To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was one of her picks.

The book is designed to teach the alphabet, but has several other nice qualities. For some reason, children get really attached to the sound of hearing "chicka chicka boom boom" and love to repeat it. Not only did my daughter do that, but so did her friends. Have mastered that sound, they were one step along in memorizing the poem story of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Because the story contains the alphabet, memorizing that became part of the game. Then with so much memorized, they can "read" the story to you by repeating what they have memorized. Pretty soon, what they have memorized becomes identified with what they see. Voila! Reading progress begins. Very subtle and very effective is this method!

The drawings are equally cleverly designed to help with recognition and memorization. The letters are printed in LARGE sizes and in different colors, surrounded by lots of white space to increase the differences in their appearances. They are also tilted and come alive so they become interesting rather than just abstract. "A told B, and B told C, 'I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree.'"

If only adult books were this well designed, learning would be fun and easy for almost everyone.

Overcome your misconceptions that children cannot master complicated material, by helping your child learn with this wonderful resource! Then find other books with similar structures to continue the reading progress. Hop on Pop is a good selection for that purpose.