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Fave Rave
I discovered this fabulous book, apparently a classic in its field, via a wonderful parenting listserv that I belong to, the kind where you can post a question and within half an hour, you get 20 funny, sensitive, cogent responses... I had asked for recommendations of books to read to my son... yeah, the irony of it… I was looking for longer read-alouds at a higher comprehension level, with lots of action and specifically some crashing and banging ‘cause he’s that kind of kid. I had had a lightbulb moment where I realized that he can understand much more than what he can read on his own, so why am I simply reading him books at his reading level?
After receiving a plethora of suggestions (which we’ll be trying out over the next months, so stay tuned – this being a personal list of our favorites, we want to test them out first), the most valuable led me to:
The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, now in its 5th edition, if you want the most current book suggestions. Admittedly I’d seen it several years back in a store and barely gave it a glance, thinking, “hey, I read to my son all the time, and I even use wacky noises and sound-effects where applicable, what’s this guy going to tell me?” Was I wrong…
Trelease covers, among many other topics:
- tips on luring kids away from the TV
- the latest research on reading to infants and using chapter books with preschoolers
- how to integrate silent reading with read-aloud sessions
- valuable lessons from the phenomena of Oprah’s Book Club, the Harry Potter books and the Internet
- an up-to-date treasury of more than 1,500 children’s books that are great for reading aloud, from picture books to chapter books.
I recommend this book to parents, teachers, librarians (it’s probably required reading) and anyone who loves kid’s books... so if you’re at this website, I’d say that means you!
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