Books at Bedtime: FRED in action…
On BBC Radio 4’s Open Book this week,
Britain’s new Prime Minister Gordon Brown flagged up Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale as his top children’s book – and his choice was certainly greeted with approval from the small listeners in the back of my car yesterday. Gordon Brown extolled “the quality of children’s books now and the sheer brilliance of the writing” and talked about his experience as a Dad: “I read bedtime stories but sometimes early morning stories as well, as any parent knows; but I love reading to both my children. One is only ten months and he’s just starting to get a bit interested in what’s there.” Fantastic!
There has been a fair bit of research in recent years into the benefits of Dads reading aloud to their kids – well, let’s face it: anyone reading aloud to kids is setting them on the path 
towards enhancing levels of literacy; and is hopefully paving the way to a lifelong love of reading. However, Dads sometimes need special encouragement and there are some great initiatives around like Fathers Reading Every Day (FRED); as well as various reading lists which suggest books that will appeal to Dads as read-alouds with their kids, such as this one from the Minnesota Humanities Center; or this list of lists from an Australian school. And don’t just take it from me: here’s one Dad’s thoughts on reading aloud, based on his experience as a library volunteer. I agree with him about what makes a great picture book and Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s collaborations have come up trumps every time…
June 30th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Thanks for posting the reading lists that appeal to Dads. I have been looking for books that will encourage my husband to get more involved with our bedtime reading. Our son is only seven months, but I think reading with Dad is a wonderful tradition to start early.
I agree – and I’m sure favorites will emerge that are special just for them. Do share with us what they turn out to be…
July 4th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
In my graduate classes in the late 70s/ early 80s, it was said that the timbre in a male’s voice is better suited for teaching reading. That children were able to connect to it or distinguish the sounds better. Esp. little boys. Anyone else heard of that? I need to freshen up my degree! It’s older than my children! Point me to any research…
I haven’t heard that before so if anyone can point to some recent research on this issue, that would be great… I did come across this UK newspaper article from a few years ago, which might give a clue to the appeal of a male voice timbre – but it is not so relevant to actual learning to read…