If you're lucky, there might be a chance to read Jane Eyre or Great Expectations together when they're 12, before they slope off into the surly secret world of adolescence.There are all sorts of brilliant suggested stories in Great Books to Read Aloud but they're just a random choice to get people started. If you read aloud to a six-, seven- or eight-year-old, you can tackle really meaty, juicy, nourishing books that might be too daunting for them to plod through themselves. Yes, some children are irritatingly fidgety even when they're absorbed in a story. They certainly don't need to sit up straight, hands clasped, while you're reading.
They can crayon, build stuff, cook, whatever.You can launch in on your childhood favourites, maybe when your child is around nine, tackling classics such as Little Women or Black Beauty or The Secret Garden. Reading to yourself is a big effort at first, and most children start off with short simple books a little below their comprehension level. I think it's such a lovely cosy family thing that it's worth perpetuating as long as possible It doesn't have to be at bedtime Any time is good for a story. It's wonderful to act out Where the Wild Things Are and roar those terrible roars together, and then prompt your child to order you to Be Still! But past five or so, when you get on to longer books, it's too tiring to do a spectacular performance, and maybe distracting or embarrassing for older children in the family. An ordinary pleasant talking voice is all that's required.Some people think it is weird to suggest that it's very rewarding to carry on reading aloud long after your children are fluent readers. It's fun to play games with the story, to stroke the picture of the puppy, to pretend to lick the giant ice cream, to wave goodbye to the characters.
Children just want to hear someone they care about telling them a story. Of course, it's good to ham it up a little with babies and toddlers. Maybe we've all got a little over-awed by the professional performances of actors on story tapes. I can't read Dickens now without hearing my father's quiet measured voice saying the words.Children do not need grand performances with loads of expression and a different funny voice for each character. I found this stirring stuff and sat bolt upright in bed hearing about poor little Davie being whipped by Mr Murdstone. I started off with Pookie, the white rabbit with wings, certainly not a patch on Potter, but I loved it when it was read to me, and soon knew the story off by heart My parents didn't go in for reading aloud in a big way. But when, at the age of six, I was ill in bed for weeks and forbidden to read by the doctor in case it strained my eyes, my Dad read aloud to me, heroically hacking his way through all three Magic Faraway Tree books and then with a wild literary leap started in on David Copperfield.