World Read Aloud Day is on March 5. I strongly believe that reading begins with listening to stories read to you by someone who cares for you - hopefully it's a parent or grandparent or maybe a teacher or maybe an older sibling. Every child should feel what it's like to sit with someone they love and trust and listen to stories, many of them, and travel to new places, meet new friends, feel a roller coaster of emotions, but most of all, learn to love reading.
To celebrate, bloggers are being asked to participate in a blogging challenge. Each week there is a new challenge, a new scenario to write about. For more information, check HERE
Week 1's challenge: What is your earliest or fondest memory in which someone read aloud to you?
My earliest memory is listening to my dad read to me. I remember being very young, probably around 3, and my dad taking me to the local library. I can still remember him reading Flicka, Ricka and Dicka stories to me. I loved when he would change his voice to read Paul Galdone's The Three Billy Goats Gruff. He also read collections to me. I had a big book of Walt Disney stories. I loved picking out what story we were going to read. I think that's when "one more story, dad...." began! And I also started chapter books with him. I can remember sitting on his lap in our old rocking chair as he read the Christmas chapter to me from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods.
I was lucky that my dad came from a family of readers. His mom, my grandma, worked in a library. I benefitted from this as she would often send me books from the library. I remember opening a new treasure and waiting for him to come home and read to me. My grandma lives in New Mexico and I didn't see her very often growing up, but she would mail me books from time to time, which was very special. I didn't know it at the time, but she was introducing me to genres. She never referred to the books that way, but looking back, I can see that's how I first read fairy tales (Gyo Fujikawa's), holiday stories, and non-fiction collections. I learned about the different seasons and months and the "olden days" by reading Tasha Tudor's A Time to Keep. My grandma clearly instated a love of reading in my dad, which he passed on to me.
I'm happy to pass this love of reading to my daughter. I started reading to her when she was a baby. I still try to read out loud with her from time to time, even though she is a very independent reader now. She still enjoys cuddling up with me and listening to a good story. It's a treasured time.
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This will be my first World Read Aloud Day. I'm not sure how I'll celebrate yet. Our school will have I-SATs happening (Illinois standardized testing), so we'll have to plan around that. I'm hoping to do something special with our younger kids and reading students. I'm looking forward to seeing what others are doing! For a list of ideas visit www.litworld.org/worldreadaloudday
Come back next week to see my interview with my daughter about reading!
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