Reading Magic

I am reading yet another wonderful book that I wanted to share with you. Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox is all about the importance of reading aloud to children.

Here are a few interesting points that I took from the book:

** Experts say that on average, a child needs to hear a thousand stories read aloud before they are ready to begin reading. (This sounds like a lot, but reading just three stories a day easily covers a thousand books. You could read the same book three times, or try reading a favorite book, a familiar book and a new book).

**It is important to allow a child to talk back about what you read. As you read, make comments and ask questions about the plot, characters and pictures to engage the child in conversation.

**Read to your child from all sorts of print: signs, cereal boxes, newspapers, catalogs...

**Reading to a child from birth can help to increase a child's attention span. Children who are never read to have a hard time sitting through an entire story because they do not have the required listening skills or desire. (Look at the kids in my class if you don't believe me!! You can tell which children have been read to which haven't!)

Some of the topics in this book seem common sense, but maybe that's the teacher in me! I'm sure there are many parents who don't know how to make the most of the time they spend reading with their child. Reading aloud WELL is a skill you have to work at, so any one can benefit from practice. I would highly recommend this book to any parent or teacher. It's easy to read and well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I feel that I learned some valuable information from it.