A Short Guide on Reading Aloud to Children Reading Aloud to Children
Why Reading Aloud is Important
Reading aloud to children is both worthwhile, enjoyable, and important for their future academic development. See Jim Trelease's excellent book The Read-Aloud Handbook.
I can sum up Trelease's book in a few words: turn off the television, read to your kids regularly, don't push them to learn to read before they learn to read in school, read to your kids regularly, choose books at the appropriate listening level (don't bore them with books that are too easy), read to your kids regularly, even after your kids learn to read continue to read to your kids regularly, turn off the television, and read to your kids regularly. In all seriousness, the book is a must read for any parent, teacher, or grandparent.
Reading Aloud to Infants and Young Toddlers (age 0-2)
It is not easy reading to an infant. They seem to be born with an instinct to rip pages out of books. Before they become mobile, they may sit on your lap and listen to picture books for quite some time. Try board books that are not easily ripped. Once the infant starts crawling around, it becomes hard to get him to sit quietly in your lap. Some parents try reading while the infant is in a high-chair, or a crib.
No one really knows how important it is to read to an infant. It is important that infants get to explore and play, so don't read to him too much. A good time to try is when they are sitting on your lap, drinking a bottle, or before bed when they are tired. As they grow, suggest reading more and more often.
If you allow your child to watch television, they will almost always choose it above reading. If you want them to be interested in reading more, turn off the TV as much as possible. I recommend (and so does the American Academy of Pediatrics ) that children under the age of two watch NO television. Turning off the television is the first step in growing a reader.
Reading Aloud to Toddlers (age 2-3)
By age two, some children can sit for hours and read books, while others run around from toy to toy every thirty seconds. At this age, there are huge differences between children. Keep the television off. The American Academy of Pediatrics allows limited TV, but I still recommend NO television. Perhaps 2 hours per month maximum would be okay, for an occasional movie (or the occasional parental breakdown/emergency baby sitter).
At age two, kids like simple books, like Sweet Dreams, Maisy,
by Lucy Cousins. In fact there is something like a hundred Maisy books. The text is very simple, the pictures are very simple, yet two year olds love them (though you may not after reading them 215 times). Reading to two year olds is not always going to be interesting. If they like a book, you'll have to read it repeatedly. The key to making the experience enjoyable is to choose books that are simple poems, with great pictures. Sweet Dreams, Maisy, has beautiful, yet simple pictures, and the text is poetic. Another great example is Green as a Bean
by Carla Kushkin. Green as a Bean is a catchy poem with amazing pictures. The two year old will love hearing repeatedly, and the parent will also enjoy the repetition. Good poems are meant to be re-read.
At age two, they are also ready for simple stories. Try the books by Rosemary Wells. Almost everything she writes is great. Try Noisy Nora 
and Carry Me! 
By the end of the second year, you will find your toddler sitting for longer and longer books. Slowly choose books that have more and more words. Sometimes they like to fixate on certain books, even books they can't fully understand. Perhaps they like a phrase, or a certain picture. It is hard to predict what a two year old will sit for. My advice is expose them to a large assortment of different types of books.
Reading Aloud Picture Books to Preschoolers (age 3-5)
Age three is a golden year for reading aloud. Now you can read stories that you yourself will also enjoy; stories that are longer and more complex. Continue to read poetic and rhyming books, but also choose picture books that tell real stories. Dr. Seuss is now accessible, and so are books like Diary of a Worm, by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss; and Library Lion,
Michelle Knudsen. Continue to severely limit TV. Even at age three, a child will choose TV over reading. Slowly increase the difficulty of the picture books. Look for books with more and more words per page (they all seem to have roughly the same amount of pages). It is important to also find books with awe inspiring pictures. Try David Wiesner's Flotsam,
and his other books. His books contains few words, but each pictures is both amazing and thought provoking. Before we move on to chapter books, please take note that the reading level of picture books it typically very high. These books are truly designed for adults to read to children. The presence of good pictures allows the author to use sophisticated language.
Reading Aloud Chapter Books to Preschoolers (age 4-7)
This section will probably be a surprise to you: It is both possible and worthwhile to read chapter books to four year olds (see The Read-Aloud Handbook). The traditional time kids start chapter books is when they learn how to read them by themselves. The trouble with this is that it goes against that fact that a child's listening level is higher than the reading level until the teenage years. Consider Mary Pope Osborne's popular Magic Tree House Series.
These books are traditionally rated on the third grade reading level. Third grade children love these books, but their listening level, at this age, is roughly at the sixth grade reading level. In other words, they could be listening to more complex, vocabulary rich books than what they are capable of reading. In fact, if you look in the inside cover of the Magic Tree House books, you will read letters from kindergarten classes: five year old kindergartners love listening to books designed for third graders. A good rule of thumb is that the listening level is three years ahead of the reading level. So a four year old can listen comfortably to second grade reading level books. By the age of four and a half, many children could listen to third grade level books. Try Andrew Lost On the Dog (Andrew Lost #1),
by J.C. Greenburg; and The Dragon of Doom (Moongobble and Me #1),
by Bruce Coville. They are chapter books with roughly 70-90 pages, larger type, and a decent amount of pictures. The characters and plot are much more developed than in most picture books. The complexity will challenge your child. Listening comprehension skills will be developed, and they will grow less reliant on pictures: they will create their own mind-pictures.Why rush into chapter books? Eventually almost all kids learn to read. More specifically, they learn to decode, translate written symbols to sounds (this is what most people mean by reading). Not all children learn to understand what they read well enough. When you say someone is a good reader, you say they have good comprehension, they can make connections and intuitions. For our purposes, let's call this higher reading so we don't confuse it with decoding. If you think about it, one does not need to read to perform higher reading; listening is enough. So the advantage of early chapter books is that you can start building higher reading skills years before they start decoding. By the time they start reading, they will already book hooked on reading and will quickly master decoding.Parents will enjoy a good chapter book. Picture books are great, but most adults don't read them outside of parenthood. Not so with chapter books, we read them ourselves, though on a higher level. You'll enjoy reading kids chapter books almost as much as your child will love hearing them. The more you, the parent, enjoy reading, the more your child will generally be read to.
Reading Aloud Books to School Age Children
Try to keep reading aloud as long as your child lets you. When your child is in second or third grade, read them books like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. 
Read a little bit each night before bedtime. Explain the book as you go along, teach them why you shouldn't call people mugblood, teach them about slavery and class, and teach them about orphans. I hear too many stories of eight year old kids reading through Harry Potter books in a weekend. I think it infinitely more enjoyable if the parent reads it at that age; if necessary, censoring out violent or objectionable parts.
Why Read Aloud
The answer is simple: you spend countless hours of quality, enjoyable time with your children. You light their reading fire and turn them into life long readers and life long learners.
