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The 2025 Back to School Reading by 9 guide was created with support of the Ballmer Group. For parents and educators of children ages 0-5, this year’s guidebook features articles, activities, reading recommendations and more to encourage early education and literacy.
Building skills for early literacy
Set your little ones up for success. Learn how your child can build literacy skills while having fun.
Reading is a fundamental skill that children develop.
Your toddler’s brain is like a sponge, soaking up words from the world around them.
Book Recommendations
By Kari Allen, Kim Smith
Build a vocabulary of animal names and movement. Find out “who tip-toed?” “who scurried?” and more. Don’t forget to let your child get tactile feedback with this cut-out board book.
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By Wendy Chow
Learn important first words like the names for food, animals, household items and clothing in this board book.
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By Sandra Boynton
Let your child watch themselves make the shapes of sounds with their mouth by using this mirrored board book. Whisper and shout, moo and cluck, learn animal names and sounds too!
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By Hervé Tullet
Not only is this a color primer, but this board book teaches children early color theory. Have your child touch, turn and shake the book to see how the colors change when they mix together.
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By Jill Esbaum, Wonderlab Group
Splash, kick, make waves and play with the bubbles in baby’s bubble bath to introduce them to science. Babies test their surroundings and learn early physics by having fun!
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By Little Bee Books, Loris Lora
Help Baby communicate effectively before they can speak and pave the way for a lifetime love of languages with this book of essential ASL signs for young children.
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By Prasha Sooful, Betania Zacarias
Teach emotional regulation early with this board book of 10 steps to calming down. Breathe, stretch and move to calm their body and mind.
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By Felicity Brooks, Elisa Ferro
Both early letter recognition and pre-handwriting skills can be taught with this ABC primer. Colorful lowercase letters are cut out of each page, making it easy for little fingers to trace the letter, providing both a visual and kinesthetic learning experience.
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By Mo Willems
Giggle along with your child as they gain print awareness with this hilarious book. Turn pages, learn about speech bubbles and make sure to read it again to help Elephant and Piggie!
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By Susie Ghahremani
Make early introductions to categorization and math facts with this book about counting cats. Help your child make predictions about whether the cats will stack or if they have to divide into smaller groups.
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By Bess Kalb, Erin Kraan
Practice retelling and introduce new words with this rhyming, plot-driven picture book. Buffalo Fluffalo provides uncommon vocabulary and fun word play for pre-school age readers. See if they can distinguish which words are made up to sound funny!
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The reading guides were created through the generous support of the Ballmer Group and feature contributions from literacy programs and experts.
Check out our previous guides that spotlight articles, activities, book recommendations and more for parents and educators of children ages 0-5.
Literacy Programs
Support Services
Libraries
This supplement did not involve the editorial or reporting staff of the Los Angeles Times except where noted.
The guide is free to parents, educators and organizations working with children and families. To contact us with comments and questions or to receive more information, email public.affairs@latimes.com.
Los Angeles Times Public Affairs manages philanthropy, community engagement and corporate social responsibility at the nation’s largest metropolitan daily news organization. We broaden perspectives, empower storytellers and inspire our community to question and transform the world around them. For more information, visit latimes.com/readingby9.