Will you read me a story?
Why the answer should (almost) always be YES! (Part 2)

The idea that reading to young children is critical to building vocabulary and language skills is hardly controversial at this point.  Few of us would deny the importance of reading to our kids before they can read to themselves.  But what about after that?  Does the read-aloud experience stop being valuable simply because everybody is literate now?  I don’t think so.

Long after I was old enough to read to myself, my mother read me "A Wrinkle in Time."   And when I remember the story, it is not just Meg who is on the quest to find her father.  It is my mother and me, too, connected, not just to the story, but to each other through our experience of it.  

To this day, I can’t read "A Wrinkle in Time" without finding my mom there in my head, relating with me to all of Meg’s awkwardness and insecurity and frustration.  I never told my mom that I’d felt as Meg did at times out in the real world, but I didn’t have to.  I knew she understood how I felt, because she had seen the world through Meg’s eyes and experienced it as she did.  

As readers, we experience the world of the story as our best selves, striving to see things from the perspective of others.  When we read with our kids, we demonstrate our capacity to relate to all sorts of people, having all sorts of feelings, addressing all kinds of challenges, and thus, we reassure our kids that we will be able to relate to them, to see the world through their eyes, no matter what they’re going through.  Surely, this reassurance only becomes more important as they get older, no?

RECOMMENDED FAMILY READ ALOUD
"The Wolves of Willoughby Chase"
Remember this?  First published in 1962, this thrilling, nail-biting adventure set in an alternate history of England, tells the tale of two girls who escape the evil plans of a villainous nanny through bravery and cunning.  This classic is one of those great stories that will never be dated. (First of a 12-book series.)