Reading Aloud

Well-loved children’s author Mem Fox describes effective techniques for reading aloud in her book Reading Magic (2001), and on her Web site, www.memfox.com. According to Fox, there are six things readers can do with their voices to make the reading aloud experience enjoyable for young listeners.

• Make your voice loud or soft, fast or slow, high or low, and use dramatic pauses.
• During the dark passages in a story, slow down and pause to create anticipation.
• Speed up your voice during exciting, quickly paced episodes, and use a low voice for frightening parts.
• A higher voice might be used for portraying a child or little animal’s part, while a lower voice might be used for adult characters and villains.
• Try to think about the words you are reading and what meaning they convey; then change your voice to express that meaning.
• When reading aloud, the two most important sentences in the book are the first and last. The beginning sentence sets the tone and “grabs” the child into the story. Be sure that you read the first sentence slowly and dramatically to captivate your listener(s). The last line, a “farewell,” also should be read slowly, to give the child a chance to enjoy the final moments of a well-read tale. Expressive reading makes the child enthralled with the book and eager to hear more (Fox, 2001).

As parents and caregivers read aloud, they can help children understand three “magical secrets” of literacy: (a) the magic of print, (b) the magic of language, and (c) the magic of knowledge about the world (Fox, 2001). Adults can point out these secrets of reading in playful ways when discussing the books and going back through them after reading aloud. Knowledge of each of these secrets is essential to children as they begin to read independently.

Parents and caregivers of preschoolers sometimes complain that their children want to hear the same story read over and over again. Although the adults may think that they can’t bear to read a certain book one more time, it is important to take a deep breath and dive right into the old favorite again. The book may be meeting a psychological need or the child may simply find security and pleasure in hearing a familiar story over and over. Rereading (and rereading and rereading) is a vital step in helping children learn to read.

Reading together is a way families can show their love and grow together. “For when parents and children read stories together, they create their own stories, original stories that are filled with the special kind of magic that all families can share” (Taylor & Strickland, 1986, p.111).