’s first and most important teachers.” The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends reading with babies starting “as soon as possible after birth,” and the Reach Out and Read (ROR) program starts at the newborn visit. Reading to babies sounds sweet and nurturing, but common, vital questions are:
A common concern for parents with less reading experience (first-time parents, immigrants from cultures where reading is less customary) is mistakenly thinking they are not good readers, and their babies are not receptive as a result. They often believe their babies are not interested, they’re reading “wrong,” that reading at this age doesn’t work, and/or that “educational” TV, apps, etc., are better. This is especially common during infancy, when babies are not as able to actively participate as their verbal and motor skills are only beginning to emerge (though reading helps!).
I developed the SHARE/STEP method 7-8 years ago to frame family expectations about reading with babies, and identifying what’s “normal” at this age. It’s an easy-to-remember (I hope), evocative acronym, for example: “SHARE-ing books with babies is a healthy and important STEP.” As babies grow, this aligns with the transition to dialogic reading as the child’s verbal skills emerge, denoted by the acronyms PEER/CROWD.
SHARE stands for:
STEP reflects ways to Respond:
The SHARE/STEP model is grounded in themes of empowerment and fun, encouraging flexible evidence-based practices that fit family capacities and resources. These include:
We created a couple of videos for parents and caregivers summarizing the SHARE/STEP approach, accessible here:
Working with a linguist based in Florida, we recently translated SHARE/STEP into Spanish. This generated a new acronym, COMPARTIR, reinforcing the shared reading behaviors. We also translated the book: COMPARTIR Este Libro, now available at All About Books!
How is SHARE/STEP beneficial for babies to engage with books and build relationships?
Shared reading with infants is clearly helpful in many ways, including benefits like:
These build in a dose-dependent way, where more reading results in greater benefits. This is especially noticeable when shared reading starts at younger ages and for children who are at-risk for reading difficulties (e.g., socioeconomically disadvantaged, premature birth).
Pediatric and early childcare providers (like those in the Reach Out and Read program) are ideally poised to share reading guidance with families. Their expertise in early childhood brain development and skills can provide helpful insight into shaping family reading routines. SHARE This Book is a great “training manual” providers can give to new parents of infants to help model those healthy habits. Our research, done in clinics that participate in Reach Out and Read, has found that parents of infants are very receptive to SHARE/STEP guidance and encouragement, appreciate receiving SHARE This Book at the visit, and tend to read it at home with their baby, which they rate as helpful. There is also evidence that this fuels more interactive, fun reading at home during infancy, which is very exciting!
Thank you to Dr. John Hutton for providing this deep dive into the SHARE/STEP model. You can find SHARE This Book in English and Spanish-English Bilingual at All About Books.