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362 reviews for:
The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids
Sarah MacKenzie
4.31 AVERAGE
362 reviews for:
The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids
Sarah MacKenzie
4.31 AVERAGE
Redundant, tried to keep reading but felt like I was wasting my time.
This might’ve been 4 stars for me, except that it’s exactly what it said it would be! I didn’t love it like a 5 star book, but I did enjoy it and set some goals for myself (you may have noticed all the books suddenly added to my lists!). It’s also nice to have a book justify how much time I spend reading.
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Great book with reading lists and useful questions to ask your kids.
I purchased this book because a trusted friend of a friend whom I admire afar as a human and parent posted that they’d read it on their Goodreads (Heather, if you’re reading this, that’s you
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This books makes me excited to dive into more read alouds! I wish so much that I had come across this book when I was a new momma though. I only found it after pulling my son out of public school and asking about books to read in my homeschooling groups. I can't recommend this book enough. It's so easy to follow with so much useful information to store away as well as booklists to enjoy with certain age groups.
informative
medium-paced
I like the concept she's teaching here. Sometimes she would try to make a point by listing a bunch of characters or a bunch of books without context or explanation and it just didn't land if I hadn't read any of the books she listed, which was often. I could have done with fewer examples books with better explanation for those who hadn't read them.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
“We read in the hope that our children will feel the heartbeat of a hero thrumming within them and look to the Heavens and ask, “What great thing have I been created to accomplish?” This book was recommended to me not only as a mom who wants to create passion for reading in my boys, but also as a teacher and how it can challenge what We English teachers do to reading in the classroom. I highly recommend it to parents and teachers- “ a sense of duty is killing our kids’ ability to read for pleasure.” It also comes with loved book lists that the author, mother of six, has used in her home as read alouds. “Either we create a space where reading is something that is done for the joy of it, where the imagination is cultivated and allowed to wander and stretch and grow, or we deaden our Children’s natural love for the written word.”
I got a lot out of this book. It contained a lot of good ideas for me, a children’s entertainer who reads aloud to kids.
The demographic the book was for was definitely not me, and I should have looked closer before purchasing it. In the first few chapters, I wondered how original the book even was, since Mackenzie herself admits that her entire read aloud journey was inspired by Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. Beside, what could I, a single man who entertains kids as a drag queen, learn from a book by and for parents (read:mothers) with the intent of creating a “reading household.” Even though Mackenzie and I are both Christians, I felt that her branding towards a Christian household was unnecessary for the book’s overall intent.
These differences aside, Mackenzie does a solid job at collecting source readings, academic studies, and author interviews to compose a compelling argument for Reading Aloud. Some of my favorite quotes, and things I will be using to help me shape my Reading Times, are as follows.
P. 63 “...Reading to our kids teaches them to think, make connections, and communicate. Reading aloud doesn’t just open windows. It flings wide the doors of opportunities far outside the scope of Language and literature.”
P. 75 “A book can reach us where a news report cannot...We slip on someone else’s shoes for a few minutes or 121 pages, and our spirits are moved.”
I don’t think this book is meant for all families, and that is disappointing. But if you are able to read it with an open mind, you can glean some good information.
The demographic the book was for was definitely not me, and I should have looked closer before purchasing it. In the first few chapters, I wondered how original the book even was, since Mackenzie herself admits that her entire read aloud journey was inspired by Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. Beside, what could I, a single man who entertains kids as a drag queen, learn from a book by and for parents (read:mothers) with the intent of creating a “reading household.” Even though Mackenzie and I are both Christians, I felt that her branding towards a Christian household was unnecessary for the book’s overall intent.
These differences aside, Mackenzie does a solid job at collecting source readings, academic studies, and author interviews to compose a compelling argument for Reading Aloud. Some of my favorite quotes, and things I will be using to help me shape my Reading Times, are as follows.
P. 63 “...Reading to our kids teaches them to think, make connections, and communicate. Reading aloud doesn’t just open windows. It flings wide the doors of opportunities far outside the scope of Language and literature.”
P. 75 “A book can reach us where a news report cannot...We slip on someone else’s shoes for a few minutes or 121 pages, and our spirits are moved.”
I don’t think this book is meant for all families, and that is disappointing. But if you are able to read it with an open mind, you can glean some good information.