My kids love reading. Pim and Sara really devour books, and Ava has also recently gotten the hang of it. They are entirely captivated by their books! (Poor Casper, it can be frustrating to be the only one unable to read!)

I suppose it can be a natural transition to stop reading to children when they start to do so themselves. But when Sara was 10 (and Pim 8), I started reading the Harry Potter series to them (and it took me about 2½ years to dig through them!). I was reading to them in English, and this in combination with the difficult language and pretty complex storyline made it too difficult for Ava (and obviously Casper) to follow. So it was my special time with Pim and Sara. We spent hours cuddled up together, entranced by the magic of the books! I even read on long car journeys, and Tamar and Ava started to listen along as well.

Now that we have finished the Harry Potter books I recently started reading the Narnia books. Ava is big enough to follow (she’s nearly 8), and Casper likes to listen in, but I’m not sure how much he understands of the story. It’s extra fun for me to read Narnia because I’ve never read it before myself!

There are some good reasons not to stop reading to children, even when they get bigger — to entice them to become lifelong readers:

• Reading grows a child’s vocabulary. The language in books is generally more sophisticated and more rich than in conversation.
• Reading to a child increases their attention span.
• Reading to children plants their interest in books and thus grows their desire to start reading themselves.
• Reading to children can be a good opportunity, using the story, to discuss certain difficult issues / life choices.
• Children generally have a higher listening level than reading level, so you can read more serious and captivating books to them than they would be able to read themselves — thus motivating them to keep reading.
• Books widen your world! The wider your world, the more you understand and can empathise.
• Bonding with your children over books is really fun. And it is a great way to read books you missed out of as a child!
• Books are not screens. Enough said.

After Narnia the children want me to read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We’ll see, it might maybe be a tad too much? I was wondering — do you have any tips on great books to read together as a family? For when we have finished reading Narnia?

xxx Esther

PS Our posts on great chapter books.