Read-Aloud Revival ®

Kids who are 4-7 years old often love stories and can even begin to enjoy chapter books. Reading aloud to kids this age can be such a delight!You’re also able to have great conversations about what you’re reading together.There’s a whole chapter in The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids Through Books about reading with this age group, but today…In this episode, you’ll hear:what you are really going for at this stage (you’ll like the answer!)what to look for in books for this age groupjust a few book recommendations 😉Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/95/.

Guess what? The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids is now available everywhere!In this episode, I’m thrilled to share a little from the book about reading aloud to your 0-3 years olds. And of course, I’ll make a couple of book suggestions …Of course.In this episode, you’ll hear:the most important thing when it comes to reading aloud to kids age 0-3problems you’ll run into when reading with babies and toddlers (and how to navigate them)my favorite trick for reading aloud when toddlers are melting down — it’s like MAGICFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/94/.

Today I get to share a chapter from my new book, The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids.This is chapter 6 (one of my favorites!), where I talk about how we can create a book club culture at home, and thereby raise kids who read for the love it. This is how our kids become “real readers.”In this episode, you’ll hear:how and why to create a book club culture in your homewhy we need to read books that don’t “count” toward anything!how to help your kids become real readersFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/93/.

Sometimes it can be tricky to find books for boys.It’s not so much that they need different books than girls do, but… well……at some point, you may find it’s difficult to match your boys up with books they love.You know what I mean, right?The kind of books they’ll stay up late reading with a flashlight underneath the covers. The kind of books that give them an insatiable thirst for reading. The kind of books that turn them into readers.These books, of course, are not just books for boys. Many appeal to my girls, as well! But if you have a boy in your life who just doesn’t love reading (yet!), then this episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast is for you.Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/boys/.

Need a few Easter basket ideas for your young readers? We’ve got you covered!In this episode we’re bringing you books and bookish ideas for kids infant-teen.In this episode, you’ll hear:favorite children’s bibles and Easter booksfiction books that your kids will love to find in their baskets this yearFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/90/.

It could be said that if not for a slightly impulsive email to Andrew Pudewa, the Read-Aloud Revival might not exist.That’s right – today I am welcoming back Andrew Pudewa from the Institute for Excellence in Writing – who was also the very first guest on the podcast.In this episode, you’ll hear:why reading aloud matterswhen to start literary analysis with our kids (the answer might surprise you!)what to do if your kids what you to read all their schoolwork to themFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/89/.

Today I’m sharing one of the best books I read last year. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street is uniquely wonderful– a refreshing and upbeat middle grade novel featuring a loud and lively big family (5 kids and their parents), a curmudegonly landlord, a talented bunny, and enough witty dialogue to keep you warm for the rest of winter.This is now my go-to recommendation for families who love The Penderwicks, All-of-a-Kind Family, The Saturdays or The Moffats.The author’s dog is named Ginger Pye. So we knew she was gonna feel right at home here at RAR, right?In this episode, you’ll hear:how a building or a place can (and did!) become a book characterKarina’s writing process (hint: she wrote her first books during NaNoWriMo)books suggestions that celebrate familiesFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/88/.

In today’s episode of the podcast, we’re sharing books about adoption.Some are picture books, some are YA– and we’ve got a little something for everyone in between. These are books that will help your family celebrate the adopted children in your life.Brooke Cooney has made it her mission to share books about orphaned children, fostering and adoption.In this episode, you’ll hear:about books for families who are waiting to bring their child homebooks that help adopted kids to feel understood and see themselves reflected in the pagestons of suggestions from picture books, to books for teens, to books for parentsFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/87/.

Today, I’m hoping to tell you about some authors/illustrators you may not have heard about before!These aren’t necessarily new authors, but they may be new to you.In this episode, you’ll hear:picture books, middle grade books and even books for your tweens and teens – I’m covering ALL the bases!graphic novel suggestions that you’ll approve of (and that your kids will like)a couple of favorites from our house, including one book that my 5-year-old carried around for weeksplus (admittedly, my favorite part) my 4-year-old twins chatting about a book we often read 3 times in a rowFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/86/.

I think this is one of the best conversations we’ve had so far at The Read-Aloud Revival.Today we’re talking “messy” books. Parents – you probably know just what I mean.Messy books are those books that tackle hard topics. Or maybe they just have stuff in the background that makes us a little nervous about our kids reading them.Today I’m talking with Betsy Farquhar of Redeemed Reader about how best to handle these kinds of books, and why we shouldn’t just ignore them – even if they make us a little uncomfortable.I enjoyed this conversation so very much, and came away with a ton of confidence and a lot of great books to read with my kids!In this episode, you’ll hear:why as parents, WE need to be the ones to have big conversations with our kids, and how books can provide  hooks to start those conversationswhy controversial books are so popular‘read-alones’ vs ‘read-alouds’various ways we can navigate the tough stuff with our kidsFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/85/.