Young Readers: Smithsonian Notable Books 2008

Reasons to Read Aloud to Your Child

Conditions the child to associate reading with pleasure, an association that is necessary in order to maintain reading as a lifelong activity
Contributes to background knowledge for all other subject areas, including science, history, geography, math, and social studies
Provides the child with a reading role model
Creates empathy toward other people, because literature values humanity and celebrates the human spirit and potential, offering insight into different lifestyles while recognizing universality
Increases a child's vocabulary and grammar, and has the potential to improve writing skills
Improves a child's probability of staying in school
Improves future probability of employment and higher quality of life
Increase life span by virtue of correlated education, employment, and higher quality of life
Lowers probability of imprisonment
Improves problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that are fundamental and transferable to all other areas of learning
Offers information
Offers laughter and entertainment and an alternative to television
Improves attention span
Stimulates the imagination
Nurtures emotional development and improves self esteem
Reading skills are accrued skills that are bound to improve over time..a countdown to academic success