Engaging Children in Reading

"An expressive voice casts a spell that helps to make kids readers and writers." - Lester Laminack

Laura Justice and Joan Kaderavek, authors of the article Using Shared Storybook Reading to Promote Emergent Literacy and Lester Laminack, author of the article Living Language: The Art of Reading Aloud, state the need for engaging children in the reading process. To make reading aloud together a fun, and worthwhile experience, here are some tips to remember:

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Dismiss the idea that reading is an adult-led activity and allow the child to be an active participant in the read aloud session (Justice 10)

• Let the child choose the book
• Choose books that promote interaction from the child (e.g. pop up books, lift the flap books) (Justice 10). 
• Encourage the child to hold the book and turn the pages. 
• Select books with repetitive text such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. Using predictable stories enables the child to participate in the storytelling before she is able to read.
• Ask the child to read to you, even if they can't read the text on the pages.
• "Pause after reading each page so the child can comment on [the] story or pictures (Justice 10)."

Make reading a pleasurable experience

• Ask the child where he would like to read; snuggling on the couch or on pillows in a corner is more comfortable than sitting at the table. 
• Some children want to explore the pictures on the pages while others want to listen to every word of the story; take ques from the child to gauge their preference.
• Understand that the child may not want to read each page in its entirety in chronological order. Young children especially may want to skip pages or start the story in a place other than the first page.
• Understand that not every reading session has to be conducted like a test for reading comprehension. Parents can ask a few questions throughout the session such as "What is the puppy doing in that basket?" to encourage the child to participate in reading the story. When parents ask too many questions reading can seem more like work than fun.

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Make the story interesting

• Use different voices for different characters (e.g. use a deep voice for a man or a big character, whisper for someone that is supposed to be shy). 
• Change the tone of your voice depending on the emotion of the character or the feel of the story.
• If the book is particularly long or the vocabulary is above your child's level of understanding, modify the story. You can summarize the words on the page or discuss what is happening in the illustrations (Justice 10).

Use printed signals created by the author to read effectively (Laminack 80)

• "Signals come in the writer's use of language, punctuation, capital letters, bold print, color print, line breaks and paragraphing (Laminack 80)."
• "A word or phrase written in red letters twice the size of the surrounding text begs for some form of exaggeration - increased volume, stretching the words out, showing excitement or concern (Laminack 81)."
• Look for places where you should change the volume of your speech, such as whispering to indicate that the characters are trying to be quiet or sneaky.