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Summary: don't miss this book
Review: Jim Trelease is one of my heros. The reason: he has done more than anyone I know to help parents and teachers enable kids to fall in love with books. I have recommended his books and audiotapes to countless parents and educators. This is an invaluable book, full of concrete, well researched ideas on every aspect of children's learning.
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Summary: "The more you read, the more you know..."
Review: Read this great resource for many more truths from Jim Trelease. The author's expertise in the reading field and down-to-earth practical methods combine for an outstanding guide to helping your child, and all children to which you reach out, become more successful readers and thus more productive students. Jim Trelease's theories regarding the importance of reading aloud to every child for 15 minutes a day - "either in the home or in the classroom" - are supported with documented evidence. He quotes the education adage, "What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we teach them to just do."
Mr. Trelease has inspired me to remember my love for reading, draw upon my past pleasant reading experiences, share those with my children and, then, make our own reading memories that they, in turn, may share with their children.
I hope to build a reading legacy, not only within my own family, but for all the children in my daughter's middle school as I work to start a Read Aloud program there also.
Mr. Trelease writes, "We easily can count, like the seeds in an apple, the number of books read by one child. But only God can count the number of apples that will come from a single seed or the number of readers who will eventually follow from one lifetime reader."
Thank you, Jim Trelease, not only for inspiring me to plant reading "seeds", but for motivating me to inspire others to do the same!
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Summary: wonderful resource for all parents
Review: Similar to 'The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children' and Kathleen Odean's 'Great Books for Boys' and 'Great Books for Girls', one third of this book is dedicated to listing books. These are organized by book type -- wordless books, predictable/cumulative books, picture reference, picture books, short novels, novels, poetry, and fairy and folk tales. Books within each category are listed alphabetically by title, and one-paragraph descriptions include suggested age level, page count, and reference to other books by the same author. There is also an author/illustrator index.What makes this book unique and invaluable is the reasoned and persuasive text that precedes the book listing. The author is obviously passionate about the issue of reading to kids, and he makes a strong case in support of this belief, pulling together classroom experiences, case studies, headlines and research to form an accessible and compelling narrative. As a parent, a librarian and a former researcher in cognitive and learning science, I was very impressed with the author's command of so many aspects of this issue, and his ability to summarize what is known in an interesting and informative way. We all hear statistics about reading scores, or know a teacher who tells us that student performance has degraded over the years, but in this volume the author has gathered the information from many sources together; furthermore, the author discusses reading in the context of our experience, addressing issues of athlete readers and the influence of television, for instance. As well as answering the question of *why* we should read to our children, there is a terrific chapter on *how* to read and discuss books with children at various ages and stages. If you want to help your children love reading, this would be an invaluable resource. I give this book my very highest recommendation.
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Summary: Should be a Standard Reference in Every Parent Library
Review: Since I discovered the book (1st ed.), it has been my traditional baby-shower gift to every expectant woman in my acquaintance. I will happily bore anyone with quotes from the book, and I even wrote a news article about Trelease for my local paper. I even listened to a "Focus on the Family" radio broadcast when Trelease was the guest (unfortunately, Dobson felt honor-bound to warn his faithful viewers that among the books recommended in TRAH were those dreaded "Fantasy" books -- God forbid their kids develop imaginations...). I've used the tips in this book to limit TV exposure during babysitting sessions with nieces and nephews, and am a fanatic read-alouder for all of them. (My nephew David used to say "book, book" when he saw me.) This manual should be in every parent's shelf, along with Dr Spock and the home-remedies tomes. Most of what I learned, I learned out of school, in my daily reading; this is the best way to ensure that kids will read when they're not being bored to death at their desks.
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Summary: You'll finish reading, grab a kid, and read to them!
Review: That's how potent the message is in this book. It has inspired me to join my public library friends program. Not only does the book compel you to want to read aloud to your children, it also offers a great reading list. More than just a simple list of books, this list provides suggestions for age range, a description of its topic, and even some slight comments on how to edit for read aloud. Also shifts a lot of the "what is wrong with our public schools" question right back in the laps of those who can do something to fix it--caregivers (be they parents, grandparents, or babysitters!!)
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Summary: If you're a parent, you must read this book!
Review: The best thing you can give your child is the love of reading. Being a good reader will not only help your child in school, but your child will have a lifetime's worth of learning nad pleasure ahead of him! My own children are in their late teens and early 20's and I was fortunate enough to hear Jim Trelease speak at a public library many years ago, probably soon after the first edition of The Read Aloud Handbook came out. We started reading to our oldest child when she was 4 months old and as the others came along, they were read to from birth since we were reading to the older one(s). This book is incredibly inspiring - Jim gives so many great suggestions on what books to read to your kids, and how to interest kids who may be reluctant to enter into reading themselves. Just the list of books alone would be worth the price of this book! I know that we wouldn't have known about some of the books we read to our kids without Jim's book. Jim Trelease also covers the issue of TELEVISION in his book. He gives very convincing reasons for turning OFF the TV and reading instead. I had already made the decision for our family that we weren't going to allow the children to watch endless hours of TV (even though all they watched was Sesame Street and Mister Rogers!), but Jim's book confirmed my decision. My kids all enjoy reading - and my husband and I have always been readers. For me, the book was just confirming what I already knew - and it gave me so many good titles to find at the library! I remember reading "Stone Fox" to our girls and what a great experience that book was. Public libraries are a wonderful resource, but they don't take the place of having a child OWN some books of his own. Tell family members to buy your children books for Christmas and birthday gifts. When you can, buy hardcover as they will last a lot longer. Look up some of the books Trelease recommends here on Amazon - you can read reviews and make some good choices. Children today are TOO BUSY - most kids have more activities than anyone could possibly handle and still have time to stop and just be! 10-15 years ago, kids would play a sport, or play an instrument, take dance lessons, or be in Scouts. They might do two of these things. But I know kids who do them ALL, plus more things I haven't mentioned. And one of the things that gets cut out with all the busy-ness is READING. Meals together as a family fall by the wayside and kids and parents are so exhausted from running around with all the activities that they don't read books and the parents are too tired to read to them. If you have young children, please consider fighting this pressure to sign your child up for every available activity. Take time to enjoy your family - the kids grow up much too fast! And give your kids the gift of reading - buy a copy of this marvelous book, consult it often, and you'll enjoy a richness of family life that your kids will remember forever!
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Summary: A must buy gift for new parents
Review: The perfect gift for new parents and to help them to acheive the joy of learning instilled in their child.
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Summary: The one book every parent needs
Review: The Read-Aloud Handbook came out in the eighties, at a time when reading to children had pretty much fallen by the wayside, replaced by television. It offered parents not only good reasons to read to children (developing language skills and imaginations, encouraging children to want to read to themselves), and lots of hints on how to start and keep up daily reading, but also a well-chosen list of books for kids of different ages and interests. As far as I'm concerned, the luckiest break I got as a parent was that this book came out the year my first child was born. I bought my first copy then, I've bought subsequent editions of the book, and I've referred to it constantly, more than any other parenting book I have (Not even good old Dr. Spock comes close). I've recommended it to many friends, and they all come away raving about it as much as I do. By now, I think most parents realize that reading to kids is important. It's just not always easy to do. People are busy, it's hard to find the time. And then, even if you do manage to find the time, kids may not like the books you pick. That picture book you remember fondly from childhood turns out to be a little stodgy and old-fashioned, and your child just won't sit still for it. Or you pick up the latest hyped children's book, and your child loves it, but you feel like you are going to go insane if you have to read this syrupy garbage one more time. Despite the best intentions, it's easy to let the habit fall by the wayside. That's why every parent needs Jim Trelease's book. The first half of the book focuses on why you should read to kids and how to do it. Trelease is such an inspiring writer, that even when your best intentions flag, he will convince you to keep going. But the heart and soul of the book is the list of read-aloud books. It's hard to explain what a great job Trelease has done with this. Not only are his choices almost universally excellent, but he gives enough of a description of each book so that a parent can really tell whether or not the book will be right for his child. Even better, Trelease follows each review with a list of other books that a child who liked that particular book will probably also enjoy. With Trelease's help, there's no reason for any child to be without a nice big pile of books from the library ready to enjoy. I've looked at several other books that claim to help parents in reading to their children and offer similar lists, but none are a tenth as good. The descriptions are often skimpy and the book choices are poor (usually focusing on books that are more appealing to adults than children). Lots of them recommend books that are long out of print. I've rarely found any of of Trelease's recommendations unavailable. One final note: This is not just a book for new parents, and parents of young children. Trelease also discusses how to get older children turned on to reading. And his list of chapter books to read to children is even better than his picture book list. If it's hard for parents to find good picture books to read to their children, it's even harder to find good novels to read to older children, because it takes so long to preview one yourself. I read to my oldest child until long after he became a proficient reader himself, but I cannot imagine how I could have found such good books to read without Jim Trelease's help. So whether you're a new parent, or the parent of an older child who isn't interested in reading yet, you need this book.
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Summary: Invaluable resource for parents
Review: This book inspires parents to read to their children. Even better, it gives a lot of anectodotal evidence on why you should, and practical advice on how you should. Some books assume that your child will love to sit and be read to. Mr. Trelease tells how to handle those children as well as the others that have a hard time sitting for very long. This book is also well written and easy to read. The last half of it is a treasury of great children's books. I can't recommend it enough to parents with kids of any age.
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Summary: Create wonderful evenings with your kids
Review: This book introduced me and my children to a wonderful world of excellent literature. I used this book as a guide as I read to my children every evening for about 11 years. We looked forward to bedtime reading. Getting the kids to bed was easy with them looking forward to the stories. A grandparent's delight.
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