The importance of words

When they want to develop a reading habit in their children, parents have a ready tool at their disposal – a “book flood,” a term coined by Warwick Elley in 1991. In other words, children need access to a lot of books. Print of all sorts. A wide range of interesting reading materials.

What this “book flood” does for young children is rather clear: It gives them a wealth of words to enhance their reading and thinking. Maryanne Wolf noted in 2007 that by age five the average young middle-class child hears 32 million more spoken words than an underprivileged five-year-old.

Put it this way: There...