Why Reading Aloud is So Important (& my Ultimate List of Favorite Books for Every Age)

"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children."

-The Report on the National Commission of Reading (Becoming a Nation of Readers, 1985)


Listening to stories aloud is the best model for fluency (reading with appropriate rate), prosody (phrasing and intonation), and expression (I like to refer to this with my students as “talking like the characters”). Oftentimes, parents have the misconception that their infants or toddlers are too young to gain anything from reading aloud. However, there are numerous studies on language development that have proven how important word acquisition is in the first three years of life, including in utero! For more on this, check out The Thirty Million Word Gap by Hart and Risley (2003). On the other end of the spectrum, even adults enjoy hearing texts aloud (audiobooks, anyone?!). Most people, especially those with Dyslexia, are able to comprehend texts far above their independent literacy level if they are being read to as opposed to reading themselves. 


My all time favorite books for every age:


Board Books (Babies and Toddlers)


Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak

Little Blue Truck by Alice Shertle

Press Here by Herve Tullet

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown


Classics 


Rainbow Fish  Marcus Pfister and J. Alison James 

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Ferdinand the Bull by Munro Leaf

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Lucille Colandro

Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw


Rhyming


Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton

Frog on a Log  by Kes Gray and Jim Field

Goodnight, Little Monster by Helen Ketteman

Llama Llama (series)  by Anna Dewdney

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees 

Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Dr. Seuss Books 


Expression and Conversation Loop


Bark, George! by Jules Feiffer

Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka

Dusty Locks and the Three Bears  by Susan Lowell

Elephant and Piggie (series) by Mo Willems

Pigeon (series) by Mo Willems 

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems 

Skippy Jon Jones by Judy Schachner

I Want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers 


Creativity 


Not a Box by Antoinette Portis 

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty


Loved by Kids


Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina 

Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Duck on a Tractor by David Shannon

I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty

Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin

Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins 

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff 


Social Emotional Development 


Wilma Jean the Worry Machine by Julia Cook 

A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook

I Just Don’t Like the Sound of No by Julia Cook 

That Rule Doesn’t Apply to Me by Julia Cook 

Thanks for the Feedback, I Think! by Julia Cook 

I Just Want to Do it My Way by Julia Cook 

My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook 

Sorry, I Forgot to Ask by Julia Cook 

Ricky Sticky Fingers by Julia Cook 

Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook 

A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon

Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes

What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick

How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods that Make my Day by Jamie Lee Curtis

Chapter Book Series and Graphic Novels 

Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland (original series are upper elementary/middle school level, but graphic novel versions are great for younger readers) 

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey

Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey

Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Hank Zipzer by Henry Winkler

Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

Babysitters Club (graphic novels) adapted by Raina Telgemeier; based on the original series by Ann M. Martin 



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