Smithsonian Institution Books presents I Love My Sister

Smithsonian Institution books offer a vast selection of children’s books from toddlers to big kids and even teens. They of course go on to serve the adult market with more mature and intellectual topics, but here we examine their I Love My Board Books series by Laura Gates Galvin.

Laura Gates Galvin is a staff writer at Soundprints, publisher of the series, and together with the Smithsonian Institution books present a series that celebrates the special bond shared between siblings, parents and family.

Some titles in the series include I Love My Daddy, Smithsonian I Love My Board Books: I Love My Brothers,

and Smithsonian I Love My Board Books: I Love MY Sister.

In addition to the I Love My Board Books series, Laura Galvin Gates also writes books specializing in African wild life aimed at a slightly older audience.

We recently bought I Love My Sister for our son so that he could begin to express positive feelings for his younger sister. He’s never been a terrible problem around her, but being a boy and fourteen months older, he can sometimes be a little distant.

But what was great about this book is that he had been learning sight words for months as well as piecing together linguistics with more complex words through videos. When this book arrived, I was placing him in his bed in the bedroom he shared with his sister, and together we sat on his bed while I introduced him the book.

Now, he’s read books from front to back before, but many had been memorized even if he could recognize and read the words. But since this book was new, he had no previous knowledge of the words, rhythm or story. And yet, he began to slowly READ each word from the beginning of the book, “I love my sister because.... She’s my best friend. She’s really sweet.”

This sample of the Smithsonian Institution books and I Love My Board books is wonderful because it has many of the sight words he had been learning, and also peppers in some words necessary of decoding, such as Sometimes, Because, Discover and of course Sister.

There was an immediate expression of pride in both of our faces when he finished the book all by himself, and it took some time for the excitement to wear off before finally getting him to sleep. I’ll admit that it was one of the most notable moments in my personal memory as a father - watching my son fully and completely read his first book.

I’m not sure if it was the result of the book or not, but on a recent day when we brought our son home from preschool, he ran up to his sister and gave her a kiss on the cheek! It was so sweet, and I’m sure she loved it since she’s always trying to give him kisses and hugs as he ignores her.

We plan on getting more on this series and exploring the African animals collection as the kids get older. What we know for sure though, is that we’re immediate fans of Laura Gates Galvin, the I Love My Board Books series and Smithsonian Institution books.