All Ages Readalouds

In this episode, children's librarian Kacie chats with Daron, a professor and reading specialist about reading aloud to older kids. Did you know that research shows some clear - and surprising! - benefits to continuing to read aloud to kids as they grow up? Daron and Kacie share some tips, tricks, and strategies for selecting appealing books for all ages as well as some of their favorite titles! For a full list of books mentioned, click here.  

Transcript

Kacie: Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Hamden Library Podcast. I'm Kacie, a children's librarian here at Hamden Library, and this month we're gonna talk about reading aloud. I'm here with my friend, Daron. 
 
 

Daron: I am so happy to be here. I'm a teacher, I'm a professor, a book lover, and I get to do Page Turners Book Club with you at the Hamden Library. 
 
 

Kacie: Yes. You may recognize us both as the people who plan Page Turners Book Club. So we're here to share some tips, book recommendations, and more, and to talk about why readalouds shouldn't stop when your kids start reading independently.  
 
 

Daron: Yeah. I think a lot of families do stop reading when their kids get older and have their own lists of books that they want to read or their own interests, but it's actually really important to keep those readalouds going. 
 
 

Kacie: I mean, I definitely feel like they enforce a family connection, and maybe open up some dialogue for some tricky topics that maybe wouldn't come up otherwise. But why else do you think that it's important to keep reading to bigger kids?  
 
 

Daron: So on top of fostering that love of books and continuing to have those conversations, there's als- actually some research that shows that readalouds help build comprehension skills, but they can also impact mental health, even in teens. 
 
 

And even your own stress levels are reduced by reading aloud. Reading aloud can also help activate parts of your brain that help you to show empathy and communicate with the people around you. It really engages that emotional part of our brain, which is pretty cool.  
 
 

Kacie: That's pretty fascinating. How do we choose books that are engaging and exciting for all ages, for everyone? 
 
 

Daron: I think you have to start with your own enthusiasm for the book. So choose something that you actually want to read, and that will help your child to feel excited about it too.  
 
 

Kacie: That's a great point. I think you can't go wrong with a classic like A Wrinkle in Time, something that maybe makes you feel a little bit of nostalgia for your own childhood. 
 
 

Daron: That's one of my favorites. Or maybe you like to read fantasy, like we do, and you wanna pick something that's similar to Fourth Wing, like maybe Storm Dragons or Impossible Creatures, which has that same fantasy vibe.  
 
 

Kacie: I love that. Both of those books are fantastic, and maybe for younger ones or those who are not as dragon-obsessed, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is always a hit. 
 
 

And the Page Turners did, the Page Turners enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  
 
 

Daron: They did. And we wound up reading another book that we connected to it that had a similar story, called The Barren Grounds.  
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, that was really interesting. The Barren Grounds is an indigenous #OwnVoices story that also involves a magical portal, and the kids were really interested to find those, those connections and those differences between the two stories. 
 
 

I think for those that maybe want something a little more thrilling or a bit scarier, Scary Stories for Young Foxes strikes a pretty good balance between, you know, sweet and a little bit scary.  
 
 

Daron: Or maybe if you are just a book lover and you want to read about books that come alive where you can actually jump inside the pages, you might like the series The Book Wanderers, which my daughter and I are reading. 
 
 

We're on book three now. Um, we have really enjoyed reading those books together. There's lots of sort of Easter eggs mentioning other books, and you can remember those books together and it's, uh, they're a good read.  
 
 

Kacie: That sort of reminds me of The Land of Stories.  
 
 

Daron: Yeah, very similar vibe.  
 
 

Kacie: Another strategy would be to choose a book that feels kind of timeless or classic, like The Penderwicks, which feels very endless childhood summer, or Adventures with Waffles, which is translated from Norwegian, and just has, like, a really genuine-  
 
 

Daron: Good one 
 
 

Kacie: authentic, magical childhood feel. Yeah.  
 
 

Daron: Yep, perfect for a summer shared reading. Another good one is Toys Go Out. That one's kinda quirky. That one's from the perspective of toys, and they come to life, so sort of has that Toy Story vibe. I've heard the audiobook. It's really great, but my kids really love that one, and I remember your kids asking my kids if they had, if they knew who Plastic was yet. 
 
 

Kacie: Yes, dis- discovering the mystery of Plastic was very engaging for all of them. I also think that one is great for maybe littler kids, or if you have a, an extremely mixed age group, because the chapters are short, and they can sort of stand alone, so it feels okay. Like, it's a genuine stopping point. 
 
 

There's no, like, cliffhanger feeling in that book that you have to keep reading.  
 
 

Daron: Mm-hmm.  
 
 

Kacie: You can have a short chapter before bed or whenever you're reading.  
 
 

Daron: There's also favorites from our childhood, like Charlotte's Web, that's a favorite of mine, or My Father's Dragon.  
 
 

Kacie: Yes. My Father's Dragon also has short, sort of standalone chapters that... 
 
 

And, like, lots of exciting things happen in those short standalone chapters.  
 
 

Daron: So that one inspired some pretend play at our house, too. It's a fun one. You can also use books to take you places, whether they're real places or not. Traveling while you're reading is a great way to explore new places. 
 
 

Ginger Pie is an older one, but it's set right here in Connecticut. The kids in that story go to Judge's Cave, which is a place we know well. Or there's the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, which is a really great way to sort of jump into the hustle and feel of Harlem and New York City overall.  
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, the Vanderbeekers is full, is a big family full of big personalities. So there's a lot to love about that series. If your kids love learning about new places, Heidi takes you all the way to the Swiss Alps, or I'm sure most of us remember Anne of Green Gables and how magical Prince Edward Island felt.  
 
 

Daron: Still somewhere we hope to go on vacation. And then you could also read books about places you may never get to or that don't actually exist. 
 
 

Kacie: True. I just finished a book called The Girl from Earth's End, which the setting is based on real islands off the coast of Spain, but the book has, like, magic and wonder and things that are definitely not real. It was really special to read about.  
 
 

Daron: That sounds good.  
 
 

Kacie: Another strategy would be, instead of looking at the setting, but look at the characters. 
 
 

You could find a book about a character you think your kids might relate to. Like, if they're begging for a pet, a book about a character who gets a dog, like Because of Winn-Dixie or Answers to Dog would be a perfect fit.  
 
 

Daron: And then for those kids that are kind of mischievous, The Best of Iggy is one that we loved. I laughed out loud really hard reading that one with my kids.  
 
 

Kacie: He's such a lovable troublemaker.  
 
 

Daron: Mm-hmm.  
 
 

Kacie: We love the little illustrations in that book too. Sometimes, my son will even say like, "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." Like the way that they're- Oh ... surrounding Iggy in that book. Another book that sort of has a similar vibe would be Henry Huggins. 
 
 

Daron: Yeah.  
 
 

Kacie: He's less of a lovable troublemaker and more of like an accidental troublemaker.  
 
 

Daron: Well, and the audiobook of that is fantastic.  
 
 

Kacie: It is. It's read by Neil Patrick Harris, and it is so much fun for the whole family.  
 
 

Daron: Another one is The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, which is all about family chaos and fun, or Roxy and the Hooligans, which is really great for those kids that are feeling adventurous. 
 
 

Kacie: Yes. What does the uncle always say in that book? He always says something really funny. Do not panic.  
 
 

Daron: Yes, do not panic.  
 
 

Kacie: Uncle Dangerfield- Yes ... always says, "Do not panic." It's a good tip. You could also flip this and do something totally opposite, and read about a character who's extremely different from your child or your family. 
 
 

Like you could explore other cultures. Books like Front Desk or Save Me a Seat are really popular with kids. Or even exploring other cultures' fantasies or mythology, like all those books in the Rick Riordan Presents collection.  
 
 

Daron: Yeah, that's a great option. I think that I was... That reminds me that there's a sort of older body of research around reading that talks about books being a balance of mirrors, where you reflect yourself in the... 
 
 

You see yourself reflected in the book, or windows that help you see into other people's lives that you maybe don't know, or sliding glass doors that really take you places and help you understand things better.  
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, I love that analogy so much.  
 
 

Daron: Using that analogy, you might wanna introduce your child to a time period or event in history that you don't know anything about or that they haven't heard about yet, such as A Place to Hang the Moon, which talks about the Kindertransport and children being adopted during World War II, or The Lost Year. 
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, The Lost Year is a really powerful book. It's about the famine in the Ukraine, and sort of what happened post-World War. I can't remember if it was post-World War I or post-World War II, but in, in that same sort of, like, post-war time. It was a really wonderful book, and it was... 
 
 

The audiobook was fantastic. It kind of mirrors, it's a modern boy and his ancestors, and the point of views switch as he's learning about, you know, his grandmother in our time, basically.  
 
 

Daron: That's cool. Another one like that is Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere, which is about Hurricane Katrina. And actually, this other one isn't about real people, but it's The Adventures of a South Pole Pig. 
 
 

And I know we personally knew nothing about exploration in Antarctica and sled dogs and that sort of whole culture. So even though there's no pigs that are pulling sleds, it's a great way to learn about something you don't know.  
 
 

Kacie: I love that. I think if your kid is, like, really into I Survived graphic novels or the Ranger in Time series that a historical fiction readaloud would make a lot of sense. It might be a really good fit. 
 
 

Another option would be to find a book that's really funny. We've mentioned several that we thought were funny, but Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom sort of stands alone. There's one chapter in this book that I could not get through reading out loud, 'cause I was laughing so hard. 
 
 

And once we finished the book, like we read it years ago, and still sometimes my kids will bring it to me and ask just to read that chapter.  
 
 

Daron: Page Turners, read that one last year too, and really loved it.  
 
 

Kacie: They did really love it. Skunk and Badger is another option about sort of an unlikely friendship. and there are some scenes in that book that have just sort of been absorbed into our family lore and lexicon, like "rocket potato". 
 
 

Daron: We also laughed pretty hard in Flora & Ulysses. While there's some heavy conversation topics in that book, a squirrel who writes poems on a typewriter is pretty hilarious.  
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, that one was great on audio too.  
 
 

Daron: You could also choose to read a book that's been made into a movie or a TV show and then watch it together. 
 
 

I know your family has done Percy Jackson. We've read it. We haven't watched it yet. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a favorite of ours. Or you could also do The Hunger Games.  
 
 

Kacie: Yeah, I think it's really fun to sort of notice the differences and similarities and explore like how some other person, some director or producer, has interpreted the story that you're familiar with. 
 
 

Daron: My favorite is when we turn off the movie and my kids say, "But they forgot this part."  
 
 

Kacie: Yes. Some more recent ones that come to mind are The Wild Robot, which we saw in theaters, and it was very emotional and lovely, or even Out of My Mind. My daughter's class read that out loud last year, and the kids all really enjoyed watching the movie when they were done with it. 
 
 

Daron: Yeah, that's a good one.  
 
 

Kacie: Another favorite, the Page Turners really loved Holes, and that movie is fantastic.  
 
 

Daron: Yeah. That's a great one. Good summer watch. I think that's enough from us, though. We should hear from the kids. Yeah, let's hear what the kids think.  
 
 

Page-Turners: Hello, my name is Desi, and my mom and me are reading Storm Dragons, and it's really good because a boy finds a dragon and a girl is trying to save the world. And I hope they meet. 
 
 

Hi, my name's Brady, and my favorite audiobook was The Secrets of Winterhouse. It is a cozy mystery that has humor and friendship. 
 
 

Hi, my name is Emmett, and I listen in a audiobook, Dragon Masters. And my favorite dragon in the book is Worm  
 
 

Daron: All right. Thanks, guys. I think it's also important to mention that not everybody loves sitting still to read books. 
 
 

And so you can do your family readalouds in the car as an audiobook, wherever you're headed this summer. You can also put out puzzles or crafts, coloring materials, blocks, whatever it is that gives your kids something to do with their hands while they're listening to you read. It can actually help them listen and understand better. 
 
 

Kacie: True, and if you're like, "Ugh, I don't love the sound of my own voice," audiobooks are a wonderful option. You can listen to them all together, like Darin said, in the car or, you know, after dinner when everyone's sort of winding down and want to go their own way.  
 
 

Daron: Yeah.  
 
 

Kacie: Maybe you don't want them to disappear into their room for hours yet. 
 
 

Daron: It's a great way to bring everyone together.  
 
 

Kacie: And don't forget, all ages readalouds count towards everyone's summer reading goal. So kids, teens, adults, everyone gets to mark down their readaloud time on their summer reading tracker, which you can pick up at any Hamden Library location, or you can visit our website to track online using iRead. 
 
 

Daron: My summer reading tracker is full of middle-grade fiction, and I love it. I hope that you find a book you really love to share with your family this summer, and that if you find one that we didn't name, that you share it with us. Thanks for having me, Kacie.  
 
 

Kacie: Thanks for coming on. Have a great summer, everyone. 
 
 

Page-Turners: This episode of the Hamden Library Podcast is brought to you by The Page Turners, a super fun book club just for kids. Visit our website for more information and to find out about our next meeting. It's in September. And thank you for listening. Bye.