Read-Aloud Revival ®

Latest Episodes:

RAR #126: Creating a Book Club Culture at Home (Part 2) Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

This week I’m sharing the second part of a Read-Aloud Revival Premium Master Class all about helping our kids love books by treating their reading lives more like we treat our own.

If you want something better than book reports or reading comprehension sheets for your kids, you’re in the right place.

If you’re wondering whether you need to do literary analysis (and how to do it without killing your child’s love of the book), you’re in the right place.

If you want your kids to read because they love to (and not because they have to), you’re in the right place.

This is the second half of this master class. Listen to the first half here. (You don’t have to listen to the first half to understand the second, but you probably want to!)

In this episode, you’ll hear:

What it looks like for kids to be real readers
What most of us are getting wrong when it comes to “teaching” literature to our kids
Do your kids need literary analysis? And what should that look like, anyway?

I also answer a listener question about … how to know when your child is ready to learn to read.

More free resources and booklists

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/126/

RAR #125: Master Class, Creating a Book Club Culture at Home (part 1) Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

In today’s episode of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast, I’m sharing a master class straight out of Read-Aloud Revival Premium about how to create a book club culture in your home.

For most of us, the books we read for school growing up were not the same books we read under our covers with a flashlight past our bedtime.

But we can do something better.

We can invite our kids into a reading experience that will help them fall in love with books and become readers for life.

Less like school, more like your favorite book club.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

the importance of knowing WHY you want to raise readers
how to nurture and protect your kids’ love of reading
why reading is not broccoli 🥦🤨

I also answer a listener question about… what to do when your kids lose interest part-way through a book…

Find the rest of the show notes at readaloudrevival.com/125/

RAR #124: Camille Andros on Being a Mom AND a Writer Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

Today I want to introduce you to the author of some of my new favorite picture books, Camille Andros.

Camille is a writer, a traveler, a former EMT, and a mom of six. Yep, six. (So obviously, we’re kindred spirits, since I have six, too.) 😉

In this episode, you’ll hear:

about her writing process and how she makes time to write
how deceptively simple picture book writing appears, when it really isn’t so simple at all
a positively serendipitous story about her travels in Greece…

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/124/.

RAR #123: A Family Story for Easter, with Special Guest: Arnold Ytreeide Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

Today, I am excited to introduce you to my favorite read-aloud for Lent and Easter.

Amon’s Adventure is a wonderful adventure story that will leave your kids begging for just one more chapter.

Amon is a 13 year-old boy during the time of Christ’s persecution, and in this fictional tale, his father has been accused of a terrible crime. It’s up to Amon to navigate the tension in his local community and clear his father’s name.

If you want to breathe some life into your family’s experience of Lent and Easter… this story is a great way to do just that. I highly recommend it as a family read-aloud for kids 8+.

It’s intense, so I suggest previewing each chapter if you’re reading it aloud to kids younger than that.

The author, Arnold Ytreeide, is visiting with me today on the newest episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, and learning more about where this book came for was such a delight!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Where this book (and those in his Jotham’s Journey series) came from
Ideas for how best to use this book during Lent
How (and why) he tells a story we all know… in a brand new way

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/123/.

RAR #121: Kate DiCamillo on Reading Aloud for Connection Jan 28, 2019

Show notes

I ‘ve got a new favorite episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast. It’s no wonder, because in this episode, I’m having a conversation with Kate DiCamillo on reading aloud for connection.

There is so much packed into this conversation.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

what Kate really thinks when we ask our kids “what did the author mean?”
how books help us jump into the Great Conversation (“unwittingly”, as she says)
that stories are smarter than their authors… and what that means for readers

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/121/.

For Narnia and for Aslan! C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

Today I’ve got a bonus episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast—a conversation with Douglas Gresham. Douglas is the stepson of C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

what C.S. Lewis was really trying to do with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
what he wishes more people knew about his stepfather
Patti Callahan’s new book, Becoming Mrs. Lewis–what he thinks and about its accuracy

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/bonus-narnia/.

RAR #120: Focus on What Matters Most (psst, that’s your relationships with your kids) Jan 15, 2019

Show notes

I ‘m willing to bet you’re like me, and relationships with your kids matter more to you than just about anything else.

But we’re all pulled in a million directions. We’re all short on time.

You know what, though?

I think it’s easier than we think to focus on what matters most.

Today I am sharing 3 simple ways to strengthen your relationships with your kids this year. Not one of these is complicated, cumbersome, or expensive.

Because nurturing our relationships with our kids is within reach this year, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

3 simple ways to focus on what matters most this year
how to get out of your own way
some wonderful resources that will make it easy for you to build meaningful connections with your family ⬅︎ (you want to hear about these)

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/120/.

Read with us: Snowflake Bentley Jan 08, 2019

Show notes

Reading books together as a family is the best way to connect. We connect with each other, with the books we read, and with the big ideas we encounter there.

In fact, there are four steps I like best when it comes to sharing books with our kids:

Read aloud
Share an experience around the book
Talk about it
Meet the author or illustrator

Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/snowflake/.

RAR #119: Delighting in Your Own Reading Life, with Anne Bogel Dec 31, 2018

Show notes

Would you like to read more in the new year? I don’t mean reading to your kids. I mean reading for you.

Many of us want to read more, but we’re not sure how to make that happen. We feel like we can’t fit it in, or maybe we even feel guilty when we sit down to read something just for fun.

This episode is just what you need! I’m chatting with Anne Bogel from Modern Mrs. Darcy, author of I’d Rather Be Reading.

In this episode, you’ll hear: