On Reading: Read to Me

Amanda and I have been reading the Mysterious Benedict Series** aloud. She had read the first two before (and yes Carrie, she loved them), but wanted me to read them. Since we try to have a read-aloud going most of the time, she suggested this one. The book is 500 pages, so I balked — for a long while. But then we started, and it was delightful. Because she had read it before, she didn’t mind our typically slow read-aloud pace of no more than 50 pages a week. I’m happy to say that we progressed through the second one rather quickly, and we are almost halfway through the third after only two weeks.

In addition to reading on her own, and having me read to her, she likes audiobooks, and frequently they are books she’s read before. And I get that.

Especially if it’s a great production, the audiobook is an entirely different experience. That’s one reason I enjoy audiobooks — the dramatic tension created as the story plays out — but there are other reasons, the same reason that kids, even tweens like my daughter Amanda, like being read to:

• Storytime evokes love — love that someone is willing to entertain you, even if it’s a voice coming from the earbuds into my head. I know without a doubt that me reading aloud to Amanda shows her that I still care about being involved in her life. It shows her that I am willing to put my time aside to share a book with her. For me to be able to enjoy a book without the complete focus that reading a book takes is a gift.
• Unlike reading a book with your eyes, if you are enjoying an audibook you can multi-task. I listen to audiobooks in the car while driving, but most often while I’m at home, doing housework or preparing meals. Amanda loves to multi-task by either having me read to her or her listening to an audiobook while she cleans her room, eats breakfast (a big read aloud time for us), unloads the dishwasher, or even does her homework (!?!).

If Nancy and I (I’ve written about audiobooks before) haven’t convinced you that you should give audiobooks a try, perhaps winning a free one will.

My Macmillan audio rep contacted me offering to give away a copy of the Fireworks over Toccoa audiobook when she saw that we were hosting the bookclub. I think that this would be a lovely story to be told — to listen to and absorb in that way. Click the link to listen to an excerpt, and leave a comment if you’d like to win a copy (U.S. addresses only). We’ll announce the winner on April 14.

**Carrie is giving away the entire set of 3 Mysterious Benedict Society novels at Reading to Know, so if you don’t own them you must check it out.

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Jennifer Donovan loves getting lost in a good book, whether she’s reading aloud to her kids, holding a book in hand, or listening to a professional recording. She blogs at Snapshot.