February | 2012 | Sunny side up!

read-aloud bedtime stories

Inspired by the Mumsnet bloghop on the best books to read loud, I’ve being mulling over what makes a book a joy – rather than a chore – to read over and over and over again.
(and why do children want the same stories SO MANY TIMES – any thoughts??)

Because it really can be the best bit of the day, when we snuggle up with our little lovelies and share a pile of books, knowing that they are getting the two things they need most – our undivided attention, and the chance to spend some time in the rich world of their imagination before they drift off to sleep (hopefully).

But how much better if they’re a delight to read! Rather than those books you pick up with a heavy heart (or surreptitiously push under the bed with your shoe…). It’s a matter of taste, like anything else: I’ve never cared much for too much schmaltz, personally.

For the little tots I’ve picked out Posy by Linda Newbery and Catherine Rayner, because it has the delicious, sort-of-rhyming words you can really tuck into with gusto. I included it in my Fabulous Five choices for Library Mice.

For older readers, it’s doesn’t get much better that the Eddie Dickens stories by Philip Ardagh. This kind of wildly clever and funny writing is in a class of it’s own; my only gripe was that I could read them faster than he could possibly write them.

Think of reading aloud as a performance, a mini piece of theatre: go BIG on the funny voices, the expression, the laughs, pointing out the details… you won’t get rave reviews, shouts of ‘bravo!’ and a round of applause – but you’ll deserve them…