Reading with my son, who’s coming up on ten years old, has been a near-daily routine for us since he was born. For the most part, when we’re together in the evening, we read for around 45 minutes before he goes to bed. It seems that reading can fall by the wayside for some parents as kids get older, when it becomes more of a task to find books you can both enjoy together. I read recently that less than a quarter of parents of kids ages 9 to 11 read aloud to their children. If that’s true, we’re missing a major opportunity to develop literacy and empathy at a crucial age.
Reading is one of my favourite things we do together, and it’s been greatly beneficial to both of us. It’s only gotten better as the range of stories has broadened, and the themes have deepened. Reading has expanded our vocabulary, broadened our worldview, and helps us to continually develop and practice empathy. While it’s all anecdotal, I really have no doubt that my son’s ability to read, write, think, and communicate has been strengthened by time spent reading a diverse range of books.
While their especially young, we read to our children to calm them, to share focused time with them, and to expose them to new language, situations, people, visuals, and ideas. We may not be conscious of these reasons while we read their favourite books over and over again, but the reasons are there. One book I read to my son frequently early on was Toes in My Nose by Sheree Fitch. It’s a collection of funny and sweet poems that was first published in 1987, accompanied by wonderful illustrations by Molly Lamb Bobak. My favourite books from our early days of reading together might be best described as “silly, but with substance.” Funny and (eventually) predictable rhymes are quite pleasing for all ages. Repeated readings gives kids a chance to know what to expect, but they also let prepare for what’s coming next, which allows you to really spice up your delivery over time. In a favourite poem of ours from Toes in My Nose, entitled “The Sneeze,” my son’s growing anticipation as I drew out the three consecutive “I went AHHHH” lines leading up to the explosive “CHOOOOOO” would have him bouncing in his seat ready to blow when the time came.
Another book that we read a lot in those early years was Henri’s Walk to Paris, written by Leonore Klein and illustrated by Saul Bass. While a story about a boy getting lost thanks to a mistake by a forest creature might sound like many of the books on your shelf, the pleasant circularity of this story, along with its crisp illustrations, makes for a book to which I never mind returning. Henri’s Walk to Paris touches on an idea that I like as well: how reading about other places and people can both help us to better understand this grand world, as well as more deeply appreciate our little part of it, without excessive travel. Travelling for pleasure is a modern luxury not available to everyone, but reading is an excellent and readily-available substitute, and in some ways, can be much more informative and enjoyable.
While we read books like these to our kids, especially in their toddler years, we’re laying a foundation for them to develop their own reading and communication skills. Taking the time to read with our kids models how to read fluently and expressively. We can demonstrate how to regard punctuation through our timing and intonation, as well as how to sound out longer words when we get stuck. Plus, when you’re reading to a kid, they are literally looking up to you, which is quite a powerful feeling.
We moved to a new city when our son was just shy of 3, and immediately, visits to our local library branch became a near daily routine. While he perused picture books at his level, I hunted for books of my own, plus books in the Young Adult section so that he and I could meet in the middle and read together. I figured there was no reason why we couldn’t always find books we’d both enjoy. Ideal books at this point were novels with illustrations every few pages or so, to ease the transition from fully illustrated books.
Once kids hit school-age and start to develop their own reading skills, it’s just as important that we continue reading with them. While they are still developing their ability to interpret our alphabet into words—and then further into stories—our reading to them offers an opportunity to just enjoy the story, without struggling through the slog of sounding out words. It’s hard to enjoy the whole forest when you’re bumping into every other tree. Having us read aloud builds their storehouse of words, grammar, and phrases, without them really having to do anything. They can just sit and absorb, and over time, reap the benefits of clarity and diversity in the language they use.
When my son was around 5, we found our way into reading novels through the works of Lemony Snicket. Now, Lemony Snicket is a name I recognized at the time but had no idea as to why. The first thing that came to mind was some sort of Demon Barber of Fleet Street character, which was in hindsight just due to having a vague awareness of the (not-my-cup-of-tea) 2004 movie, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. The movie stars Jim Carrey as the character of Count Olaf, and I was confusing him with the (pen-named) author and narrator of the books themselves, Lemony Snicket. Regardless, if you have seen that movie or even have an awareness of it, it may tarnish your literary taste buds, so please try to wipe your memory of that film and read on with an open mind.
Our first encounter with Snicket was by chance, when, on a whim, I picked up the first book in his All the Wrong Questions series. Once we started reading, we were rapt, thanks to the mystery, odd setting, strange characters, and the playfully diverse language. To round it out, the illustrations by legendary cartoonist Seth helped shape the world that Snicket, the author, had created to tell the story of a young Lemony Snicket, the character.
After finishing that 4-book series, we dove straight into Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events series. You may have seen previews or full episodes of the recent Netflix series based on these books, with Neil Patrick Harris starring as Count Olaf this time, but again, I implore you to try the books first before you watch the show, if you watch the show at all. We’ve watched some of it, and while it’s made up of great visuals and a story that stays fairly true, it didn’t grip us nearly as tightly as the books themselves.
The books introduce us to a just-slightly-fantastical-enough world, tastefully illustrated by Brett Helquist, that leaves plenty of space for imaginations young and old. The language is continually challenging kids with its diversity, but the narrator—this time, a generally third person omniscient Lemony Snicket—is always there to help with his oft-used “…a word which here means…” phrase, facilitating a fluid means of introducing new words, rather than the reader having to pause and explain or look up the definition.
Time and time again in the 13 novels that make up A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Baudelaire orphans—Violet, Klaus, and Sunny—are put through the ringer of, well, a series of unfortunate events. They glimpse only occasional slivers of solace, and periodically find an ally, or at least a sympathetic person amid a sea of dolts. Since kids often start to think they do in fact know it all around the age of 10, their bound to identify with some of the Baudelaire’s frustrations from dealing with inept adults.
Throughout the series, the mark of a trustworthy person to the Baudelaires is normally a distant relative with a significant library. Libraries are in some ways extensions of characters in the series, offering the knowledge and answers that any true bookworm expects. Thankfully, most of our children will not have to endure the tragedy and ongoing tribulations that the Baudelaires face, but we can still raise them with knowledge, confidence, and empathy by continuing to read to them as they get older, and by encouraging them to read on their own as well.
Continuing to read with our kids, even as they grow up and develop all kinds of new interests, and can read most anything they want on their own, is as important as it was when they were toddlers. Reading exposes them—and us—to more worlds, phrases, information, and situations, but at a pace that’s far easier to digest when compared to the constant churn of our digital age. There are no distractions in books, no pop-ups, no notifications. It’s just you and the story. Best of all, reading is free, and thanks to public libraries and little free libraries, so to are books a lot of the time. That means you can have books all over the house, something for whatever mood you find yourself in at any particular moment. Move them around. Share them. Borrow stacks from the library. Surround yourself with books and you’ll benefit.
It’s been a few years since we finished all of the Snicket novels, and my son and I continually been able to find great books to enjoy together. Between the two of us, we’ve usually each got a couple of books of our own on the go, as well as one that we’re reading together. A recent favourite of ours was The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid, written by Colin Meloy (of the band The Decemberists) and beautifully illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. It’s a fantastic page-turner about a band of teenage pickpockets, set in 1960s Marseille, France. We also really enjoyed Skellig, and the prequel, My Name is Mina, by British author David Almond. The Lifters, by prolific writer Dave Eggers, was also a moving and pleasant read. Currently, we’ve just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate book in that series. Tonight we’ll move seamlessly into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows to finish things off. I’m not sure which spines we’ll crack after we’ve exhausted Potter, but I know we’ll continue this cherished ritual together. —Jeff Thorburn