Today was National Read Aloud Day. It was also, as I mentioned, my dearest friend’s birthday. So, I read aloud to her–her favorite childhood book, Happy Birthday, Moon. An adorable, sweet story about a bear who wants to talk to the moon, to ask when its birthday is and thinks when his voice echoes back to him that it is the moon talking to him. It is super cute and worth a read or re-read. I also read aloud to her the first chapter of Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. This is one we read together years ago but we wanted to revisit it. It is a story of a boy and his paternal grandma, Ultima — La Grande – a curandera who comes to live with him and his family and teaches him so much about his culture, his family, himself and the world. It is an absolutely enchanting story. I’ll write another review, a proper one, when I finish re-reading it. =) Good food, good friends, good books, good fun. =) It was a lovely...

This young lady, Alice Ozma, and her father made a pact for him to read to her aloud for initially 100 days. This reading streak actually lasted from the time she was 9 years old till she went to University. This shared love for literature impacted her so much she has grown up and wrote a book about it! And now she encourages everyone to take the reading promise and go on a reading streak, with someone else. =)   You can read more or make the reading promise with a child in your life here. Why not make this commitment to read with someone (adult or child!) as a birthday gift or holiday gift? Make it a Tuesday gift....

Ohhhhh! Two of my favorite things… reading and doing something positive… have now been combined. We Give Books was created by the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation.1 Easy-peasy. You go to their website http://www.wegivebooks.org/ and you choose from one of the campaigns, sign up, read the FREE books online to yourself, to others, to anyone who will listen. Read them once, read them twice, read them a dozen times over. Each time you read a book, a book is donated to the campaign you chose. So simple, so thoughtful, so fun. SO! What are your waiting for? Go read a couple books tonight… they are not difficult reads. A few of my favorites were School Days Around the World by Catherine E. Chambers, Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis and David Soman, and Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. The first is a compilation of stories depicting a typical day at school for 7 different children in 7 different countries. It was interesting to read how similar school is for children around the world and how it is different. The second was about a little girl who is all dressed up like a ladybug and is left to her own devices for entertainment… which she achieves with style. The last is a familiar story to many in a series of Llama Llama books. It is cute particularly when read out loud with animation. I read this one to everyone right before they went to bed… I read each and every book offered so far at least once. And I even read aloud to teenagers and my dearest friend! =) Hahahaha… but they enjoyed it. I intend to read them again and again and read all the new ones (until they make me stop!) I think this is a great cause and want to be part of it! =) Join the fun… you know you want to! http://www.wegivebooks.org/p/about...

Listening is an act of love, originally uploaded by allicette. As part of my summer reading aloud shtick I chose a book of short, inspiring stories. I figured they were easier to follow and would keep everyone’s attention because when you are reading a book with 3 other people–over the age of 14–it is difficult to find a time and to keep everyone engaged. I chose, Listening Is an Act of Love: A celebration of American life from the Storycorps project edited by Dave Isay. This is the second ‘Storycorps‘ compilation I’ve read and I just loved it! We all did. Storycorps is ‘the largest oral history project in the nation’s (United States) history’.1 From their website, StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and on our Listen pages. The heart of StoryCorps is the conversation between two people who are important to each other: a son asking his mother about her childhood, an immigrant telling his friend about coming to America, or a couple reminiscing on their 50th wedding anniversary. By helping people to connect, and to talk about the questions that matter, the StoryCorps experience is powerful and sometimes even life-changing. Our goal is to make that experience accessible to all, and find new ways to inspire people to record and preserve the stories of someone important to them. Just as powerful is the experience of listening. Whenever people listen to these stories, they hear the courage, humor, trials and triumphs of an incredible range of voices. “By listening closely to one another, we can help illuminate the true character of this nation reminding us all just how precious each day can be and how truly great it is to be alive. Dave Isay, Founder, StoryCorps This book is a compilation of stories...

There are many benefits to reading aloud both for the reader and the listener, regardless of the ages of either! Reading to children and having them read to you helps improve or develop: the ability to reason diction and annunciation vocabulary reading skills overall the ability to discern good writing from bad both in reading other’s writing and in their own writing as they will be able to discern why something would or would not make sense to the reader etc. the ability to speak more clearly and accurately curiousity about the world around them imagination by visualization attention span listening skills including comprehension increased general information about the world, emotions, people, situations, objects etc. voice and volume control speaking abilities confidence But reading aloud can benefit adults too. It is a great time to bond with someone over something you both enjoy. It can spark excellent, indepth conversations helping improve or reassert strong relations. It can help bring up a topic that is not always easy to discuss. It helps keep minds active and imaginations soaring. Reading aloud helps you stay informed about the world around you. It also helps exercise the throat and the lungs (working the diaphragm !)  Adults also receive the same benefits from reading as children. Reading aloud can help relax all people involved, the reader and the listeners. It is a general overall feel good activity which improves so many areas of life and stimulates your brain! So, go ahead… try it! Make a comittment to read aloud once or twice a week… to anyone willing to listen and / or ask someone to read to you. Then come back and tell me below… what extra benefits you  and they receive from both sides. [contact-form 1 “Contact form...