Read aloud

While on a business trip last week I picked up the Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I had heard of this book a year earlier when my second grader came home with a brochure about it. It piqued my interest at the time, but not enough for me to act on it. I grabbed the book, looked for an open chair at Barnes and Noble, and began to browse. Immediately I was grabbed by the claims that the author was making. Children whose parents read aloud to them learn to LOVE to read. This hit me hard, because for the past several months we've been trying to get our daughter to read. We've tried reasoning with her and even bribing her... to no success. I decided to buy the book and dig in a bit further.

As I read I was SO convicted. It wasn't to late to start, but I was ashamed that I hadn't started earlier. I commited to read aloud to my girls (7 and 3) regularly. Everyday is the goal, but I'm not going to beat myself up if we miss it once in a while. The results of the research cited by the author and the personal testimonies of families that have committed to reading aloud are too compelling to NOT do it.

I began to wonder where I should start. Fortunately, the author left me no excuse. He included a listing of hundreds of books with age classifications and short descriptions in the back of the book. I looked through the list and several jumped out at me including Shipwrecked! I'm not sure why this one caught my eye, but as I read the description it sounded like something by daughter would enjoy. I immediately placed it on hold at my local library and I'm waiting for it to arrive. Stay tuned for our thoughts on the book.