Pretend You’re Four and I’ll Read You a Story

by Steven Engelfried

A couple weeks ago I pulled out one of my all-time favorite picture books and shared it with a group:  Fortunately by Remy Charlip.  They seemed to enjoy it.  They laughed at the right places, had some good guesses when asked “what unfortunate thing do you think he’ll find in the water?” (“Sharks?  Pirates?  Oil Spill?”)  And when Ned finally arrived at his own surprise birthday party at the end, they seemed as satisfied as most kids are every time I read the book.  The difference, though, is that this was an audience of grown ups.

One of my favorite tasks of my job in the Early Childhood Outreach department is doing educational presentations for parents.  When a Head Start or a childcare center has a Parent Night (or Parent Day, or Parent whenever), we do our best to share information about why it’s so important to read to kids and offer tips and examples on how to make the experience especially fun and effective.  So I talk some about early literacy skills and child brain development and share some impressive statistics.  And these can all be pretty powerful.  But the part when I read a book is the most fun, and it some ways it’s every bit as important as the other stuff.

I’m lucky to work with Nell Colburn, a fabulous librarian, and she’s the one who really showed me how much powerful content you can get from reading a book to the parents.  Based on observing her, I start by encouraging the parents to pretend they’re preschoolers while they listen.  Some are a bit reluctant, some don’t play along at all, and some really get into it.  All responses are okay.  But I also tell them, as Nell does, to observe with a critical eye at the same time, noticing details about how I share the book with them.  So when the book is finished, we talk about what they noticed, and they almost always catch everything:  Asking questions; talking about the words and pictures; showing enthusiasm; being a bit silly….   It’s all very relaxed and fun.  Partly because the best children’s books really work for all ages.  Also, it’s an unexpected treat for many grownups to just sit and listen to a story, even one that’s meant for kids.  Few of us get the chance to do that often enough. 

But beyond the fun, though, that experience sets the stage for the information that follows.  It’s fine to say that talking about pictures helps develop vocabulary, but when you then remind them that many of their kids might not know the words “pitchfork,” “parachute,” or “fortunate,” and show how those can lead to conversations, things really start to click.  I’ll ask how many of them could probably retell most of that story by memory after just one listen, then relate that to the importance of narrative skills.  We talk about how the experience might be different for kids if they’re hearing the story a second, or third, or tenth time, and what they learn through that repetition.

I’ve always felt more comfortable presenting to kids, rather than adults, and probably always will.  And I admit that assuming the role of “presenter- of-early-literacy-research-to-parents” took me way out of my comfort zone for a while.  But I think I’m okay with parent presentations now, and the reason should have been obvious from the start:  when in doubt, whatever the audience, read a funny story.