Summertime and the reading is easy” or can be if you establish a read-aloud routine. A vacation from after-school activities and homework offers the gift of time. Lazy days on the beach, family evenings in the backyard, later bedtimes and many other advantages make summer the perfect season to establish a read-aloud routine in your home. Research proves the myriad of benefits of reading aloud for kids and parents alike. Improved comprehension, vocabulary, background knowledge, skills and strategies are only part of the story. Sharing quality literature creates strong bonds, opportunities to engage in meaningful conversation, underscore values and foster a love of reading. In this techy world, kids need personal contact more than ever. What could be better than sharing a book? In fact, what could be better than sharing a picture book?

Picture books are powerful and trust me, they are not just for young children. I’ve long been a fan of picture books and personally experienced how they can reel in everyone from a tiny baby to middle-aged adults. I’ll never forget when I taught night classes for graduate students. Most of them were teaching full time and they would rush into my class out of breath and out of gas. Instead of delving right into a lecture, I would read a picture book aloud. Within seconds, a hush fell over the room and I could feel these adult students relax and settle in. Of course, I was also trying to model the impact of reading aloud so that they would do so with their own students. When students filled out the evaluation sheet at the end of the course, almost all of them mentioned how much they enjoyed my read alouds.

Even in the summer, time is still a consideration. The brevity of a picture book will enable you to carve out just a brief time to read aloud to your child (or children). When a good friend of mine was studying for her doctorate degree, she did a presentation for parents. At the start of the presentation, she passed out lifesavers to the participants with directions to put one in their mouth when she began reading and simply suck on it as she read. At the end of the picture book, the participants were just finishing the lifesavers. You get the point…in the time it takes to suck on a lifesaver, you can read a picture book to your child! Most picture books can be read in one or two sittings, helping kids to maintain attention and enjoy a complete story.

Variety is another asset of picture books. If you’ve been estranged from picture for awhile, a brief stroll around the picture book section of the library will astound you. Rich stories with beautiful illustrations, biographies of people from ancient past to the present, sports books, how-to books, poetry and much more await. Introduce your children to the classic fairy tales, renowned authors like Mem Fox, Patricia Polacco and Eve Bunting. Search out the newest books and delve into book series. You are sure to find something that appeals to you and the kids in your clan.

Begin today by talking to your child or children and create a simple plan. Choose several times during the week to read aloud (strive for three or four). Create a book log to track the books you’ve read and hang it in a prominent place. Each week, go to the library or somehow search out the books you will read. Preview them if possible, so you can consider words, skills or ideas you want to highlight. Decide on a cozy setting and go for it!

We are on the verge of summer vacation. Imagine if you could end the summer knowing that you spent a little nugget of time each day or several times a week reading to your kids. Imagine if, at the end of the summer, your struggling or aliterate reader was captivated and encouraged to read on his own. Imagine if, at the end of summer, you had read forty or fifty picture books with your child. My guess it that you may just want to keep it going. I hope so because I believe the benefits of reading aloud to children of any age (and I mean your teens, as well) will impact them now and far into the future.