Health, Taken Seriously

I’ve just finished a book that I have to recommend to every parent and educator.  It’s called The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  The first half of the book talks about the importance of books, libraries, and of course, reading aloud to children (even after they’ve learned to read themselves), while the second half is a list of book suggestions.  The examples he gives of the power of reading and books is impressive, to put it mildly.  I find this book especially powerful as it shows parents how to overcome the ineffective reform occuring in our schools.  The author clearly demonstrates how testing, testing, and more testing is not working and how reading, reading, and more reading is one of the answers.  Every parent needs to read this book!!!