Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Gina. I love that you help your daughter visualize the stories before you read them since that is what helps her best. I see my boys being inspired in play by what they read, too. My older son never did much self-directed pretend play and reading was so helpful in giving him prompts.

Reading these lovely books has helped with their language, we stop and define/explain also, as well as the stories they write. The books also inform their imaginary play. Which with an autistic child is a delightful surprise, she can't go off-script but she can pretend to be someone or something else. Currently, randomly, Draco Malfoy! Lol.

Excellent post, thank you.

Yes, you hit the nail on the head. It is a challenge to find books that all three of them will like (besides being different ages, they also have different interests), but that's part of the fun, too!

Thanks, Monika!