Tips for Reading Aloud

The best books are made to be read aloud. Hearing a book read aloud as well as possible, is a great stimulant of the imagination, and the best means of helping us feel the shape of the language, its rhythms, the great richness of words, and the thrilling effect of the surprisingly right word in the surprisingly right place.

Sadly and mistakenly, many people stop reading aloud when children begin to read for themselves. But children enjoy being read to at all ages, and they will benefit enormously from having books read to them that are beyond their reading skills. That will introduce them to new worlds, as well as to new and more complex words and structures of language. (This should be encouraging to BookPALS who have thought about entering the mysterious world of fifth and sixth graders.)

Readers-aloud should take their time; many of us go too fast -- too fast, that is, for the ear, the mind, and the imagination of the listener. A good book dictates its own speed, as well as varying volumes of voice. Clarity is essential. And don't think it should ever be done shyly; it should be done for all it's worth!

— Ellen Nathan,
BookPALS National Program Director

More Reading Tips:

• 103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading by Jim Burke

• How to get "Into," "Through," and "Beyond" by Ellen Nathan

• Do's and Don'ts for Reading Aloud to a Group of Children by Ellen Nathan

• Fun Ideas for Story Time from our BookPALS readers.