I need to give a ringing endorsement of a book that Jennie recommended, The Read Aloud Handbook, on one of her companion blogs. I was shopping on Amazon for a book on baby sleep solutions (yes, I bought one and am in the process of working on a sleep solution plan) but I couldn't get free shipping unless I spend $25. That meant another $15 to go. So, I perused the board books for Angie and found Sandra Boynton's Going to Bed Book, which is really cute, and then remembered Jennie's recommendation. So I bought it.
I was startled, upon picking up the book for the first time, to discover that it is a page turner. It's all about why you should read to your children starting at a very young age and never stopping. It presents statistics and facts about reading aloud, by parents and schools, and programs throughout the country's public school system and, in one memorable vignette, corrections institutions that read aloud to children. I didn't think I would be riveted, but I was.
I started reading it while Angie was napping. She has a wake-up period at about 45 minutes, and if I'm there in time, I can quickly get her back to sleep so that she gets a full hour and a half nap. So I would go up about 5 minutes before "the crisis", as I like to call it, and read until she fussed, and then continue reading for about 10 minutes after she settled, just to be sure she was asleep. But then, after a day or so of that, I started going up earlier and earlier and staying later and later to read.
I truly recommend this book to anyone who has kids, works with kids, knows kids or plans on doing any of those things. Even though I work in a high school math classroom, I know that I can incorporate reading to my students into their class time. Five minutes, ten minutes at the beginning of class is not really so much to ask, and there are some interesting math stories out there to read. I'd love to start with The Number Devil. Or even Flatland in a geometry class.
I would love to summarize the book for you, but I'm not going to. Read it. Become engrossed and enthralled by how important reading to your child is. Then, go get a library card and start reading. It doesn't matter if you've never read to your child before today. Start now. Improve your child's ability to succeed in this world.
1 comment:
One of the best parenting or homeschooling books I ever read. I believe that is the one that said "If it's worth reading, it's worth reading well." Believe it or not, that made a huge difference. I stopped just getting through the stories and started really getting into them. Now I put my all into everything I read, even when I read at church. I'm pretty animated. I do voices. Imagine God, Moses, and a horde of angry jews. I'd read for a few people at the daily Mass before, but this was my first big audience (some 250 people) and I just couldn't restrain myself!
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