The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids

by Sarah Mackenzie

Question #10: What is something you don’t want to forget from this book (or from this chapter)?

HOW TO USE CHAPTERS 12–15 The next four chapters of this book are dedicated to helping you navigate the waters of reading aloud with your children based on their current ages. Each chapter covers a specific age group: Chapter 12: Ages 0–3 Chapter 13: Ages 4–7 Chapter 14: Ages 8–12 Chapter 15: The Teen Years

there is a big difference between the emotional maturity of an eight-year-old and the emotional maturity of a twelve-year-old. For example, a child who is eight may not be ready to read a story about the horrors of Hitler’s era or the Ku Klux Klan. By age twelve, however, many kids are ready to read books about those heavier topics.

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. Emilie Buchwald

it is not worth it to teach a child to read earlier if that means sacrificing their love of reading in the process. Our first and foremost priority is to nurture a love for books.

The Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease

If I had a ime for every mention

Remember not to rush into reading longer narratives with your child before she’s ready. It’s better to stay with picture books longer than necessary than to introduce novels too early.

This is the age where parents often stop reading aloud to their children, but it’s where you actually want to increase your read-aloud time, if possible. Kids in this age range are interested in discovering all the things about the world they don’t yet know. They have an unquenchable thirst to learn about other people, cultures, and experiences. Demonstrating that books quench this thirst is exactly what we’re going for.

8-12 yrs

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis I almost didn’t include The Chronicles of Narnia on this list because it seemed like a no-brainer.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams Lauded by many as some of the best American books of all time for children, the Little House series is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real life.

I prefer to listen to these on audio rather than reading them aloud, as the long, descriptive passages can be difficult for some. Listen to the audiobooks, read by Cherry Jones, for a fabulous whole-family experience.

Little house big woods

I suggest reading them in order: Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years. I don’t tend to recommend The First Four Years,

Focus less on quantity and more on making it normal to read and talk about books together. This is a preview for future interactions about books. You are paving the way for changes that are happening in your relationship as your child transitions into young adulthood.

Teens

INDEX OF BOOKS BY TITLE

INDEX OF BOOKS BY AGE RECOMMENDATION

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