“When we read aloud, we give our kids practice living as heroes. Practice dealing with life-and-death situations, practice living with virtue, practice failing at virtue. As the characters in our favorite books struggle through hardship, we struggle with them. We consider whether we would be as brave, as bold, as fully human as our favorite heroes. And then we grasp—on a deeper, more meaningful level—the story we are living ourselves as well as the kind of character we will become as that story unfolds.” - Sarah Mackenzie

Echoes of Childhood: The Power of Reading Aloud as a Family

Reading Out Loud

One of the best memories I have from my own childhood is our family read alouds. We read all sorts of books as a family. The wonderful thing about a good book is the ability to have an adventure without having to go anywhere, the book will bring the adventure to you. While I was listening to the story my imagination was actively following along, bringing me to so many places. 

The thing my parents did that I love is they would bring the book to us. Especially when we we little. It would be read to us at the kitchen table while we were eating breakfast, in the living room sitting on the sofa in the evenings, or even reading to us at the playground. I may not have always looked like I was listening but I was taking in the story while I was swinging, coloring, or eating.

Something else that is amazing is that because the books were being read aloud I could take in stories that were beyond my grade level. I would have been unable to read the story by myself but I was given the opportunity to experience the stories they read to me. It still amazes me how that is the case.

Some of the stories we read as a family that I highly recommend are listed down below:

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Heidi by Johanna Spyri

• Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks (and the rest of the Freddy the Pig Series)

• The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I hope that these suggestions can get your family started on your own read alouds. Have a fun time reading!