Can we talk about reading aloud for a moment? Can we talk about how magical that can be? Reading aloud can be an open window into the hearts and minds of a child, your child or even your students.

This book was recommended on a Read-Aloud-Revival Podcast and I am really glad I picked it up. It was recommended along with the The Read-Aloud Handbook and A Sense of Wonder. It’s all about the benefits of reading, specifically, reading aloud to your children. As a book-lover and someone who enjoys the magic of a read-aloud book, please read on!

First, this book is well written. I read the first four chapters in less than two days which is very unusual for my regular reading habits and full-time teaching job. Megan Cox Gurdon has a great conversational style without compromising her work as Wall Street Journal columnist. She is a book critic, essayist, and a book reviewer since 2005.

She explains how reading aloud to children is good for their brains from the latest brain science and behavioural research. She also draws widely from life and everyday literature. She knows that Good Night Moon is a wonderful picture book that most people have read and can relate to.

So, what are the advantages of reading aloud? She has many! Reading aloud is an antidote to fractured attention spans, atomized families, and unfulfilling distractions in the tech era. She also talks about the reader’s opportunity to re-visit stories from his or her childhood. Why wouldn’t you want to show enthusiasm for a story you loved as a child? I absolutely loved There’s an Alligator Under My Bed and I share that enthusiasm when I read it to my children at night. Third, she shares how stories keep far-flung military families connected. That really is a lovely thought in this distracted world.

There is the work that is done in the brain when a parent reads aloud to a baby. It’s soothing and stimulates cognitive development. Imaginative decoding of picture books is next and probably the most enjoyable aspects of reading aloud where children’s brains are stimulated.

There is the imaginative transport of classic novels. Which novel would like to visit? To Kill a Mockingbird? Pride and Prejudice?

There is the rejuvenating late-life consolations of poetry and prose. There is just so much “spoken syllable” (Charles Dickens) out there.

Other benefits of this book include the practical tips and the myriad of reading recommendations that are woven into it. You will find a way to work this into your family life and you will find many books that you can use to bring your children together, learn something, make connections with people in history, and even, possibly, enjoy it. And they won’t even know they are missing their screens!

And I have a few favorite quotes:
"Technology is training us to dart and react like hummingbirds, scrolling, clicking, tweeting, liking. For people in the sustained-attention business, not least book publishers, these developments are unsettling" (p. 121).

"Culture does not consists solely of art and writing, of course, but also fo attitudes, practices, and values. The things we say when we are talking about about stories and pictures, the emphases we make and the bits we skip over, tell them something about how we see the world" (p. 157).

"Literary art helps us live longer, and enjoying it together out loud makes us smarter, happier, and more contented" (p. 191).

"Entering into storytelling mode has a mesmerizing power of its own. The sight of a parent or teacher sitting with a book attracts young children like iron fillings to a magnet" (p. 201).

There are many books on reading aloud out there. This really is one of the better ones! This mother of three will be taking advice from Megan Cox Gurdon, mother of five, on reading aloud and all the enchantment it brings. And I’ll let her know I’m having my students read aloud to each other as well!
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If you are read this section of the blog regularly, you know I love a good book. Great books are in every room of my home! I even have books in my kitchen.  I recently found these three that I would like to share with you!

​The first book I want to mention is The Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite. 

I started this book last week because it has a poem for each of Lent and Easter. It is a very do-able read in the best sense. I am able read it over lunch hours and I love that the poems he has selected (yes, some of his own verse) are understandable. 

I want to include the poem for the First Sunday of Lent by R.S. Thomas. 

The Bright Field
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the 
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have 
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning 
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you. 

I love the gospel paradox in this. Losing to find, giving away to gain, giving everything up only to find it given back in a new and more beautiful form. The gospel and Lent is not about giving up and going without for its own sake; it is about making room for something wonderful. It is about clearing out the clutter, making space and time for the small seed that prove in time to be the great branching tree in whose canopy we will find a place. 

If giving something up isn't something that you do (yes, our family gave up chocolate), I recommending picking up this gem and reading The Word in the Wilderness!

Another book I am slowly working on is The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith.
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I admit to starting this book at the beginning of February, and it has held my attention. It has held my attention to the extent that I have slowed down to savor it. 

I have read more than a few memoirs or autobiographies over the years. There have been a handful of hits, but many, many misses and it's been interesting to read this in that she is writing to people who want to write memoirs and do it well. And it's not just a good book. It's brilliant.

Well, she is brilliant. This book is full of golden nuggets. They are not general nuggets. They are personal golden nuggets of how to tell a story, your story, well. 

I cannot do the book justice with this minor review. If I had the time and money, I would take this woman's online memoir course. Alas, I will continue to teach and think and ponder of this one over the semester and summer break. Beautifully done!

Last, but not least, I am reading through the book of Luke in the Bible!
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For 2019, I am reading through one book of the Bible every month. January was Matthew, February was Mark, and March is Luke. 

This is the gospel written by the doctor named Luke to Theophilus, his friend. They shared two loves. A love for Christ and a love for facts. They were interested in truth. The result is part letter and part research paper. Like many great pieces of literature, this was gospel is a labor of love. Luke studied carefully and wanted Theophilus to benefit from his study. With the skill of surgeon, Luke probes for truth.

Like all gospel writers, there are many beautiful themes that emerge. First, Luke portrays Jesus as fully man and fully God. Second, Jesus brings total physical and spiritual restoration to the body and soul through death on the cross and his resurrection. Another theme is Jesus experiencing the conflicts of life, yet performing miracles. Also, Jesus fulfilled God's mission and taught about God's kingdom.

Here are some others to ponder over.

Forgiveness at both human and divine levels are a beautiful theme woven throughout the whole book.

​His death and resurrection open up the possibility of salvation and make possible a direct relationship with God. 

Another thing I love about this gospel is theme of prayer. In addition to specific teaching on prayer, Jesus exemplifies a life of prayer by communicating with God the Father. 

The compassion or heart of Christ is there. Jesus Christ is the friend of poor, list, brokenhearted, alienated, oppressed, and abandoned sinners.

I wonder if Luke had any inkling about the impact of this book that he wrote for a friend. It is for the person who is interested in facts but has come to realize that there are things cannot be rationally explained. It for those who are interested in Jesus, but do not necessarily believe.

This is my little trinity of reading material for March. I hope and pray something in this has made an impression and you are motivated to pick up and read any of these books!