I am a new mom and my 5-year-old daughter is learning how to read. She is not reading the words—she is reading the pictures. Should I be concerned?

Pictures are always more interesting than words, so let her look at the pictures. Ask her what she thinks the characters are doing? Why are they doing that? What will happen next? (This is also a great exercise for reading retention a little later on.) After she has looked at all the pictures and thought about what everyone in the story is doing—then you can say something like, “Well, you know these words right here tell us exactly what is happening in the story so we don’t have to guess.” Putting your hand over the picture or covering it up in some way is a good way to get them focused on the words, but only after their curiosity about the pictures has been satiated. Let them look all they want to, but teach them that looking at pictures isn’t reading, and that we need to learn how to do both. If your phonics program has music, start with that—play it everywhere, while playing with toys, taking a bath, while driving in the car. Having the letters and sounds become second nature to her will help immensely when she begins the blending process. It sounds like you’re doing a great job.