The Power of Read-Aloud: Enhancing Literacy and Finding Joy in Reading with Children

We want to take a moment to share with you the incredible impact that reading aloud can have on your child’s literacy development.
Here, in our classrooms, the teachers are hard at work being more intentional about their read-aloud practices. To deepen our collective understanding and continue improving this method, Harborlight hosted a Teacher Professional Workshop on Intentional Read-Aloud last Wednesday evening – yes after their long day of teaching! Following a tasty meal and a Head of School report from Mike, the teachers separated into small groups to dive into their training. These workshops focused on best practices for selecting meaningful literature and specifically learning about student engagement during read-aloud sessions - guiding making predictions, using moments to connect text to personal experiences, and choosing open questions to encourage conversation and reflection.
As many of you know, reading aloud to children is one of the most powerful tools we have for building literacy skills. Jim Trelease, in his Read-Aloud Handbook, emphasizes how reading aloud can strengthen vocabulary, comprehension, and a love for reading. He explains that when parents and educators read aloud, they expose children to words and ideas that are often beyond their independent reading level, which in turn expands their understanding and sparks their imagination.
The benefits of read-aloud go beyond academics. Trelease highlights how reading together fosters emotional connections, enriches a child’s social understanding, and develops critical thinking skills. Through this shared experience, children begin to see reading not as a chore, but as an enjoyable and interactive activity—something that’s valued and important both at school and home.
Harborlight faculty are currently working on a Parent Development workshop on Read Alouds. Watch for upcoming News about this event coming soon.
I encourage you to consider reading aloud to your child regularly at home, even as they grow older (yes, through the teen years!). Whether it’s a few pages from a picture book, a chapter from a novel, or an interesting article about current events, the act of reading together remains a vital way to support language development and to connect over shared stories.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
PreK - K:
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
  • The Color of Us by Karen Katz
  • We Are All Wonders by R.J. Palacio
  • All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
  • Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
  • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
  • Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
  • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Grades 1-2:
  • Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
  • The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
  • The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
  • The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates
  • Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali
  • The Paperbag Princess, Robert Munsch
  • Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
  • The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
  • Sugar Hill: Harlem’s Historic Neighborhood by Carole Boston Weatherford
  • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  • The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
Grades 3-4:
  • Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  • The BFG by Roald Dahl
  • The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
  • The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
  • I Am Enough by Grace Byers
  • The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah
  • The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
  • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
  • The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
  • New Kid by Jerry Craft
  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Grades 5-6:
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
  • The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
  • The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
  • Ghost by Jason Reynolds
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  • The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan
  • The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden
  • The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
  • The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Grades 7-8:
  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
  • Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
  • Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 
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