Reviews - The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids

362 reviews for:

The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids

This is a fabulously inspiring and well-researched book about developing a family culture of reading, delivered with Sarah’s characteristic enthusiasm and encouragement. She has condensed the most valuable lessons about reading and reading-aloud into one easily accessible source.

We have been a read-aloud family since my oldest (now 16) was a baby so much of the content was not ground-breaking for me but still the book reinforced and brought into words the reasons why reading aloud is so crucial for our kids and families.

I loved her suggestions for asking compelling questions as well as her realistic and down-to-earth expectations. This lifestyle is so doable...and so worth it! The conversations that books have opened up in our family are priceless and have truly shaped our family culture & language.

Her book lists are incredible...she put in some serious research hours for our sakes...and gives a breakdown of picture books and novels for each age group as well as a brief description and list of read-alikes. My only caveat is that over the years of reading Sarah’s blog & listening to her podcast I realized that we have slightly different tastes in books (ex: Little Britches one of my all-time favorite read-alouds, which was not Sarah’s experience, and she raves about The Green Ember but that book fell flat for us...not a criticism, just a difference) which I know to keep in mind when looking at her booklists. But the breadth of books she offers and her descriptions ensure that there’s plenty for every family in there. And she’s wonderfully open about the reality of accepting our own tastes and putting down a book we don’t enjoy reading, which I love.

This book belongs on every family’s bookshelf (alongside endless stacks of books, of course!) and should be gifted to all first-time moms.

erica_s's review

1.0

I can't review this in its entirety because I didn't finish it. However, I need to have a placeholder so I remember that this is very much from the (White) Christian homeschooler point of view - she is up-front about her religious background, so this will be a great resource in helping those families find books, persuade family members to take up reading, and get a few tips on how to make reading happen more frequently in a Christian family.

Others will be turned off by the examples of Vacation Bible School, quotes from Scripture, and the use of inspirational language.

I noted that the very first page has an endorsement quote from Andrea Davis Pinkney; "Mackenzie has crafted a treasure of a book that is an answer to every parent's prayer." That would seem to indicate that she is comfortable with the religious perspective, but the Pinkney quote continues, "This practical resource is for anyone who cares deeply about literacy and raising children to become lifelong readers." I think this is a little presumptuous.

Despite the mention on page 78 of Rudine Sims Bishop's article "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors," within a chapter about how books build empathy, the concept is not applied to the suggested books in any way, so books that present an inauthentic or exploitative view written by a White person describing characters or history outside of their experience are given equal value to #ownvoices literature.

mayajoelle's review

4.0

I read this at 15 and enjoyed it a lot. Recommended for all parents. (And, y'know, the odd teenager who enjoys reading homeschool books for adults.) (Like me.)

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read 3/29/2018

deblaroche's review

4.0

The premise of this book is so wonderfully simple and effective for ALL families. The loads of research (scientific, medical, etc.) backs it up, but she doesn't delve into that as much as I wished she would have. Also, she writes from a staunchly Christian point of view, which didn't bother me, but may turn off readers of other faiths, no faith, etc. Definitely worth reading and then putting into action with your children.

marissa_atherton's review

5.0

Loved this! I devoured this book, just as the author devoured Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. Because I listen to her podcast (Read Aloud Revival), I could hear Sarah’s voice in my head as I read. So many laugh out loud moments (from personal stories shared or those from podcast-listeners) that I had to share with Graham.

Reading this reinforced ideas I’ve been having (reading aloud instead of lecture for teaching/learning certain things) as well as introduced new content that I know I will be turning back to often, particularly the 10 questions to ask about any book.

marciclark's review

4.0

I love Sarah McKenzie’s podcast, Read Aloud Revival, so I had to read her book. Quite a lot of the book is the same information from the podcast, but I loved having it in a book I could reference. I have found that we have more read aloud time at my house since I read this book. I already thought it was important (my dream is to be a librarian-i love books) but after Sarah’s book I feel like I have some more info to make reading time more of a success.

katiell2's review

3.0

I liked the majority of the book, but I found all of the talk about Christianity to be pretty off-putting since it's not marketed as a Christian book. If you only have time to read one book about the importance of reading to the kids in your life, I recommend The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease instead. It might even change your life.