When a fellow mom cornered me at my son’s birthday party, she didn’t ask about the candy-covered robot cake, the robot piñata, or the robot tattoos. She wanted to talk about reading.
I had just finished Adam Rubin’s Robo-Sauce, an irreverent picture book with a surprise ending, and the five-year-olds on my living room rug were vibrating with excitement.
“You’re good at reading aloud,” the mom said.
I thanked her, then hustled the kids to the dining table to make a robot craft.
After we cut the cake, she circled back.
“Seriously,” she repeated. “You read that book really well.”
That’s when I confessed:
“I used to work at a library. They trained us how to read aloud for storytimes.
Her eyes widened. “There’s training for that?”
Where do you think librarians get it?
Oh yes.
From how to identify different types of read-aloud books to techniques for engaging kids, there’s a huge bag of tricks that librarians employ—and parents can learn.
Furthermore, reading aloud with kids, regardless of age, reaps a list of benefits. Studies from the National Institute of Literacy, as well as many others, show that reading aloud boosts skills in comprehension, reading fluency, and background knowledge, and it expands vocabulary. But that’s only one aspect of book smarts.
Poppy Louthan, a King County Library System Youth Librarian, says, “Reading aloud really builds access to empathy.”
Louthan encourages parents to talk with their children about what’s happening on the page, which is as valuable for toddlers as it is for kids who can already read.
“Simple issues that feel normal are huge if you’re a kid. Like, ‘my friend doesn’t doesn’t like me anymore’—that is earth-shattering.”
Louthan says that reading about these kid-centric events together is a way to experience them in a safe place: “You have opened the door to bigger conversations when they really need to have them.
“Reading aloud with your child is mutually beneficial because it gives us a clear insight into our child,” Louthan adds. “And they have the opportunity to feel more connected and understood and supported than in families where reading aloud isn’t a common thing.” Following are tips for parents interested in upping their read-aloud game.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE to see and hear the author, Charlene Dy, reading Adam Rubin’s book ‘Robo-Sauce’
Choosing a Book
If you plan to read to a group of children (hello playdates or parent volunteering), books with a large trim size and bold illustrations make a strong impact and are easier to understand, especially for kids sitting across a room. Keep it short: if you’re reading to a preschool crowd, look for books with one or two lines of text per page.
If you’re reading one-on-one or cuddling on the couch, there are no limits to what you can explore: books full of tiny details to pore over, a graphic novel, a slower-paced book with a thoughtful message.
Louthan says the most important thing is to “try your hardest to celebrate what the child wants to read.
“That has to do with format, characters, worlds,” Louthan adds. “If the kid is interested in reading it, you’re supporting it. That’s building a love of reading. “
Go off-roading
Don’t feel the pressure to start on page one and read all the words until you get to the end.
“Reading doesn’t happen in a straight line,” says Louthan. “Sometimes, it means while you’re reading you might say, ‘Uh, wait, which character is that again?’ Or maybe your child asks a question about something that happened before.”
She encourages parents to pause and ask open-ended questions about what children notice. You might wonder if this will break up the flow of the story, but talking about the book as you read is actually a way to increase engagement. It even has a name: dialogic or co-constructive reading.
If you have a child who is a visual learner, you could also try something called “The Whole Book Approach,” popularized by Megan Down Lambert in her book, Reading Picture Books With Children. In it, she suggests “reading” more than just text and treating the picture book as a work of art and design.
Try asking questions like: What do you notice about the endpapers? What do you notice about how a character is positioned on a page? What do you see that makes you say that?
Such questions reveal important clues that deepen an understanding of the story and subject matter.
Make it Fun
For some of us, reading with kids is an excuse to let loose our inner ham. Sound effects, silly faces, or sounds of outrage at something goofy happening in the pages are all part of the fun.
Yet, that doesn’t come naturally to many parents. If this is you, Louthan suggests letting your kid lead the way.
“Kids love it when grown-ups do voices, and the more outlandish, the better,” she says. “A lot of us really struggle with that. So there’s the flip side of it. You could ask your child, ‘How do you think that character would have said that? I don’t think I quite got it.’ So they become the one holding the story and sharing it with you.”
Be Respectful
Say you’re reading ‘Escargot’ by Dasha Slater, or ‘¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market’ by Raul the Third, and don’t feel comfortable reading with a French or Spanish accent.
Lean into that honesty, says Louthan, and avoid the accent if you’re not from that culture.
Instead, before you start to read, she suggests saying something like, “‘I’m struggling with this because this is a real accent that I don’t have. So I’m not going to use it because I’m not willing to be disrespectful to that character or this author or that culture. It might mean that I stumble over some of the words.’”
It’s about being with YOU, not the book
If you’d rather just read the story straight or are exhausted after a long day, then give yourself a pass on trying anything fancy.
“You don’t have to do more!” says Louthan.
Psychologist Susan Pinker and neuroscientist Uri Hasson agree that simply reading together with our children is an incredible tool for making a meaningful connection. This connection also has a name: neural coupling. As parents and children read a book together, their brain waves synchronize, anxiety levels drop, and their bodies release hormones that strengthen bonds of trust.
So rest assured that what children will remember is the special feeling of being close to you—whether or not your robot voice was truly convincing.
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