About

I am very passionate about reading aloud with my kids. Reading aloud with children is critical to building early reading skills, helping to ensure success in reading, improving performance in school and instilling in them a life-long love of reading and learning.

I’ve always been a reader, and when my first child was born, I was so excited to read together. But, I quickly grew tired of the same old books over and over and over. And over. Don’t get me wrong, repetition of books is important. Through repetition, the child is able to become familiar with the book, the words, the rhythm and it helps tremendously with early reading skills. But…you soon realize that you need some good variety, too!

So, off to the library I went. Wow, was that overwhelming! Which books do I pick? Which ones are good? Which ones are nicely illustrated? Which aren’t ridiculous or pointless or mindless?
Eventually, with lots of trial and error, and lots of help from our favorite librarian, we got the hang of it. I spend lots of time searching for just the right books, and I want to share my lists with you, because I know that not many people have the time, or desire, to search through hundreds of children’s books.

My kids are not yet school-age, so what I do is choose a theme, then select books, several simple activities and some sort of outing all revolving around the theme. We continue with the theme for anywhere from one to three weeks, depending on how much the kids get into it. It is actually very low-key, and all serves to bring the books to life for the kids and give them a great foundation of general knowledge for their future learning. This point on general knowledge is actually very important. By gathering small amounts of information about a wide variety of topics, you can begin to unlock the world for your child! Not only will they have a better understanding of the world around them, but this general knowledge also helps as they begin to read and learn, as they are able to relate what they are reading to real life.

The activities that I do are really pretty simple. I am NOT artistic or creative, so they usually take very little preparation and basic materials, as well as fit easily into your daily life. I love searching the internet for fun, new learning activities that are totally outside of my imaginative abilities, so I’ll link you up to those as well. Here’s a link to a post on basic materials that I like to have on hand.
I hope that you will join us in our mission to unlock the world for our children through the magic of reading!