"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children." That quotation is from Becoming a Nation of Readers, a national report by the Commission on Reading. However, even knowing its importance, many parents, grandparents, teachers, principals, and other educators need guidance as to the "why," "how," and "what" of reading aloud to a child.
The book I am recommending for the first of which will be many Sunday Book Clubs for Moms and Dads, is The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. This book, in its sixth printing, not only teaches the "why", "how", and "what", of reading aloud to a child, it also contains lists of appropriate children's books for each phase of your child's life. As a parent, I found this book invaluable; as a classroom teacher, I found it to be a resource I consulted almost daily.
Reading aloud to your child builds the foundation of connecting language to the written word. You can begin with something as simple as one of the Good Dog, Carl books that have no words. A friend of mine once asked me, "What do I do with this book? It has no words?" Well, you can use books such as these to talk about the pictures, to make up your own story or to have your child look at the pictures and make up a story of his or her own. You will find that with repeated readings, your child will want the story to be the same time after time......predictable and familiar.
Check out The Read-Aloud Handbook from your local library. Take a look and decide for yourself. I think it's a book you will want to have for your very own.
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