The bittersweet part of your kids finally starting to read independently is that you don’t read aloud together as much, and that goes double when tweens and teens shut their door to bedtime rituals. Cuddles? Puh-lease.
But reading aloud still matters at this age — and for reasons far beyond reading comprehension. “Reading aloud can provide both adults and teens with a welcome means of communication, without the nagging, negativity, and silences that often creep into that dynamic,” Giulia Rhodes wrote in her piece on literary critic Meghan Cox Gurdon in The Guardian. Gurdon’s book, The Enchanted Hour, is all about the power of reading aloud to people of all ages. She herself reads to her teen daughters every morning at breakfast.
One of Gurdon’s arguments is that reading aloud is an antidote to this particular era, fraught as it is with fractured attention spans. At heart, it’s also about connection and the compelling sound of a human voice. And, depending on the book, it’s a way to broach a touchy topic that doesn’t feel forced or, you know, parental.
And — blissfully — no screens.
I asked parents who still read with their tweens and teens where, when, how, and why it happens — as well as what they’re reading — and here’s what they had to say.
'The Story of Dr. Dolittle'
“[We read] usually at bedtime — although with COVID-19 we will be reading aloud during the day more as well,” says Catherine Off, mother of two in Missoula, Montana. “My tweens currently love Doctor Dolittle. I’m hoping to add in some other fantasy and classic lit — with all the doom and gloom right now, my kids are leaning toward silly, funny fantasy.”
'The Giver'
Sara Mortimer-Boys, a mother of two in Los Angeles, says, “I read with my 11-year-old son lying next to him in his bed. One of his recent favorites was The Giver.”
The 'Harry Potter' Series
“Harry Potter, often! It’s like reruns,” says Craig Mackay, a father of four, ages 6 to 16, in Camarillo, California.
'Warrior Without Weapons'
Jen Pinkowski, a New York transplant living in Berlin, Germany, says she and her son still read before bed. “Right now, it’s a WWII memoir of an International Red Cross doctor. He’s really into it … until it puts him right to sleep. It’s kind of a magical combination of interesting and soothing,” she says.
'A Series of Unfortunate Events'
Nina Leidersdorff, currently living in Copenhagen with her family, says, “We read A Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter. They work for both the 12- and 10-year-old here.”
'Lord of the Flies' (and other required reading)
“My kids didn’t want me to read to them for a long time,” says Lisa Ling Fu, a mother of three outside of Portland, Oregon. “But my second son started reading out loud to me in junior high and high school. He would rage at the ‘stupid’ assignments — Huck Finn, Lord of the Flies, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Edgar Allan Poe — so he would read them to me to show me how stupid they were. We would laugh at the dumb parts. I got the opportunity to bring his attention to some of the legit parts.”
“After a couple of times, he would ask to read out loud while I was cooking dinner. ‘It’s easier to get through it this way,’ he would tell me. We learned together, and it was a unique, welcome opportunity to share ideas at this age when he mostly didn’t talk to me otherwise.”
'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'
Chrissy Goodman, a mother of two, including an 8th grader, says, “She reads to me before bed in her room. The last two faves have been Little Women and Just Mercy. We just finished Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and boy, was that a brutal account of our country’s history!”
'To Kill a Mockingbird'
Stephanie Ferrell, a mother of an 8th grader, read To Kill a Mockingbird with her daughter, for her history class, during quarantine. “I wanted to reread it also, so we read some chapters out loud. I get props for my character voices!”
She adds, “I am also grateful for the opportunity to stop mid-chapter or even mid-sentence to discuss any and all things together. We definitely discussed To Kill a Mockingbird in the context of today’s world.”
'The Only Black Girls in Town'
Iva-Marie Palmer, a YA author and mother of two, says, “If 9 counts as tween, yes! I sort of make it a balance of a book I pick (Rebecca Stead, Gary Schmidt are two recents) alternated with his choice (of late the 13-Story Treehouse series). It’s a good way to share things we like, and when we don’t do it, he asks for it.”
“We just started The Only Black Girls in Town together, and I feel like it’s been a good way to talk about the world beyond the book, too,” she adds. “I feel like he’d read books I encourage on his own, but sometimes reading together gives him the extra nudge toward trying something he might not otherwise.”
