Reading Aloud?

Reading Aloud?

When our kids were young, Sam read to them, multiple times, the Harry Potter series including special voices for each character. Yes. Really. He is extremely good at it and loves doing it, so lucky us!

Now that the kids are grown, it’s just lucky me, but really lucky me! Returning from our critique group, we started wondering how many books we’ve “read together” and started a list. More than 50 books! We can’t remember how many years we’ve been doing it, but it’s been a significant part of our bedtime routine for quite a while. 

Have you been the recipient of such a generous gift? Or been the one reading? Maybe you and your partner switch roles? 

Sam is significantly better at it than I am, and the only time we switch is if we have a long drive and he’s driving (and it’s a book we’re really loving).

I was surprised that we were able to list more than 50 rather easily – with a little help from Sam’s phone and a peek around our library. 

You might be surprised to learn that we rarely read poetry this way. We have quite a stack of poetry on Sam’s bedside table, but I find it too exciting right before going to sleep. Often, listening to others’ poetry will give me ideas for things I want to write. So it would lead to losing a lot of sleep. Poetry requires much more of a listener than other genres like fiction, biography, history – things we often read. Maybe I feel that way because I’m a poet? I do feel a kind of addiction to story. We like to watch good mysteries and movies too – other flavors of stories. I feel like we’re surrounded by stories. I don’t think we humans could count the number of stories we participate in, hear or read about in a single day. One could argue that everything we do in a day, actions we take or decide against, are stories in themselves. But let’s not quibble.

Reading aloud to children is widely accepted and recommended, but don’t stop there. If you share your bed with someone, try reading aloud to them or ask them to read to you. Take turns selecting the book. Beyond the pleasure of story accompanying you to sleep, it’s a wonderful way to experience books together. Books should be shared experiences as evidenced by the multitude of book clubs and discussions available to join. Which is great, I’m very pro-book club, but this is an even more intimate way of sharing books.

A few of our favorites, beyond Harry Potter, include Educated by Tara Westover; What Storm, What Thunder by Miriam Chancy; Maryjane by Jessica Anya Blau; Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver AND David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. We read Copperhead first, but you do you. 

Happy Reading!

Ginny