Reading Aloud

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rosy_posy
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Reading Aloud

Post by rosy_posy »

I wasn't really sure where to put this as it isn't about any author in particular but includes Enid Blyton, of course.

I'm sure there are lots of people who read aloud to children or others... I personally used to read aloud to my younger sister until she was 21.

What books have you particularly enjoyed reading aloud? Some of my favourites are the Harry Potter books, which are great material for doing voices, Tolkien, who just rolls off the tongue, and PG Wodehouse, who is even funnier when read aloud than normal! And of course Enid Blyton, who is another good subject for doing voices.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

A good topic, Rosy-Posy! In my family, Dr. Seuss has always gone down a storm because of the strong rhythms, catchy rhymes, humour and wisdom. My children are now teenagers but they can still recite their favourite lines or verses from various Dr. Seuss books.

The Ladybird rhyming animal stories were asked for repeatedly as well, especially The Bunney-Fluffs' Moving Day. Simple but charming little tales which simply swung along.

Other favourites were Pass the Jam, Jim by Kaye Umansky, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and cautionary verse (about naughty children who came to a sticky end) by Hilaire Belloc and Heinrich Hoffmann.

When my children were older, I read them the Lemony Snicket books (A Series of Unfortunate Events), which we all enjoyed. Reading them aloud brought out the word-play that is a major feature of the stories.

When I was a child myself, I loved listening to the stories about My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards and the poem 'The Goops' by Gillette Burgess. My sister and I read some of our Enid Blyton books out loud too, taking turns. I particularly remember doing that with The Three Golliwogs and The Ship of Adventure.
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by Poppy »

I often read aloud to my younger sister and my parents, whether it is my own work or an extract from a book. I particularly enjoy reading poetry aloud; something which flows nicely and rhymes. I think you can really bring poetry alive and make it interesting by reading it well. I sometimes read my sister extracts from Enid Blyton books, which I know and understand well, which makes it easy to read it well, I think. :D
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by burlingtonbertram »

I went to a very good recital of A Christmas Carol last year (the guy did a slightly abridged version from memory.

Reading aloud was the common practice at one time:-

....In AD 383....a twenty-nine-year-old professor of Latin rhetoric whom future centuries would know as Saint Augustine arrived in Rome....

....in Milan Augustine paid a visit to the city's bishop, the celebrated Ambrose....

.....Ambrose was an extraordinary reader. "When he read," said Augustine, "his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud."

To Augustine, however, such reading manners seemed sufficiently strange for him to note them in his Confessions. The implication is that this method of reading, this silent perusing of the page, was in his time something out of the ordinary, and that normal reading was performed out loud. Even though instances of silent reading can be traced to earlier dates, not until the tenth century does this manner of reading become usual in the West....
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by rosy_posy »

Ooh, interesting, burlingtonbertram... I knew reading aloud was common but didn't realise reading silently was so uncommon!
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

There were few manuscripts in those days (they had to be written/copied by hand - a job which was often done by monks) and relatively few literate people. Therefore, communal readings would have made sense for the most part. Only those who had contact with churches and monasteries would have had more ready access to manuscripts, so it's not surprising that a bishop like Ambrose should have discovered the pleasure of silent reading.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by Farwa »

I like to read short stories of Enid Blyton to my mother, and recently I've decided to read my mother and father my favourite book, "The Secret Garden". I'm glad they like my narrating.
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Re: Reading Aloud

Post by burlingtonbertram »

rosy_posy wrote:Ooh, interesting, burlingtonbertram... I knew reading aloud was common but didn't realise reading silently was so uncommon!
Mad isn't it; not something that you would ever consider to be unusual.
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