The Secret Mountain

You know I am a fan of books on tape, books with CDs and in general anyway to increase a child's vocabulary.

It hit home this week when my son decided that he wanted to read the history book we, as a family try to read together each week. This, is of course, out attempt to supplement the woeful way in which history is covered in school.

Since he has listened to stories on CDs and tape, on a wide variety of subjects, he started reading and much to the amazement of both my husband and I easily read the words, "Mesopotamia", "Olympus" and "Hammurabi".

Wow!

So, I was excited to have a chance to review a few books from The Secret Mountain.We received:

Dream Songs
A Duck in New York City
Down at the Sea Hotel

All three were terrific. Unlike traditional audio books you might find at a large bookstore, these focus on engaging the child as a storyteller might. The CDs allow a child to hear the story over and over again - a great alternative to watching TV and a way to expose them words that they will later encounter when reading.

I hadn't heard of this line before but I will add it to my list of favorite vendors with Barefoot Books and Jim Weiss's Greathall CDs