Kim Jocelyn Dickson - The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence

Praise for
The Invisible Toolbox

Kim Jocelyn Dickson has given us a gift. In lively and loving language, she opens The Invisible Toolbox and shows us whats inside: opportunities for connection, inspiration, imagination, conversation, and joyful play. Literacy encompasses so much more than the important ability to read. Parents, teachers, and all who love children will be inspired by the authors passionate advocacy, and helpful, compassionate ins truction.

The mark of a great teacher is not just enabling a child to do well in class, but also in giving that child the instruments she needs to succeed and love the subject forever. I wish everyone could have Ms. Dickson as their childs teacher as I did, but The Invisible Toolbox is the next be st thing!

The Invisible Toolbox shares a simple truth that rises above the hectic commotion and flood of information parents are subjected to: Reading aloud to your child from birth is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give. This book will tell you why this is so and what you can do to develop a lifelong love of books and reading in yo ur child.

As a pediatrician who sees firsthand the struggles and tears of the children who have empty Invisible Toolboxes, I am thrilled that Ms. Dickson has written this book to show families how to avoid all that heartache. I wholeheartedly recommend that all parents read t his book!

The
Invisible
Toolbox

Also by the Author

Gifts from the Spirit: Reflections on
the Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The
Invisible
Toolbox

The Power of Reading to Your Child

from Birth to Adolescence

What Every Parent Needs to Know to Prepare Their Child
for Kindergarten and to Instill a Lifelong Love for Learning

Kim Jocelyn Dickson, MA

Coral Gables

Copyright 2020 by Kim Jocelyn Dickson

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Jayoung Hong

Cover illustration: Jayoung Hong / Shutterstock @GraphicsRF

Author Photo: Mike Coeyman

Layout & Design: Jayoung Hong

Mango is an active supporter of auethors rights to free speech and artistic expression in their books. The purpose of copyright is to encourage authors to produce exceptional works that enrich our culture and our open society.

Uploading or distributing photos, scans or any content from this book without prior permission is theft of the authors intellectual property. Please honor the authors work as you would your own. Thank you in advance for respecting our authors rights.

For permission requests, please contact the publisher at:

Mango Publishing Group

2850 S Douglas Road, 2nd Floor

Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA

For special orders, quantity sales, course adoptions and corporate sales, please email the publisher at or +1.800.509.4887.

The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child
from Birth to Adolescence

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2019954716

ISBN: (p) 978-1-64250-203-9 (e) 978-1-64250-204-6

BISAC category code FAM034000, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Parenting / General

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Secret of the Invisible Toolbox: A Loving Letter
from Your Childs Future Teacher

Build It with Love: How Reading, Singing, and Speaking
to Our Babies Form the Structure of Their Invisible Toolbox

Kindergarten and the Invisible Toolbox:
Discovering the Tools Inside

The Greatest Gift of the Invisible Toolbox, or,
Why We Really Read:
Awakening the Inner Life of Your Child

The Parents Toolbox: How You Can Become Your Childs
First Reading Teacher, Get Past Your Own Hurdles,
and Enjoy the Treasures Inside

Dear N ew Parent:

Congratulations! Your precious little one is here. There is no feeling in the world more wonderful than holding your tiny newborn for the first time. Your heart expands with warmth and love and protection in a way you never could have imagined until now. As you begin a journey with this miraculous new life you have created that will take both of you far into the future, into places known and unknown, you will do everything in your power to ensure your babys path is as full of hope and promise as it can be.

As well-meaning parents, we all want our children to thrive. Regular pediatrician visits, vaccinations, sleep routines, proper nutrition, feeding, bathing, cuddlingwe do all of these things because we want what is best for them. But there is one more thing that is essential, and its one that is as important to our growing child as all the things we do to take care of our babys physical needs. This necessary thing is one that you may already knowor perhaps may have forgotten or havent fully understood. As someone who has been in your shoes as a parent and taught children just like yours in elementary school for decades, Id like to share with you what Ive learned about this essential thing over the years.

Flash forward five years, and imagine with me what your child will look like on their first day of kindergarten. At this moment that day may seem a long way off, but believe me, it will be here before you know it. Can you see your child in the brand-new school clothes that youve bought for this special day, down to the sneakers with laces so white because they too have never been worn? Under a fresh haircut, there may be a big grin or perhaps a look of apprehension. Your child knows its a big day, just as you do. On their back is a crisp new backpack, and in one hand a lunchbox filled with favorite things. All of this equipment is recently acquired, full of promise and expectation for the futureand probably decorated with a favorite superhero or three. Who will that be, you wonder? The picture is almost, but not quite, complete. There is more. And here is t he secret.

In your little ones other hand, they carry something else. Its a toolbox, but its invisible. Unseen though it is, it will be carried to school on the first day of kindergarten and every day after that, all through your childs academic career. Whether or not it contains the most essential tools will have an enormous impact on those years and far into t he future.

Every child who comes to school carries this Invisible Toolbox. Some children arrive with their Toolboxes brimming with all the tools they need to be successful. They are the fortunate ones. Some children, however, arrive with Toolboxes that are empty. For them, school will be a struggle.

So what is this mysterious Invisible Toolbox all about? Its very simple. Children who are read to regularly by their parents from very early on arrive at school on day one with Toolboxes overflowing with the essential skills they need to be successful students. Because here is the simple truth: Reading aloud to your child from birth on is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give.

Ive taught grades one through five for nearly thirty years and began to understand the Invisible Toolbox during a long stint teaching third grade in a public school in California. Valley Oak was a wonderful public school, the kind of place people move into a neighborhood for just so they can send their children there. I often called it a private school in a public-school body because its teachers were so dedicated, creative, and hard-working, and the amazing principal knew each of the over eight hundred children by name. The children felt known and cared for at Valley Oak, and most of them experienced success and thrived. Still, there were some who did not, despite the fact that they too had entered a robust kindergarten program taught by outstanding and experienced teachers and had equally strong teachers and curriculum through the primary years. These students entered third grade still struggling with reading and, consequently, other subjects. What is it that makes the difference? I wondered. Why do some children thrive while others fail, despite the best effort of their teachers in the classroom and often in individualized remediation ? It became clear to me that these students did not start school on a level playing field with their success ful peers.