The Read Aloud Handbook

Wow!  I have been reading books lately about reading and how important it is for our children to be read to.  Not only that, it is important for all people to continue to read and learn throughout their lives.  What amazes me is that we complicate something that is so simple.  Did you know that the best way to teach your child to read or to assure that your child does learn to read is by reading to them?  Did you know that every time you sit with your child and read to them you are creating brain connections that are favorable towards reading.  This is huge!  If only all parents would read to their children the world would be a different place.

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease will give parents that do not read to their children the push they need to start.  It is never too late to start and a child is never too old to be read to.  In fact, Trelease claims that students that score perfect scores on college entrance exams do so because they had parents that read to them throughout their lives.

Trelease points out that the more you read the more you know, the more you know the smarter you grow.  This is so true and really impacts lives.  If you have any doubts check out the statistics for illiterate prisoners.  Our prisons are full of people who dropped out of school because they couldn't read or could hardly read, and that choice often leads to a life of crime.  What a shame.

While government implements new programs such as No Child Left Behind, the real answer is to just read to the children.  If parents can't do it, the teachers should.  While every child can learn to read, they need a motivation as to why they should read.  If they learn to read only to do well in school, study lessons and pass tests, then we are failing them.   There will soon come a day when all this studying about stuff that they may care less about will be too much and dropping out seems to be the better option.  Folks, we need to teach our children to love to read.  We need to excite them with books on subjects that interest them.  Let's face it, TV is not making us smarter.  It could, if all we viewed was educational content, but last I checked, we are much more interested in reality TV and the newest shows on cable.

What do you think would happen if we spent an hour a day reading to our kids?  Do you think they would be smarter or dumber?  It is pretty clear, I'm sure, that they would definitely be smarter.  Now imagine if we read to them beginning at birth and continued this practice until they were teens or beyond.  The world would much different than it is now.

I love to read and I love to read to my children.  I have been side-tracked lately and have only been reading to my youngest children, but this book has given me the kick in the rear that I need to read to my kids, even my teens, for a half an hour a day or more.  This is an activity that they enjoy as well, since we have been reading together since they were babies.  Yesterday we read a chapter of The Iliad by Homer. Today we read two chapters.  We sat around the table for awhile reading while I gave my girls pedicures.  We are really enjoying the book so far.  We saw the movie Troy some years ago, so parts of the book are familiar although parts are different.  All I can say is, there is nothing like a good book.

I borrowed The Read Aloud Handbook from my library, but I am heading to Amazon.com right now to buy it.  This book is a keeper.  I want to take notes and highlight this book so I can remember these facts for a long time to come.  If you haven't read it, read it.  I am sure you will not be disappointed.