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Episode 22: How We Read with Amanda Pilmer Roberts

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode, How we read, Uncategorized

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This week we are joined in a discussion of How We Read with Amanda Pilmer Roberts, a “semi-retired” librarian, as she describes it, who has a great love of (and talent for) music, dance and theater. She has degrees in Theater, Musicology and Library Science and has spent her varied career working in unique school libraries, singing in choirs, choreographing musicals and now, her latest adventure, raising her beautiful baby daughter.

In this episode we talk about

1. Amanda’s unique career in equal parts theater and libraries. She gives some great insights into what goes into many librarians’ careers and gives us a sense of how many different types of libraries there are, which many people aren’t aware of!

2. How being a librarian has influenced Amanda’s approach to books with her family now that she has her daughter. Suffice it to say, she will never hesitate heading to a library and asking a librarian for help when they are in need of books or information!

3. What reading looks like with her baby, who is just younger than a year old. This is a hard stage for many people to read to their kids at, as they are active and mobile, yet not always engaged in book, and Amanda shares what works for her and her baby.

4. Both Amanda and her husband are actively involved in reading with their daughter and she talks about what the looks like in their family. They had talked about it and knew that books were going to be a part of their family’s life even before they were married and had kids and started their book collections for their future family long ago.

5. We talk about tracking the books our kids read and Amanda makes a great point that she wishes she had kept track when she was younger, since there are books that she remembers and wishes she could find then again, but doesn’t remember enough about it (…the cover was blue…?).

6. Amanda wraps up by sharing with us a technique she used as a school librarian to help her students to pick books to read. She used a system from Scholastic called PICK (link to it below). It’s a great system helpful in a school as well as family setting!

In How We Read with Amanda Pilmer Roberts we mention:

Books

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and Cyndi Giorgis

ABCs of Physics by Chris Ferrie

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

If you enjoyed listening to Amanda Pilmer Roberts, try one of these other episodes:

Episode 17: How We Read with Rachel Lambourne

Episode 13: From Reluctant Reader to Librarian with Harold Hayes

Episode 11: How We Read with Cathy Balfanz

Episode 01: The More You Read the Better you Get with Cyndi Giorgis

From Civil War Books to Books that are Really Me: How my Bookshelves are Changing

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment home, How

Written by Amanda Fristrom

This story is about how my bookshelves are changing from what I thought was a good statement about me to an accurate reflection of who I am, and therefore the right statement about me. This is related to and refers to Episode 21: Organize Yourshelf: Storing Books with Jamie Shaner

When I was a teenager,

I started to get interested in the US Civil War (which is funny to me because Jamie Shaner specifically mentions Civil War books and here I go). So I started to collect Civil War books from sales and whatever. I even subscribed to a Civil War magazine and had each issue lined up on my shelf. I did read some of the books, but I got them too fast and they were too dense and I apparently didn’t love the Civil War as much as I thought I did, because suddenly I had a huge pile of books I had never read and the idea of reading them didn’t excite me.

So I went to college, and ended up taking a Civil War history class. I loved the class, and LOVED the books I read for that class. I came home for a holiday, and was expecting I would be excited to read these books now that I was newly reinvigorated on the subject matter. But I didn’t open any of them. Not a crack.

In an attempt to go through my things

A couple years later and help clear out my parents’ house (since I live abroad and don’t have any way to bring books with me), I started to look at these books in a new way. I love the four questions that Jamie Shaner asks in her episode, and I wish I had them then. Do I need these Civil War books? No. Do I use them. Never. Do I love them? Not really. I love the idea of them. Do I have the space? Well, at that point, it was a no.

It was easy for me to justify in my mind to keep my Harry Potter series, but not these Civil War books. I gave them away, and it was hard – probably because I didn’t have the nicely formatted process; I felt like I was giving up this idea that I like Civil War history and people wouldn’t think as highly of me if I didn’t have a bookcase full of dense and diverse books.

So when Jamie was talking about her dictionary

and thesaurus sitting on her desk as a statement that words are important to her, but that she could still give those away to make space for more books, I started to reshape my thinking about my gifted Civil War books and the books I have on my shelves right now. A lot of them are there because I want people to know that I’m interested in that topic, or that I used to be interested in it during some point of my past. And I don’t know if these books are worth keeping or not. I’d rather, I think, have books that I absolutely love. They would be a better reflection of myself and also show that books themselves are important to me.

So much of Jamie’s organization guidelines falls back on the underlying assumption that you want to access the books that you have, because you shouldn’t have them if you don’t want them. And in that case, I have a lot of adjustments to be done. My current shelf at my parents’ house is full of the books that I LOVE, from Ella Enchanted to my favorite non-fiction I read in college. The shelves here where I actually live have a lot of books I haven’t even read, or that I am mildly attached to. Some have even been gifted to us and I don’t really have any interest in them at all! I have to look through all our books with a newly critical eye.

Jamie mentions her belief that anything can have energy,

and the way we collect, organize, and present items can be good or bad energy – I agree. There’s a different feel to the bookshelf in my old room in my parent’s house that is full of books I love than there is to this bookshelf here. When I look at them, I feel different things. So now I will be looking to create shelves that truly represent me and make me happy when I see them. I want to whittle down my collection to those volumes I can talk at length about when a guest pulls it down – and not sheepishly admit I haven’t read a single one of those dozen Civil War books and know not a whit about any of it. That’s defeating the entire purpose of having shelves of books!

Will you join with us this while you are Spring cleaning and critically look at your book collection? What systems do you have in place to make sure you’re keeping room on the shelves for the books you really want there?

Episode 21: Organize yourshelf; Storing books with Jamie Shaner

February 26, 2020March 2, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode, How bookshelf, home, organization

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This week we are joined by Jamie Shaner, a professional organizer who founded Home Solutions of WNY, Inc. in 2005. She is also an avid perennial gardener who loves playing in the dirt, and enjoys reading and listening to all kinds of music. This was an interview we looked forward to for a long time, both for her expertise as well as because of her approach toward books, which to quote her is: “As a professional organizer, I’m authorized to say there’s such a thing as too many suitcases, too much jello in the pantry, or too many dolls with eyes that move, but rarely ever too many books.”

In this episode we talk about:

1. Note that Jamie’s book philosophy is that one can rarely have too many books (not never), so she does share with us some circumstances that may show that we have books that might be better served finding a new home for.

2. For all of our remaining books, we talk about finding ways to store books appropriately using the space we have available. One missed book storage opportunity that both Amanda and I are guilty of is picking short bookcases- why limit yourself to that when we could find one that goes all the way up the wall that can use that rarely-utilized vertical space.

3. We were very interested to ask Jamie her thoughts on Marie Kondo, the rather famous organizational expert who has gotten some flak through the years for her sometimes sparse attitude towards owning and storing books. Jamie gave us her personal method of helping her clients organize: “Do you need it, do you use it, do you love it (if it is something loveable), and do you have the space to store it?” She shares with us how she would apply it specifically to books and it is incredibly helpful!

4. If we do every find ourselves needing to downsize our book collection, Jamie also had thoughts on what to do with the ones that we, as she put it, “release out into the universe for someone who does not have these books of their own.”

5. We also got into the organization of books once you have the spaces set to store them. The librarian half of our duo loved this part of the discussion and, while we recognize that everyone is going to have their own “cataloging” system for their home collections, she gave us some great thoughts and tips if you are struggling managing it.

We are so grateful to Jamie for taking the time to talk with us! More information about her and her company can be found in the following places:

In Organize yourshelf: storing books, we mention:

Episode 20: Learning a new language? Grab a novel! with Camilla Bates

February 19, 2020March 12, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode, teaching, Why second language, teaching

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This week we share with you a great strategy for learning a new language: reading! If you’ve ever tried learning a new language by reading novels for fun, you may have experienced the great benefits this form of studying has. After all, if we know it is helpful for our kids learning their native language, it makes sense that free reading in a new language is a good idea.

This week we are joined by Camilla Bates, a small-town Spanish teacher (as she describes herself). She grew up in Northern Minnesota and Michigan and is now settled in rural Western Colorado, where she and her husband are raising their two boys. She has taught Spanish for more than fifteen years, has written two books and set up a website to share ideas and resources with other language teachers.

In this episode we talk about:

Learning a new language by reading

1. How her interest in Spanish and eventually teaching it got started (slowly!). She started off taking Spanish classes herself in high school, never thinking she would stick with it. Something kept going, however, and by her third year she had discovered

2. The link between “free reading” and language learning. She learned about the important link between the two in conferences and now includes it in her classes. She wanted to give her students enjoyable things to read and wrote a four-part story with another teacher. It opened the world of writing to her and she has continued to write Spanish stories and has published two books so far, including one about a student trying to learn how to speak Spanish, which her students very much relate to!

3. While offering her students this “free reading” time to solidify the vocabulary and other things they are learning about the language, Camilla talks about the benefits of reading fiction. “Most studies have shown that we actually learn more from reading fiction than we do from reading non-fiction, which seems counter-intuitive, but….studies have shown!” While she does include non-fiction books in her classroom collection, a great deal of it is fiction.

4. Teaching high school, Camilla is dealing with many students who do not regularly read for themselves, which poses challenges. “By the time I have them in high school, I would say 75% of my students identify as not liking reading. So when they come into my room and they are reading…- not just reading, but reading in a second language- I want it to be as comfortable an experience as possible… I don’t require them to do anything at the end of it. They literally come in, they choose a book, sit down and read.” At the end of the semester, however, she asks them something that they have learned from reading and the answers she gets are “spectacular.”

5. Along with the “free reading” that she has her students do in every class period, Camilla also reads stories aloud to her students when teaching them new material, which helps students at every level for different reasons!

6. Camilla’s second book, Soy Carlos, was written because people always ask her how they can learn Spanish when they are not able to take a class. She always tells them to read in Spanish, but it is often difficult to find material at the right level, so she wrote a graphic novel aimed to help people learn Spanish on their own!

As a Spanish teacher, she is in a great postition to give us advice if we want to learn a second (or third or fourth, etc) language. She reminded us to start small- don’t immediately dive in and try to read Harry Potter. She gave us some great resources to get started, which we will link to below.

In “Learning a new language? Grab a novel!” we mention:

We are so grateful to Camilla for taking the time to talk with us! More information about her, her books, and her website can be found in the following places:

Facebook

Websites:

Smalltown Spanish Teacher’s website

Fluency Matters Home

TPRS Books Home

Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition

Books we mentioned:

Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous

Las Cronicas de Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis (English version pictured here)

La Tutora de Español by S. Camilla Bates

Frida Kahlo by Kristy Placido

Biography of Santana

Los sobrevivientes by Bryan Carl Kandel

Soy Carlos by S. Camilla Bates

Dog Man (series) by Dav Pilkey

Hombre Perro (series) by Dav Pilkey

Don’t miss out on Episode 19: How We Read with Lucia and JR Ratliff

Episode 19: How We Read with Lucia and JR Ratliff

February 13, 2020March 12, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode, How, How we read, Parenting, What audiobook, episode, how, marriage

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Have you ever read with your spouse? Maybe listened to a book in the car together? We get lots of great ideas from Lucia and JR Ratliff on how they read together, and then Jill and Amanda talk about how it went with their husbands when they brought up the possibility of reading together.

This week we are joined by married couple Lucia and JR Ratliff. Natives of the US, they are currently experiencing life in host Amanda’s neck of the woods- the United Arab Emirates. She is a songwriter and teacher while he is a professor and they have four kids. They have been reading together since the early days of their relationship and now have years’ worth of experience and advice to share with us!

In this episode we talk about:

1. How did they get started? “Just a matter of, we only have one book, but we both want to read it, so we’ll just read it out loud!” As it went on, their voices couldn’t keep up with them, so they switched to audiobooks. They listen or read while doing other things- such as working out or playing tetris as well as in the car. Quite often it also happens when they are in bed at the end of the day, when they utilize the handy timer function on many audiobook players so as not to lose their place when they fall asleep!

2. How has reading together affected their relationship? It gives them something beyond their kids and everyday lives to joke about, relate about and talk about. “It definitely added another dimension to our relationship, because we were doing that together…”

3. How do they decide what books to read? Goodreads, recommendations from friends, Audible suggestions similar to books they have enjoyed, reading their way through the collections of authors they like. They take turns picking the books so that both of their tastes and interests are covered.

4. How and when do they talk about the books that they read together? It is usually mixed in with their everyday conversations. Their morning routines are a great time to chat about what they listen to the night before, while they are in the car or even as they are messaging each other throughout the day, when a thought occurs to them or something else they read connects to it.

5. Where are their kids during all this book listening? Sometimes the kids are around! Usually it is when they are all in the car and Lucia picks one that is appropriate for all of them (“Lucia is the audiobook CEO around here!”). They usually stick to children’s literature when they are all together, however, at times parts of the books they read as a couple stick out to them that they want to share with their kids and listen to it together.

6. Where could a couple start who have never read together? Start with what you already enjoy doing together. “I think couples already kind of know what they enjoy doing together and most things come in book form!” Taking turns is important as well, because it helps you get to know your partner in a new and different way, or gives you clues as to what is on their mind when you read what the other is into at the moment.

7. Audiobooks vs. reading out loud to each other will come down to each couple’s preference. The Ratliffs have their reasons for preferring audiobooks, but each couple will have to figure out what works best for them!

We are so grateful to Lucia and JR for taking the time to talk with us and can’t wait to dive into this list of recommendations they gave!

In How We Read with Lucia and JR Ratliff, we mention a lot of books:

The Twilight Saga (series) by Stephanie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer (author)

Brandon Sanderson (author)

Brandon Mull (author)

Brené Brown (author)

Anne Lamott (author)

Roald Dahl autobiography (There are two books)

Harry Potter (series) by J. K. Rowling

Beyonders (series) by Brandon Mull

The Lunar Chronicles (series) by Marissa Meyers

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Michael Kramer (narrator)

Shannon Hale (author)

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Fred Rogers Biography by Jennifer Warner

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bissel van der Kolk

The Paper Magician (series) Charlie N. Holmberg

Episode 18: Loving your Spouse and Your Sacred Text

February 4, 2020February 5, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode episode

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If you’re wondering about how to better your marriage with sacred text, you’re in the right place. In preparation for Valentine’s Day, we thought we would focus a bit on the marriage relationship specifically. This is a continuation of the conversation we aired in episode 15: “Holy Script!” Sacred Text in the Home, with Dr. David Dollahite and Dr Loren Marks. We look specifically through the filter of sacred text in this episode, but much of what we discuss applies across the board for reading with your spouse.

This week we are again joined by Doctors David Dollahite and Loren Marks of the American Families of Faith Project and professors at Brigham Young University. The first part of the interview, which we published last month (Episode 15), was focused on families interacting with sacred text, while this second part focuses more on the marriage relationship specifically.

In this episode we talk about:

1. Our thoughts matter and words matter even more, as they turn into actions and, as the poet Emerson said, our character. Faith is not a magic pill. Many times it becomes a tool of power or to dominate. There is danger to faith when not applied with compassion and wisdom. It has been shown in studies many times over that religion, faith and spirituality is powerful- potentially powerfully positive, but also powerfully negative.

2. Use approaching sacred texts in a marriage as a way to honor the agency of each person involved, their time or their styles of study. Doing it to check off a box, imposing one’s approach, views or values over another’s, trying to do it when one party is not ready, or is distracted, tired or not ready to engage can be problematic.

3. We also looked outside of sacred texts and touched on the closeness that can come from couples reading other literature together. Dr. Marks and his wife would read out loud to each other as they did the dishes.

4. We touched on the role that mental health plays in marriage when it comes to faith and an individual’s readiness to participate in joint study. They referenced studies that show problems that can arise from the intersection of faith and mental illness in marriage and families, however, they also emphasized that, “Those couples that are able to draw from their faith, their sacred texts and their traditions, ways to be compassionate, understanding, flexible, long suffering, gentle, patient, etc. etc. etc., will do well. Those people who choose to try to dictate to their spouse how they should think about or how they should act in relation to their faith, those persons who insist that their spouse agree with them or toe the line that they would like toes, or change themselves to be more like I am…those marriages are going to have serious trouble.”

5. In our attempts to stay synchronized as a couple and in a place where we can both be ready to use our sacred texts in our marriage as well as our families, they mentioned a concept from marriage researcher Dr. John Gottman called the “Magic 30 Minutes.” When couples take 30 minutes of their day to talk to each other and listen. When kids are involved, it is almost impossible to talk to each other, so some couples use a cup of coffee together, or a walk or a drive together to stay on the same page.

6. As we apply our sacred texts and the examples of couples and marriages within them, to our marriage relationships, we should maintain a view inward- how does this apply to ourselves, how can this make ourselves better, as opposed to asking the other person to be better or do better.

7. Approaching scripture study as a couple as well as with our children gives us a wonderful opportunity to honor both members of the couple’s preferences and work through differences. “We have had to balance and take turns and try to honor each other’s preferences. Our children have seen us work that through. They are well aware that Mom feels strongly about this and Dad feels strongly about other things, but they have seen us try to work well together and allow both of us to have the thing that we think is most important be a part of what we do [in our family study].”

In Loving your Spouse and Sacred Text we mention:

Websites

American Families of Faith Project

Dr. John Gottman

Books

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Jane Austen (author) pictured here is Sense and Sensibility

Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis

Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling

Extracts from Adam’s Diary – Mark Twain (we are including this version with Eve’s Diary as well)

Religion and Families: An Introduction by David Dollahite and Loren Marks

Be sure to listen to last week’s episode, 17: How We Read with Rachel Lambourne to hear some great ideas of how Dr. Dollahite’s daughter uses books in her home (and get a whole ton of great reading recommendations!).

Also, stay tuned for our upcoming interview with Dr. Marks’s father, Larry, author of a book called Reading is the Key, teaching us a tried-and-true method of teaching our very young kids to love reading from the beginning.

Don’t forget our competition starts soon!

World Read aloud day competition

February 2, 2020February 3, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment competitions and giveaways, holiday

We are learning just how important reading aloud is for everything from cognitive growth to emotional development. With something as all-encompassing as this activity is, Jill and Amanda are encouraging you to celebrate World Read Aloud Day on February 5, 2020. We hope you can use this opportunity to jump start some new habits, refresh some old, or feel camaraderie for the important work you’re already doing for those you love.

Please join us for a 48-hour read aloud competition blitz, and you may even win 2 books as a reward!

How to participate:

Take pictures, screenshots, or videos as proof of completion for the tasks. Upload them onto your social media channel of choice: Facebook or Instagram and tag them with #onepagepodcast AND #readaloudday if you comment on one of our social media posts, you don’t need to tag us. We will know you left it there.

1 additional bonus point awarded each time you:

Tag the author as well in any post

Tag your local library or teacher

Tag a friend

Not on social media? Send us your pictures in an email to one.page.podcast@gmail.com

Each entry will be tallied with the points assigned. There is no limit to how many times you do each task! We ask that you adhere to the honor system and stay within February 5th and 6th in your respective timezone, as this is a global competition.

We will count up the points, and the winner will get 2 free books!

The challenge:

We have grouped the tasks into 3 different, completely arbitrary categories. The points are similarly rather arbitrary.

Reading Aloud at home

1 – picture of a book you read together

1 – picture of your current read

1 – picture of you or your child’s favorite book

1 – picture of your favorite bookmark

1 – picture of your printed copy of the Everyday Reading 2020 reading log

1 – screenshot of your goodreads account

1 – picture of any books you’re donating from your home library as you weed out your collection

1 – your home bookcase or book stash

2 – picture of you making a bookmark together

2 – picture of you in the act of reading together

3 – picture or video of you or your child making a book interactive, by acting it out, doing a puppet show, using a flannel or story board, etc.

3 – video clip of you reading a book together

3 – video clip of you reading aloud with your spouse/another adult

3 – picture of reading aloud to an elderly parent or family member

Reading Aloud in public

1 – picture of listening to audiobook in the car

2 – Picture of you signing up for a community reading program, such as Reading with Dogs

3 – picture of you or a family member reading aloud to someone in the hospital

5 – Picture of you attending a readaloud at your local library

5 – Picture of reading aloud in a nursing home

5 – Picture of you doing a reading at your local school or your child’s school (classroom or library)

7 – Video of you attending a readaloud at your local library

7 – Video of you doing a reading at your local school or your child’s school (classroom or library)

7 – Video of you reading aloud in a nursing home

Spread the word

1 – Screenshot of your Audible account

2 – tag a friend in a comment on any One Page at a Time post

3 – picture of any book mentioned in our podcast in your collection

3 – Sign up for a library card

3 – Screenshot of a One Page at a Time episode downloaded onto your device

3 – Screenshot of your Libby account

5 – picture of donating a book to your library, school, or charity

5 – picture of you or your family member signing up to volunteer at your library

5 – Screenshot of an episode graphic of picture with a favorite thing you learned from that episode

5 – Screenshot of you subscribed to One Page at a Time (the podcast, or our website)

10 – print off a poster from this selection and post it in your local library or school* not an option in the UAE yet, but we will award points if your family member shares for you somewhere else!

10 – Review One Page at a Time podcast on Apple Podcast or Stitcher

Checklist pdf Download

More bonus points!

10 – Share any of the graphics on this page on your social media with the hashtags or a screenshot of you emailing this page before February 5th and get 10 early bird points!

We are excited to see all the fun ways you will be reading aloud for our World Read Aloud Day competition. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Episode 17: How We Read with Rachel Lambourne

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode episode

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Our most requested topic? How people are reading in their homes! How We Read episodes talk about just that. If you’re looking for ideas on how to introduce books into your home or up your family’s book game, or if you’re looking for some great book recommendations, you are in the right place.

This week we chat with our next “How We Read” guest, Rachel Lambourne. Rachel is the daughter of Brigham Young University professor Dr. David Dollahite, who we recently interviewed as well. She is a mother of four children, ranging in ages from pre-teen to toddler. She’s been a voracious reader from her childhood and has passed her reading appetite onto her children. This was not accomplished without a great deal of effort and creativity on her and her husband’s part and we are thrilled to have her share all sorts of wonderful ideas and a truckload of amazing book recommendations!

Rachel Lambourne talks with us about:

1. Audiobooks! After her own books-on-tape experiences as a kid and teenager, she is a big fan of audiobooks with her own kids. They use then in the car, but also, quite brilliantly, she has used them for years as a way to get kids to have “quiet time” once they grew out of naps.

2. “Healthy” vs “candy” books. This was a system born when Rachel was trying to explain to one of her kids all the different kinds of books that are out there. She related them to food- there are all sorts of foods that do various things for our bodies and books are sort of the same. There are books that are easy and fun, but maybe don’t do a whole lot for our minds and then there are books that challenge us or make us think. Rachel told us more about her system of having her kids to read books they maybe wouldn’t pick up on their own as a way to earn screen time.

3. With this system, Rachel always has a supply of books that she sets aside for her kids to choose from if they want and she talks about different ways that she finds and sort of “vets” books for them as well as the experience of seeing some of her favorite books with “new” eyes as her kids read books she loved as a kid.

4. Along with reading the books, part of Rachel’s “system” is that they have to show what the books was about or what they thought about it by talking or writing about it. It has opened up great lines of communication for her and her husband with their kids, about the books, but also other part of their lives!

5. Rachel and her family lived abroad for a few years and were able to travel quite a bit. They used books for preparing their kids for different trips as well as during the actual travels. They read Peter Pan before going to see the Peter Pan statue in London, Pippi Longstocking when they visited Sweden, etc.

6. Even if you aren’t travelling, books can be a great way to get to know where you live in a new way. Rachel and her family now live in the Bay Area of California (US) and they have had a great time finding books that take place in areas around them now.

Rachel left us with a great idea of how to get started on putting these great ideas into practice this week. She invited us to join her doing a read-athon with your families this week. Get some treats and books you’re excited about and read all together!

We are so grateful to Rachel for taking the time to talk with us! We’ve got links for all the awesome books we chat about this week for you to peruse:

Books we mention:

audiobooks:

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Nate the Great (series) by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Magic Treehouse (series) by Mary Pope Osborne

Other books we mentioned:

Lloyd Alexander (author)

American Girl (one series for each girl)

Edward’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan

The Giver (series) by Lois Lowry

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

A Bear Called Paddington (series) by Michael Bond

Winnie the Pooh (series) by A.A. Milne

Katie Morag Delivers the Mail (series) Mairi Hedderwick

Pippi Longstocking (series) by Astrid Lindgren

Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren

I survived the San Francisco Earthquake (series) by Lauren Tarshis

Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rølvaag

Dear America (series)

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

Read Aloud Revival interview with Alan Jacobs

Poppy the Pony (one in a series)

Don’t miss our last episode, Episode 16 Reading: An Enchanting Hour with Meghan Cox Gurdon

Episode 16- Reading: An Enchanting Hour with Meghan Cox Gurdon

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode, Parenting

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We had heard of some of the benefits of reading aloud to kids, but we were blown away by The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction.

This week we are joined by a writer extraordinaire- Meghan Cox Gurdon. Her writing gigs include a weekly column and children’s book reviews for the Wall Street Journal, which she has been doing for the past fifteen years, as well as her first book, The Enchanted Hour, which is all about kids and reading. She has read to her five children since the day she brought her first-born home from the hospital and now that her kids are almost all grown, she finds herself reading aloud with her husband during those hours that used to be filled with reading to their children.

In Reading: An Enchanting Hour we talk about

1. Reading aloud is an inexpensive, yet powerful way to give children what they need to develop their little brains when they are young.

2. Scientific evidence is now showing what parents have seen in their children for years- reading aloud creates conditions for optimal brain development, social skills, impulse control and more. Meghan connected with a research team that showed her their results from MRI scans of the brains of 3-5 year olds and the results they are finding are “everything that anecdote has suggested to us it would be.”

3. Meghan had some great thoughts about where digital books fall in the range of book vs screen-time scale. We all agreed to the many great benefits technology brings to our lives, but when it comes to reading with our kids, by using digital devices both us and our kids know that a distraction is just a finger swipe away, which can diminish the benefits of the experience for us and them.

4. One benefit of reading aloud with kids (especially those physical books) that we hadn’t talked about on our podcast yet that Meghan brought up was how it can build children’s attention spans. It allows them to “focus and concentrate and build their powers of attention.” Being able to focus on things and make sense of what is being said to them are absolutely necessary life skills that are strengthened by being read to.

5. While Megan’s book mainly focuses on young children, she is passionate about the benefits of reading to kids of all ages- and beyond! If your kids are middle schoolers and you’ve never read to them, that’s okay! Start now! Start today! Just give it a go- even if it feels odd at first. Stick with it and you will feel the magic!

6. While the benefits of reading aloud to older children and adults are different, they are still very real. There are studies that are starting to look into what it does for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as they hear poems and stories they are familiar with. It can be a way to communicate with someone with whom communication is difficult, such as one suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, or even just a teenager with whom you are struggling to connect with.

7. Another idea to expand your reading aloud world is to read with your spouse. That idea might comfort those of us (coughJillcough) who are sad to think of the day when our kids get older and aren’t around to be read to!

Meghan left us with a great idea of how to get started on putting these great ideas into practice this week. She invited us to take the leap if we haven’t already and read out loud to someone we love- read whatever appeals to you, be it poetry or an article from the paper, but just do it! And after hearing of all the amazing benefits that come from it this week, we wholeheartedly agree with Meghan and echo her challenge.

We are so grateful to Meghan for taking the time to talk with us about the benefits of reading aloud and her book, The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction! More information about her, her book, and the amazing benefits of reading aloud to one another can be found in the following places:

In this episode we mention

Instagram:

@meghancoxgurdon

Websites:

Meghan Cox Gurdon

Meghan on Wall Street Journal

Books:

The Enchanted Hour – Meghan Cox Gurdon

Ash Road – Ivan Southall

Don’t miss our previous episode, Episode 15: “Holy Script!” Sacred Text in the Home

Why Read? -Dr. Loren Marks

January 13, 2020January 13, 2020 amandafristrom 0 Comment Episode

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This is the first of our sub series of episodes that will focus on the question, “Why should you read?” Shorter than our regular interviews, these episodes are intended to be easy to digest, easy to share, and most of all, inspiring.

Dr. Loren Marks of the American Families of Faith project and professor at Brigham Young University tells us how much impact reading with your child – particularly in ages 0-6 – can have.

This is an excerpt from a full-length episode, 15: “Holy Script!” Sacred Text in the Home with Dr. David Dollahite and Dr. Loren Marks.

In this episode we talk about

In How We Read with Amanda Pilmer Roberts we mention:

Books

When I was a teenager,

In an attempt to go through my things

So when Jamie was talking about her dictionary

Jamie mentions her belief that anything can have energy,

In this episode we talk about:

In Organize yourshelf: storing books, we mention:

Websites:

Facebook:

Books we mentioned:

In this episode we talk about:

Learning a new language by reading

In “Learning a new language? Grab a novel!” we mention:

Websites:

Books we mentioned:

In this episode we talk about:

In How We Read with Lucia and JR Ratliff, we mention a lot of books:

In this episode we talk about:

In Loving your Spouse and Sacred Text we mention:

Websites

Books

How to participate:

The challenge:

Reading Aloud at home

Reading Aloud in public

Spread the word

More bonus points!

Rachel Lambourne talks with us about:

Books we mention:

audiobooks:

Other books we mentioned:

In Reading: An Enchanting Hour we talk about

In this episode we mention

Instagram:

Websites:

Books: