Reading to a child "The Three Little Pigs" or "The Little Mermaid" or "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" or "Cinderella" or "The First Man on the Moon" or "What Are the Colors of The Rainbow?" and the like … can really develop listening and thinking skills – both creative and critical– form values, etc.
Yes, without the guidance of a mature adult like the mother or father, a child would never have a chance of developing love for reading. Not only fiction materials, but also non-fictions such as science books, magazines and others.
When it comes to reading, a child must know how to read and comprehend the texts, both expository and narrative. Expository texts can be found in essays, advertisement, and so on while narrative texts can be found in fictional materials wherein elements of the story such as characters, setting, events, etc. are found. Of course the proverbial … "what- is- the- moral- of- the- story? Is ever present at the end of the QA portion.
To help the child gets the value of the texts, it is not important to memorize the facts, but instead his impressions on those facts. These come in the form of drawing out his own experiences, dreams and the like about the most striking part of the story to him. It is personal so let the child decides which part in the story he finds valuable, and so on.
Reading really is fun. Provided the mature adult or guide really knows how to scaffold him (child) in understanding the story based on his experiences and the like. Often times, a child encounters difficulty in reading the texts. It might be because of the material is beyond his level of ability, interest, maturity and so on – or simply, he does not have the background knowledge or information about the setting, culture or the intention or purpose of the writer. Here, scaffolding by way of supplying him the needed info or background knowledge comes in.
Once a child has developed the love for reading through the help of a parent, well, what comes next is: his journey to never-never-land, or anywhere would be fantastic.