Young children learn a tremendous amount from watching and imitating their caregivers.  Take advantage of this natural ability by asking your child to retell familiar stories to you.  As they "read" the book, ask questions to help them remember aspects of the story.  Research has shown that when children retell a story with a picture book, they use different language than when they simply tell a story.  This practice with "book language" will help them when they start to really read in school.

Check out Homer the Library Cat by Reeve Lindbergh and after reading it a few times, ask your child to retell it to you.  It is good for this purpose because it has a simple repetitive plot with complex pictures to prompt retelling.