Why We Are Entering the Golden Age of Books Don’t Stop Reading to Your Kids – Part 1 of 2

When I was on book tour with The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, an experience that may sound more impressive than it was, I thought my job was to give advice.

And advice I gave—on the myths and misconceptions about reading that can stand in the way of us leading our well-read lives. But I also received advice on this topic, and one piece of wisdom stood out for its simplicity and importance: Don’t stop reading to your kids once they begin reading for themselves.

The problem is, it feels so natural to stop.

Lap years to gap years

After the earliest years, when parents or other caregivers read to their young children, both the children and the adults delight in the baby steps of literacy—when sounding out letters magically creates whole words, and when children first string those words together.

Just as young children naturally delight in their increasing mobility, they take pride in first reading out loud and then reading silently to themselves. At this point, children may say they would prefer to read by themselves. Adults accept this with a certain justifiable if bittersweet pride.

Ironically, this is when the biggest opportunity may be lost. It’s a false finish line.

A long-time teacher of young children was the first to convey this concept to me. I’ve since asked more reading experts if they could verify this.

“Yes, parents should definitely continue to read to their kids,” says Patricia Hallion, an adjunct faculty member at the graduate program for reading teachers at Salem State College in Massachusetts. “Research has shown that until about eighth grade, kids are able to listen to books at a much higher level than they are able to read on their own.

“The gap is at least three reading levels, and sometimes more,” Patricia  says. “A lot of children have such depth of comprehension when listening, but their skill for sounding out words impedes them and stops the flow of comprehension when they are left on their own.”

When children begin to read by themselves, normally between the ages of 6 and 8, they enter their comprehension gap years that continue typically until they become teenagers. They should certainly read on their own, but for these five or six gap years, adults have an opportunity to bend the branch down and allow children to grasp literary fruit still out of their reach.

Three gifts

“I think that parents who stop reading aloud to their children when the children learn to read themselves are making a big mistake,” cautions librarian and famed book recommender Nancy Pearl (Book Lust, Book Crush). “To read aloud to your child is to give him or her three things: the gift of your uninterrupted time, the unspoken—but obvious—message that reading is important, and a shared experience of entering together into the world of a book.”

Nancy  and her husband both read plenty to their two daughters past the time the girls could read for themselves. “It’s a good way to begin a discussion of a difficult issue,” Nancy  adds, “but beyond that, it's a pure pleasure to watch a child respond to a book in his or her own particular way.”

From pictures to chapters

Lynda S. Hunter, the head of youth services at the Delray Beach Public Library, says a sense of place can help fill the gap. “I encourage parents to choose a comfortable area and designate it as the ‘Story Place.’ It can be the parents’ bed, or a large comfortable chair. Try to read together at the same time of day or evening. Encourage your child to share the reading but do not make it a condition.”

And parents can help children make the leap from picture books, which are usually read in one sitting, to chapter books, which are not. Start as early as age 4, Lynda advises.

“Begin to share short chapter books with some illustrations such as E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web or Stuart Little.  Read only one chapter each time,” Lynda says. “If your child wants to continue reading, place the chapter book aside and choose a picture book. This will acclimate the child to chapter books as well as create anticipation of what comes next. “

Staying with your kids in this phase helps many budding young readers of children’s books get comfortably rooted in reading grown-up books. “This  works,” Lynda says. 

The best picks are the kids’ picks

Emily D’Amour Pardo, marketing coordinator at the Books & Books bookstore in Miami, says it’s a good idea to let your children choose their own books.

“Parents often think their children are very advanced, and so will ask for books with content that might appeal to an adult reader, but might not hook a child,” Emily cautions. “They also don’t always appreciate that the things they read when they were children might not be as inviting to today’s ‘tween reader.  The best thing is to involve the child in the selection on his or her own book.”

‘My first book club’

Diane Barone, Foundation Professor of Literacy at the University of Nevada, Reno, recognizes that parents may feel uncomfortable reading to older children and suggests an alternative.

“They could each read the same book silently; then they might write something that was interesting, wonderful, weird, or so on about the book each time they read. Then the parent and child can find a time when they can chat about the book beginning with their written comments.” Through this process, says Diane, parents and children enjoy reading together in a process similar to a book club.

I know many of you have personal experiences with reading to children; what stories can you share? I’d love to hear.  Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

Comments

[Deborah Beasley]

This is a wonderful concept. I believe you are never too old to be read to. All of our classic stories have descriptions of parents, friends and lovers reading to one another. I think it was once considered a skill that a well- educated person acquired, like painting or playing a musical instrument. I would encourage my older children to take turns reading to one another as well as to their younger siblings to improve their sense of presence and confidence of the spoken word. It is a pleasure that has long been replaced by electronics and becomes sadly apparent in classrooms all over the U.S.

[Bob Greenman]

Steve,

This is a particularly valuable Well-Read Life piece. Couldn't agree more. I found that even in high school, students enjoy being read to. I used to read all of "Our Town" and "Of Mice and Men" to sophomore English classes, as they read along silently, and they loved it. So did I. I trembled as I approached the climax of "Of Mice and Men," and I held back tears every time I read the last page of "Our Town."

[Carole Terry]

While on vacation this past spring, I read Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" to my seven-year-old nephew and five-year-old niece. It was a favorite book of mine as a child and I wanted to share it with them.

My worries that the book might be too old for them were rapidly forgotten. They were as enthralled with the story as I had been and their questions about the events and characters were insightful and thought-provoking. It was fascinating to hear them speculate on what would happen next, after we had finished a chapter for the night.

We are already talking about what book we will read over the Christmas break. Any suggestions?

[Jan Schoenfeld]

My children always see me reading. When both my children were young, I read to them all the time, and as they grew older we read together. Now that they are in their teens, they are avid readers. I believe the gift of reading is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children.

[Lianne]

It's funny that the piece mentions Charlotte's Web. My mother has a story from when I was about seven years old. I was just starting to pick up reading on my own, as she was reading Charlotte's Web to me. Every so often she would see me sitting with the book on my lap, and she thought I was just pretending to read.

Then, one day she found me sitting on the bottom step of the stairs sobbing, and when she asked what was wrong, I told her that Charlotte's babies had all flown away. Since we were nowhere near that point in the book, she realized that I really *was* reading.

As an adult, I am an avid reader, but the most fun I have reading is when I read with my five-year-old niece (she's a big fan of fairy tales and Robert Munsch books). As well, I volunteer through work with an organization that gets people to read one-on-one with kids in a local school who don't get a lot of stories at home (at least in English -- the class I was with last year was 95% immigrant). It is so much fun reading with grade 1-2 kids who are just starting to really get exposed to books, and using them as a kick-off for conversations (sometimes just having an adult who'll listen to whatever is running through their heads is a gift in and of itself).

[Victoria]

My brother and sister-in-law began reading to my nephews when they were still in the crib. But the interesting thing is that they read whatever they personally were interested in, including technical manuals as well as children's books. These boys are the most intelligent well-read young men as a result of this early "submersion" technique. What a joy - if I had children I would have done the same after seeing their results.

[Cheryl]

Who could ever forget Charlotte's Web? I was fortunate to have parents and teachers who read aloud to us for years. I remember the anticipation to see what would happen next. Reading aloud helps children to create the visuals of a story in their own minds without struggling to see the words. It fosters an appreciation for the story and, hopefully, creates a life-long reader and mind traveller.

[Diana Raabe]

The people reading this blog are [most] likely the same ones who continued to read to their children long past the age at which they could read for themselves. So we may not see much dissent here, and rightly so.

However, I would go a step further and say, "Never stop reading to your loved ones - period."

One of the best dates I ever had as an adult was being read to from an illustrated gift edition of The Hobbit.

[LYNN BUCHANAN]

I don't remember being read to, although my mother probably did in my preschool days. However, she had several sets of "children's classics" on shelves in the living room and my school years were spent reading all of them--the Norse sagas, English schoolboy classics, Jules Verne--much more interesting than the school books I had to read.

There is a reason I have to keep buying bookshelves from you: my library walls are getting full of shelves of books I have read and plan to read again! WWII, Flying, Mountain Climbing, modern novels----

Lynn Buchanan

[Kim Allen-Niesen]

I loved the years of reading to my children, the entire Narnia series, all of the Little House books, Old Yeller and The Yearling (they still haven't forgivin me for the last two). Each year as soon as we decided where we were going for vacation, I'd find fiction stories in the same locale and read to them; it helped make the vacation come alive for them. I'd also choose fiction that related to whatever they were studying in school. I realized I really missed the days of reading to my kids, when I started reading a beautiful passage in my book to my dog last week. He appreciated the attention.

[shannon]

A great source of information on reading aloud to children - teens is Jim Trelease's "Read Aloud Handbook" and "Read All About It!" These books give both information on the subject of reading aloud and age-appropriate read-aloud recomendations.
I still read aloud to my 13yr old and always find it interesting when my 17yr old comes and sits on the bed and listens in.

[Karen]

As a librarian and a parent and a grandparent, I have for a long time been delighted and surprised by how much all of us enjoy hearing a good story.

I've had teens join pre-school storytimes just for the pleasure of sharing the experience. Once, I finished a book and asked one of the teens what his favorite book had been when he was a preschooler. He ran upstairs to the library's collection area and grabbed The Story About Ping -- he knew right where it was on the shelf! I added it to that storytime and we all enjoyed it again, or for the first time. The little kids couldn't believe that a big kid wanted to share a book with them.

At home, we often (not often enough though!) share read alouds. There's nothing like sharing a great book and a big bed with a dog and the people you love! It's an incredible gift.

Thanks for the inspiring columns.

[David Rendall]

Thank you. This post was very helpful. My oldest daughter is just starting to read on her own and I've found that she is reading more and I am reading less.

Your suggestion about the chapter books was probably the most helpful. In fact, my wife just bought a couple chapter books for our girls. When she told me, I was able to reassure her that Steve Leveen at Levenger and other education experts thought this was a great idea.