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At Bank Street College of Education, the Children's Book Committee annually reviews approximately 3,000 books to select the 600 or so considered the best books for children published that year. In selecting books, high priority is given to a book's appropriateness to a child's stage of emotional, social, and cognitive development. Since individual children's development is highly variable, the guidelines are just guidelines. Three- and four-year-old children are very egocentric and their thinking is concrete. The world they experience is the only world that exists. It is important that picture books have an equal partnership between words and pictures, with each element enhancing the other. Children expand their knowledge of the world through books. Many books that appeal to preschool children will also be of interest to kindergartners and first graders because they can view them with new eyes. Their thinking is less egocentric than preschoolers but still very concrete. They are leaving a world seeped in fantasy for a world of reality. Schoolwork changes from play-based learning to more structured academics. Five- and six-year-olds are also ready for more complex concept books. Second and third graders are reality based. They can understand that beyond their personal experience, people and things exist. Children this age are also interested in sharing stories about the past, especially a past that can be linked to the child's present. Reading aloud to children not only creates a bond between reader and listeners, but is also the best way of instilling a lifelong love of books and literature. (Lists 61 recommended books listed by readers' age level.) (NKA)

BackgroundIndependent associations between cardiovascular risk factor exposures during midlife and later life development of heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) versus reduced EF (HFrEF) have not been previously studied.MethodsWe pooled data from 4 US cohort studies (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, Cardiovascular Health, Health , Aging and Body Composition, and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) and imputed annual risk factor trajectories for body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose starting from age 40 years. Time-weighted average exposures to each risk factor during midlife and later life were calculated and analyzed for associations with the development of HFpEF or HFrEF.ResultsA total of 23,861 participants were included (mean age at first in-person visit, 61.8 ±1 0.2 years; 56.6% female). During a median follow-up of 12 years, there were 3666 incident HF events, of which 51% had EF measured, including 934 with HFpEF and 739 with HFrEF. A high midlife systolic blood pressure and low midlife high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were associated with HFrEF, and a high midlife body mass index, systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and glucose were associated with HFpEF. After adjusting for later life exposures, only midlife pulse pressure remained independently associated with HFpEF.ConclusionsMidlife exposure to cardiovascular risk factors are differentially associated with HFrEF and HFpEF later in life. Having a higher pulse pressure during midlife is associated with a greater risk for HFpEF but not HFrEF, independent of later life exposures.