Megan's top tips for reading a picture book aloud
Get ready for ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime, 11am, 24 May 2023
Are you ready for ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) this week?
Held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association, NSS is a celebration of reading and literacy. Every year, one picture is chosen to be read aloud simultaneously in schools, libraries, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other laps and corners across the country.
How does ALIA decide which book will be read?
According to their website, alongside practical considerations (see link for details), ALIA uses the following criteria to choose the picture book for NSS:
•a positive storyline
• appeal to a modern and diverse audience
•suitability for read-aloud (language and length)
•how well the book lends itself to craft and other activities
This year, the picture book that will be read at 11am on Wednesday 24 May is The Speedy Sloth by Rebecca Young, illustrated by Heath McKenzie.
It’s not just what you read…
Anyone who’s ever read a picture book aloud to a group of children, however, will know that engaging and entertaining them is not just WHAT you read – it’s HOW you read it.
If you’re limbering up your best ‘reading aloud’ voice for the big day, take some tips from Megan Daley for keeping your audience interested and invested.
Read aloud with passion
This is the time to engage your inner actor, no matter how hidden they may be, and read the story with expression and passion.
Pause to allow space for children to read the illustrations
A picture book is a marriage of text and illustration. When the words are few, as they are in a picture book, an illustration carries the depth and breadth of the story – sometimes there’s a complete other narrative going on in the illustrations. Allow your audience to catch the nuances themselves.
Don’t over-explain a picture book – let the story speak for itself
One of the great lessons of writing a book of any length is learning to leave room for the reader, and not to over-explain in case they ‘miss’ something.
And so it is when reading a picture book aloud. Trust your audience to ‘get it’.
Read without stopping for ‘explaining’ on a first reading, to allow the story to speak for itself and to hear the intended rhythm of the words.
Read, then read again.
The ‘read it again’ factor of a great picture book is one of their greatest joys. Multiple re-readings allow for further discoveries and deep diving.
Thanks for reading!
Megan Daley is an award-winning teacher-librarian working in Brisbane, the author of Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books, and co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. She is also a sought after public speaker, literary judge, creator of the popular website Children's Books Daily and the 2023 curator for Word Play for Brisbane Writers Festival. More about Megan here.
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”These tips are by award-winning teacher-librarian and author Megan Daley from Your Kid’s Next Read. Find out more at yourkidsnextread.com”