In our culture today, is reading aloud an ‘obstinate act of love?’ Meghan Cox Gurdon, this week’s guest and author of The Enchanted Hour, believes so.

Meghan is the Wall Street Journal’s children’s book reviewer and says her five kids were a built-in focus group.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • the power of reading books again and again
  • the value of conversations around books
  • is reading aloud real reading?

I also answer a listener question about how to continue reading aloud throughout the summer when schedules are wonky, and share some of my favorite audiobooks for preschool-age children.

Listener Guide

Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast:

1:37Reading aloud through the summer
6:47Meet Meghan Cox Gurdon
7:35A rich vocabulary
9:54Interacting with your kids through books
11:31Reading the same books again and again
14:52Dialogic reading
17:56Powerful silence
18:33The Rough Patch by Brian Lies
22:13Is reading aloud cheating? Is it real reading?
26:14Reading with eyes, reading with ears
28:33Problematic books
35:35Let the Kids Speak

Quotes to remember:

Maybe that is part of the power of reading aloud, it is an invitation into, ‘Here, come sit next to me, let’s do this together.'” – Sarah Mackenzie

“It really is one of the most consequential, beautiful, and nourishing things we can do. The list of good effects of reading aloud is almost without end.” – Meghan Cox Gurdon

Books from this episode:

(All links are affiliate links.)

Goodnight Moon
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Caddie Woodlawn
Johnny Tremain
Owl Moon
The Hundred Dresses
Now We Are Six: A.A. Milne’s Pooh Classics, Volume 4
Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (Sandpiper Books)
Piper
The Rough Patch
Little House on the Prairie: Little House, Book 3
The Peter Rabbit Collection
Frog and Toad Are Friends
The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant
Frog and Toad All Year
The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction
A Kite for Moon
Frog and Toad Together
The Birchbark House
Princess Cora and the Crocodile
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
How the Camel Got His Hump, Also Includes How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin
The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh

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