7 surprising facts about reading aloud (and the books to try)

1.The numbers behind a nightly story

• 1Did you know?Reading one picture book a day adds up to roughly 78,000 words a year. Families who share five books a day give their child about 1.4 million more words by kindergarten than children who are never read to.
• 2Did you know?Picture books contain more rare and interesting words than everyday conversation, so a story teaches words children would almost never hear at the dinner table.
• 3Did you know?Children learn new words better when they hear the same story several times than when they hear several different stories.

2.It is a conversation, not a performance

• 1Did you know?Asking open questions while you read ('What do you think will happen?') builds language skills more than reading straight through. Researchers call it dialogic reading.
• 2Did you know?Children can understand stories well above the level they can read on their own, often right up to their early teens.

3.Silly voices are allowed (and encouraged)

• 1Did you know?Pediatricians recommend reading aloud with children from infancy, because shared reading supports language and the bond between child and grown-up.
• 2Did you know?Rhythm, rhyme and sound effects help young children hear the separate sounds inside words, an important step before learning to read.

There is no wrong way to read aloud. Skip a page if bedtime is late, change the ending if your child asks, and let them turn the pages. The time you spend together is what they will remember.