Jim Trelease: Advocate of Reading Aloud

I first came across the name of Jim Trelease when I emailed a religion professor at BYU, Dennis Wright, to ask about his book Scripture Power. I am grateful to Dr. Wright for sharing with me that he based his developmentally appropriate practices in Scripture Power on what Trelease outlines in The Read-Aloud Handbook (TRAH). 

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TRAH was first published in 1982 and Trelease has since spoken all over the country & in other countries as well talking about the unmatched benefits of reading aloud to children.  TRAH has a nice, long list of books that are great read-aloud selections for kids of various ages. Jim Trelease was simply a dad who read to his two daughters, and a newspaperman who visited school classrooms on a regular basis. From his website: 

Thinking there might be a connection between being read to and how much the child wanted to read, Jim investigated to see if any research was available on the subject. Sure enough, there was lots of it— but nearly always published in education journals or written in academic language that would be foreign to the average parent or teacher.

The dearth of accessible material inspired him to write and self-publish the first edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook in 1979. "I self-published because I never thought any of the major publishers would be interested in it. At that point, 'reading aloud' was too simple and not painful enough to do the child any good. At least, that's what many educators thought," he says in hindsight. But that mindset would soon change.

Discovered accidentally by a then-fledgling literary agent named Raphael Sagalyn, the book came to the attention of Penguin USA after six other publishers turned it down. In 1982, they published an expanded edition. Touted by "Dear Abby" in February of 1983, it spent 17 weeks onThe New York Times bestseller list. (Covers and details of all U.S. and international editions can be found at Read-Aloud covers.)

By 1985, the U.S. Department of Education's Commission on Reading was calling "reading aloud to children" the single most important activity one could do to raise a reader.

Here are a few basic ideas from TRAH:

• Read to your child from day one.
• Keep reading to your child until he’s a teenager.
• Make yours a print-rich home, with books, magazines, and newspapers in every room.
• Buy your older child a book-light to stay up late reading, and say yes to one more book request from  your younger child. (But, to keep eyes healthy, kids shouldn't fall asleep with lights on in their rooms!)
• Set a good example by being an active reader yourself.

I also own one of Trelease's other books, Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud. This one has excerpts from many classic children's tales - short teasers that get kids (or adults) listening to a great story and maybe interested in reading the book the excerpt came from.  Read All About It is Trelease's similar collection, but aimed at 5th graders to pre-teens. Take a look at Trelease's website to find author bios, book reviews, essays about reading to children, and many other great ideas that he shares. My favorite idea on there (which is also in TRAH, and is something I plan to implement when I am not a renter in a home with few walls) is the rain gutter bookshelves. 

If your library has The Read-Aloud Handbook, in any of its editions (Korean, Mandarin...), but particularly the one pictured above, I recommend picking it up. It is an easily-read, research-based book that will make you want to keep reading to your kids. And if I haven't communicated the importance of that well enough this month, Jim Trelease can pick up my slack!!