RAR #178: Why Read a Book a Day? (Yep, You Can!)

Sarah (00:00): It's like a baked potato. It's good every time, no matter what. It doesn't matter what time of day it is. It doesn't matter what you put on it. A baked potato is comforting. Kara (00:12): Okay, we're going to make a meme that has a picture of a baked potato and be like, say, "Good books are like a baked potato. Sarah Mackenzie." Sarah (00:28): You're listening to the Read-Aloud Revival podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Mackenzie, homeschooling mama of six and author of The Read-Aloud Family and Teaching from Rest. As parents, we're overwhelmed with a lot to do. It feels like every child needs something different. The good news is you are the best person to help your kids learn and grow, and home is the best place to fall in love with books. This podcast has been downloaded seven million times in over 160 countries. So if you want to nurture warm relationships while also raising kids who love to read, you're in good company. We'll help your kids fall in love with books, and we'll help you fall in love with homeschooling. Let's get started. (01:19): Stories are empathy makers. We've talked about this before. Every time we read a story with our kids, we invite them to slip on the shoes of someone else and walk a mile in those shoes. Sometimes the characters in the stories we're reading are very much like us, and other times, not so much. But I think a lot of us listening to this podcast really want to make sure our kids have what they need before they leave home. And what a tremendous gift we're giving them by letting them meet new people and see new places, expand their horizons and walk all those miles and miles in the shoes of someone else, through books. (01:57): But something else happens as our kids grow, because we tend to lean toward longer books, and so we can get to fewer stories, fewer quantity, right? Our schedules speed up. We don't find ourselves sharing quite as many stories with our kids as we did when they were younger. But in today's show, we're going to invite you to read a story a day with your kids, like a whole story with your kids, no matter how old they are. If they're 2, if they're 12, if they're 16, doesn't matter. Now, to be able to read a whole story a day, that means we're going to need to read shorter stories, right? In fact, we're always making the case here, at Read-Aloud Revival, that there is nothing a longer book can give your kids that a picture book can't. And we want to take today's episode to invite you to read a story a day with us. So on the show with me today, and in fact for the next several episodes, are members of the RAR team. Kortney Garrison is our community director. She's a poet and a homeschooling mama of three. Hey, Kortney. Kortney (02:58): Hi, Sarah. Thank you so much for having me. Sarah (03:00): Yes. And Kara's here, too. She's our podcast manager. She's a writer, a podcaster, and a homeschooling mama of two. Kara, hello. Kara (03:09): Hello. Good to see you guys. Sarah (03:11): We want to talk about a story a day. No matter when you're listening to this episode, you can take the challenge we're going to set out for you today, to read a story a day and just see how incredible this can be. So we've got a sort of pick-your-own challenge for you today. We're going to tell you more about it in a minute. The essence is that you can consider this your formal invitation to do a 7-day challenge or a 30-day challenge, whatever best suits your life and your schedule right now, no matter how old your kids are, and read a book a day for those 7 days or 30 days. Kortney (03:46): So maybe at the beginning, we should start with why. If we're going to be reading a book a day, that means we're talking about picture books. Why picture books? Why read a book every day? So let's begin with that, here at the top. Kara (03:58): Yeah. And so often, we pair the idea of picture books with younger kids, so it can be a paradigm shift for us to think about picture books being a really good use of time for older kids and teens. But they really are. Sarah (04:11): So this idea of book-a-day came across our radar from the work of a few public school educators, Jillian Heise and Donalyn Miller. They have a hashtag they use online called BookADay or ClassroomBookADay, and what they're doing is encouraging teachers in classrooms, elementary school teachers, middle and high school teachers, to read a picture book a day with their students. And I think this is worth noting because teachers have a limited amount of time in those upper-level grades with their students, but these educators are saying reading a picture book a day aloud to students, no matter their age, has some really specific benefits. Kortney (04:52): So here at Read-Aloud Revival, we want to talk about how reading aloud a picture book a day, at home, can be a really boon to your kids, no matter how old they are. So let's start with some of those benefits. Sarah (05:03): Yes, okay. So first thing that comes to mind for me is that a story, no matter how long it is, has a complete narrative arc. So whether you're reading War and Peace or you're reading a Berenstain Bears picture book, they all have a complete narrative arc. They have a character who needs to overcome obstacles to get what they want or need. So the more stories that we're reading, even if they're short ... and very short stories are picture books or picture book biographies or whatever we're reading ... the more times our kids are watching this complete narrative arc in action. They're seeing, again and again, an unqualified hero, basically, who has to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to get what they want or need. And I think that's a really beautiful thing for them to see again and again. Kortney (05:55): Yeah. And our ability to talk about things, like narrative arc or literary devices, it grows almost exponentially. The more we read, the more we practice, the better we get at it. And it's really fun practice. Kara (06:09): Yes. And like Sarah, what you talked about in the beginning, we're giving our kids a chance to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. And when you were just talking about narrative arc, it occurred to me, we're giving our kids a chance to see, over and over again, someone overcoming struggles and overcoming challenges. And that's huge, too. The best books really help us feel what the characters are feeling, so if we give our kids that experience of walking through that with those characters, time and again ... I'm thinking of a podcast episode we have, named Kindness over Curiosity, that features a great book list with differently abled characters. That's over at readaloudrevival.com/139. Sarah (06:56): So one thing that I think is not as well known about picture books is that they offer really sophisticated language patterns. We know this about picture books. Publishers are expecting a picture book to be read by an adult to a child, and so there's no reading level assigned. There's no trying to curb the complexity of the language or the vocabulary or the syntax in order to make it easy for a developing reader to read, because adults are the ones who are usually reading a picture book. When a child goes from a picture book to a chapter book or novel, there's actually a step down, a little bit, in the complexity of language, in the word choice, in the sophisticated language patterns or how sophisticated, I should say, the language patterns are. Because a child who's reading a Ramona Quimby book or something is becoming a developing reader, it needs to be simplified a little bit for them to get their feet, their sea legs, with reading, right? (07:51): So we have something in a picture book we actually don't get in a longer-form novel for kids, which is really sophisticated, reliable language patterns that are higher and better, really, with picture books than they are with longer-form narrative. So it's kind of a helpful thing to know that when you're going from a picture book to a novel, you're not taking a step up in the complexity of language, so you can stick with picture books for a long time and get really good sophisticated language into your kids' ears. Kortney (08:25): Yeah. I think it was Laura Martin, who's the author of the middle-grade novel, Glitch- Sarah (08:30): I love that one. Kortney (08:31): My daughter just finished it, and then she turned right to the beginning and started again, so it's a good one. But Laura Martin, she compared reading books to eating jelly beans, which I think any time we've got food involved, I'm here for it. But she said, "Just because you've had a licorice-flavored jelly bean and didn't like it, that doesn't mean that you aren't a jelly bean person." Sarah (08:51): Right. Kortney (08:51): "You just need to try another flavor." So reading a book a day can help our kids develop their own taste. They'll be exposed to so many different kinds of stories. They'll be way more likely to find the jelly bean that tastes just right. Sarah (09:05): And for the record, if you want to get rid of those black-licorice-flavored jelly beans, you can pass them my way because I love them. Kortney (09:12): You can have all of mine. Kara (09:14): But that just goes to show you, not everything is for everyone. Kortney (09:17): Exactly. Kara (09:18): So that's why you keep reading different kinds of books. And books also take us places, and that's a wonderful benefit when we can't ... we want to travel everywhere maybe, ourselves, but we can't. There's a terrific episode that we have that features lots of seaside titles, and as a landlocked person, I find it especially swoony to just read a bunch of books about being at the ocean. And that one might be really fun right now for those in the northern hemisphere, too. So that's at readaloudrevival.com, Episode 133, so readaloudrevival.com/133. Sarah (09:52): And then maybe one of the benefits we should have named at the top, perhaps, is that these are a short commitment. Starting to read aloud a novel is such a bigger commitment. It's such a bigger thing. It's going to take you time, multiple days revisiting it. But a picture book takes, I don't know, 10 minutes, depending. A shorter picture book might take less, a longer picture book will take more. But we're talking about a quick win that's totally doable. And even if you can only do this a few days a week, you're getting multiple stories into your kids. (10:45): Because of all of these benefits that we're talking about, the complete narrative arc and our ability to talk about literary devices and story, because we're reading so many of them, the exposure to our kids to people who are different from them and live in different places and have different experiences, giving them a chance to walk a mile in those shoes, right? And the sophisticated and reliable language patterns, and the chance to give our kids an opportunity to figure out their own reading taste and decide what kind of genre and book appeals to them, and go different places and experience different parts of the world. And the fact that this is all doable, I'm hoping that we've convinced you all that this is a challenge that we all want to take. So we can do this. (11:28): We have a few printables for you at readaloudrevival.com/178, because this is Episode 178. And the printables are a 7-day challenge or a 30-day challenge where you're trying to read a book a day with your kids, no matter what time of year it is, no matter when you're listening to this. If you're on a school break or you're not, it's the beginning of a month or the beginning of a week or not, it doesn't matter. You get to make this challenge fit your life and just read a picture book a day and see what kind of rewards that offers your family. Kortney (11:59): All right, so we've got the why. We're inspired by the challenge. We've got our printables. We're ready. Let's talk about what we can read. Sarah (12:07): Let's talk about what we can read. Kara (12:10): That was a softball. Sarah (12:11): Sorry. Kara (12:11): Sarah's favorite question. Sarah (12:15): But maybe we should start just make things really clear, right out of the gate, that there is no quote-unquote right or wrong book list. You can just use the books that you have on your shelf already. You can pick books that you've already enjoyed reading aloud, that your kids ask for again and again, right? You can pick books that are new to you. You can go to the library and stock up on a whole bunch, or you can just pick the tried and true favorites. So there's a lot of freedom here, but then also, not all picture books are created equal. Some books are just much more enjoyable reading experiences than others, so of course, we have some suggestions for you. And naturally, we're going to encourage you to use our book list, because our book lists are curated with the specific eye to reading aloud. These picture books really read aloud particularly well. Kara (13:03): Yes. Over on our website, readaloudrevival.com, you can click on Booklists at the top, and you'll find those recommendations. And we have got books organized by season, month, historical lists, theme lists, all kinds of good recommendations there. And every book on those lists has been read by our team and is recommended as a great read-aloud. Kortney (13:23): So one book list in particular that might come in handy is the Picture Book Biographies list. This list is divided by categories, by time period, and also by theme, by subject, athletes or scientists or artist. So you'll get a whole chunk of books all about artists, and that would be so wonderful to go through those 10 or 12 books and maybe think about what sort of media they're using or how you might be able to try what they're doing so that those stories can inspire your own work. It's a great collection of books. And picture book biographies are a great place to start, especially if you've got older kids who maybe are not quite sure that they're going to be into this picture-book-a-day idea. Kara (14:06): Yeah. Yeah, speaking of, we have a whole episode coming up this summer specifically about reading picture books with older kids and teens, so you can look forward to that. And what ... we have other stuff coming up on the podcast. Sarah (14:20): Yeah. We're going to do an episode that will give you some things to look for, like some questions to ask that will help you really read a picture book in a way that you ... it will help you never doubt again that reading picture books is ... it's like an art form. Picture book is such an amazing art form. The sophistication and lyricism of the language, paired with the beauty of the illustrations, really has a lot to offer. So we do this kind of ... we call them Looking Closely. We make a video every month in RAR Premium, with our Family Book Club choice, and we're looking for specific things or just seeing what we can find that we might have missed on the first pass through a picture book. So we're going to do a whole episode to help you look closely at your own picture books. I think you're going to be delightfully surprised at how much a picture book has tucked within its pages that you might not have noticed before. And you don't even have to dig too deep for it once you know what to look for. Kortney (15:12): I love that you said something, looking closely for things that you might not have seen the first time, because that's really where picture books shine, I think, is in the rereading. They're so rich, you can return to them again and again. Sarah (15:26): Yeah, yeah. Kortney (15:27): So we're also going to do an episode on practical considerations, nitty-gritty stuff, when to read aloud, how to do it, where books can come from, all the things that might come up when you make a commitment to reading aloud a picture book a day. Kara (15:58): It's going to be good. So this part's going to be hard. Do we each have a picture book that we can recommend that we've enjoyed lately? Just one? Sarah (16:05): "A"? A picture book? Like singular? Kara (16:07): I know, that's the thing. Sarah (16:12): Okay, so a picture book that we have been loving lately is called Little Fox in the Forest, by Stephanie Graegin. This is a wordless picture book, and we actually have a whole episode and a whole book list on wordless books, how to read them and enjoy them with your kids. We'll put a link to that in the show notes. But this particular wordless book is new to my kids. We just added it to our book list because it was so fun. The thing that sticks out to me about this one is that it was a particularly crabby morning when we picked this one out of our library bag and decided to try it. And by the time we were about halfway in, I had giggles and oohs and ahhs and staring and pointing at the picture. It's a little bit magical, and there's just a lot of ... it's one of those wordless books where there's a lot tucked into the illustrations, so kind of like you were just saying, Kortney, the best picture books really offer us something new on every reread or something unique on every reread. And I love that when you can pick a book off your shelf that you have read before and visit it again, and there's something new or surprising about it that you hadn't noticed before. (17:19): That is a gift that I think picture books give that we, a lot of times, miss. And it's right there for us, because most of us have kids that ask for the same rotation of books to be read again and again and again, right? Just the other night, one of my twins, who at the time of this recording is almost eight, asked for The Billy Goats Gruff, which I think I've ... the Paul Galdone version of Billy Goats Gruff ... and I think I probably could recite that book largely from memory because we have read it so many times. And I kind of thought to myself, really? I've read this book so many times to you. And there's just ... it doesn't matter. It's that familiarity, it's the warmth and cadence of the language, it's ... I know that [Beckett 00:18:00] is going to look at this picture book when he's 20 and be like, "I loved that book as a kid." There's no doubt in my mind that he'll remember it, you know? (18:06): So anyway, Little Fox in the Forest is a book that I think can have that same kind of staying power because there's lots to find, it's very captivating. I would say it's probably geared toward younger kids, maybe 10 and under. I'm not sure if the older crowd is going to love it quite as much. Although, I don't know. I'm the older crowd, and I did, so ... Kortney (18:24): I was thinking of the same ... I was thinking that the book that I picked sort of falls into the same category. It's a brand-new book, but I have the feeling that it's going to be a favorite, it's going to turn into one of those books that we return to again and again. It's Prairie Days, a new picture book by Patricia MacLachlan. Sarah (18:42): Oh! Kortney (18:42): She wrote Sarah, Plain and Tall- Sarah (18:44): Yep. Kortney (18:44): ... a chapter book. Prairie Days is a picture book. It's sort of a companion piece to The Hundred-Year Barn, another recent picture book by her. But Prairie Days is illustrated by Micha Archer, and her playful, colorful, exuberant collage work really sets this book apart, I feel, and it pairs so perfectly with the spare text of Prairie Days. I haven't counted how many words there are, but there aren't many, and yet the book really captures the expansive feel of summer, of days on the prairie. It's a good one. Kara (19:19): That sounds so good, and I love how you guys both talked about those books that you return to again and again. It's like a favorite meal, you know? Sarah (19:30): Oh, that's right. Kara (19:30): It's the same way. Sarah (19:30): Yeah. Kara (19:30): I always imagine, when my kids come home to visit, when they've gone out and started living lives of their own, what meal are they going to ask for if they come back home? Sarah (19:40): It's like a baked potato. It's good every time, no matter what. It doesn't matter what time of day it is. It doesn't matter what you put on it. A baked potato is comforting. Kara (19:52): Okay, we're going to make a meme that has a picture of a baked potato and be like, say, "Good books are like a baked potato. Sarah Mackenzie." Sarah (20:02): When we go to a steakhouse, I'll look at my husband and be like, "Do I have to order steak? Would it be super weird if I just ordered a baked potato or two?" Kara (20:09): That's why my husband and I, we used to love going to weddings together because I'm a vegetarian, he's not. I would give him my extra chicken, he would give me his extra baked potato. Sarah (20:18): Exactly. Kara (20:18): We were the perfect couple, you know? Sarah (20:18): So good. Kara (20:18): Are we supposed to be talking about books still, or can we just talk about potatoes for the rest of the podcast? Sarah (20:24): Books or potatoes, hashtag. Kara (20:27): Okay. Well, the book I wanted to share is Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen. They are a husband-and-wife team, and they have written several books, and there are a couple that feature the lovely Maple Hill Farm. And this is ... it's a little bit of a longer picture book, but the way it's done, it doesn't feel like a haul at all. There's little almost pages that almost have a comic-book-type division to them, where they talk about the different cats that live on the farm, which might be my favorite part. Sarah (21:05): Cats? Cats, Kara? You picked a book with cats? Kara (21:09): Yes. The cats ... a good book is like a cat. It's like a baked potato. So I think that if you have cat lovers, if you have dog lovers, there's a great part about how to weigh a dog. So I think if you have dog lovers, but really, any animal lover. And this book is just so good. You can't help but talk about it with your kids as you're reading it. You're not just reading it, you're discussing it pretty much every time. It's from 1974, but I've been told that is not old. Sarah (21:42): Spring chicken. Kara (21:43): Yes. And it is still in print. You can still get it in print, but I bet your library has it because it's one of those classics. Not old classics, just a well-done book that has withstood the test of time. Sarah (21:56): For context, listeners, when we were talking about books recently, Kara mentioned an old book from 1974. Kara (22:04): I said it was older. I didn't say it was old. I meant because I thought I was supposed to be talking about brand-new books. Kortney (22:10): Geriatric. Sarah (22:10): Then Kortney started arguing about how 1974 wasn't that old, and ... Kara (22:15): It's not. Kortney (22:17): And then it came out that that was the year that I was born, so ... Kara (22:20): Yeah. Kortney (22:20): I might be a little sensitive about that. Kara (22:23): Okay, well- Sarah (22:24): You don't want us to talk about its yellowing pages- Kortney (22:26): No, no. Sarah (22:26): ... and the crackling spine. Kortney (22:27): The smell that it gets, yeah. No. When we first started reading these Maple Hill Farm books, when my kids were very, very small, we would just read four pages at a time, so that gave us sort of the introduction to each different animal. And then the ... like Kara was saying, the more comic-book style, where there's a lot of different pictures and words on one page, so that was a way to sort of visit with the animals in a more contained way. Kara (22:56): Oh, I love that. Sarah (22:57): Me too. Kara (22:58): And I will say- Sarah (22:59): It's been a while since I've read them, too. Kara (23:01): Yeah. And even though it's not an old book, it does have these warm memories because we just read it again and again and again. And then The Year at Maple Hill Farm is the companion book that sort of casually teaches about the seasons but also just has that same cozy feel to it. They're just the best. I love them. Kortney (23:22): Yeah. Sarah (23:22): Martin and Alice Provensen were friends of Tomie dePaola, and so I know that ... in several conversations I had with Tomie, he would mention them and their work. They also did a picture book called The Glorious Flight, which some of our listeners may go, "Oh, that's the book I know them from." Kortney (23:41): They also made ... Tomie recommended this book in particular ... it's out of print, but it's amazing. It's a pop-up book about Leonardo da Vinci, and it is a masterpiece. Sarah (23:54): Oh, really? I don't remember that. Okay. Kortney (23:54): It is so inventive. It's so beautiful, and it- Kara (23:59): We're all going to rush and see if there's ... Sarah and I are going to be in a contest. Is there still one somewhere on Amazon? Sarah (24:05): And by the time this podcast goes up, they're going to be selling for like $468 a copy because ... Kortney (24:11): And I think they're reprinting the Alice and Martin Provensen Fairy Tales. That will come out in the fall. Kara (24:17): They are? Oh. Kortney (24:18): Yeah, a new edition. Kara (24:20): Oh, that's wonderful. Kortney (24:20): Yeah. Kara (24:21): Yeah, they are so ... they did so many lovely books. There's another one, City and Town? I can't ... Town and Country, something like that. So good. We'll put in the show notes. Sarah (24:35): Who will put it in the show notes? Who will put all these titles in the show notes? Kara (24:37): I, the person who accidentally said that 1974 was older, will put them in the show notes. Kortney (24:43): I'm too old to do that. I don't know how to do that work. It was before ... Kara (24:46): Oh my goodness. One thing. You say one wrong thing. Sarah (24:51): We'll never let you live it down. Kara (24:52): I know. Sarah (24:54): Well, that is it for us today. Remember to grab your picture-book-a-day printables for a challenge. You can take a 7-day challenge and try and do it just for a week, you can do it for a month. They're all at readaloudrevival.com/178. And if you wanted to share your picture-book-a-day challenge on social media, make sure you use the ReadAloudRevival hashtag so we'll see it, too. That's a fun way to keep a record for yourself, too, of what you've been reading each day. The challenge printables also offer a spot where you can jot down what you've read. But now let's go hear from the kids listening to our podcast about what books that they're loving. Tierza (25:40): Hi, my name is [Tierza 00:25:48]. My favorite ... I am five years old. My favorite book is the Bible. It has a lot of stories. I live in Peru, and my favorite part of the Bible is when Jesus came alive and Mary got to see him again. My favorite characters are Mary and Joseph and Jesus. Sara (26:12): Hello, my name is [Sara 00:26:14], and I live in Tennessee, and I'm seven years old. And this is my favorite book: The Camping Trip, by Jennifer Mann. When she was going swimming, and she saw fish, and she was scared of fish, and her parents said, "Don't worry, Ernestine. The fish won't bite you," and she said, "That's okay. I just watched you swimming." And that's my favorite book. Bye! Chris (26:13): Hello, my name is [Chris 00:26:48]. I'm seven years old, and I live in California. What I'm reading right now is Wagons West, and the author it's by is VeraLee Wiggins. And what I like about it is that there's a boy, and he has a horse, and the horse's name is Thunder, and the name is David. And they go across the Oregon Trail. Speaker 7 (27:24): What's your name? Oona (27:25): [Oona 00:27:25] Speaker 7 (27:26): And how old are you, Oona? Oona (27:29): Four. Speaker 7 (27:29): Where do you live? Oona (27:31): Colorado. Speaker 7 (27:32): Colorado. What's your favorite book? Oona (27:34): Dog Man. Speaker 7 (27:34): Why is Dog Man your favorite? Oona (27:38): Because there's a bad doggie. Speaker 7 (27:38): Because of the bad doggie. Speaker 9 (27:43): What's your name? Thomas (27:44): [Thomas 00:27:44]. Speaker 9 (27:45): Thomas, how old are you? Thomas (27:46): Five. Speaker 9 (27:47): Five. And what state do you live in? Thomas (27:48): New York. Speaker 9 (27:50): New York. And what chapter book are we reading right now? Thomas (27:53): [inaudible 00:27:53] Speaker 9 (27:55): Who's [inaudible 00:27:56]? Thomas (27:56): [inaudible 00:27:56] Speaker 9 (27:56): The [inaudible 00:27:57] Holly (27:59): Hi, my name is [Holly 00:28:01]. I am nine years old. I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and my favorite book is My Side of the Mountain because there's this boy who tries to live off the land. Speaker 12 (28:21): What's your name? May (28:21): May. Speaker 12 (28:23): May, and how old are you? May (28:25): Three and a half [inaudible 00:28:28] Colorado. Speaker 12 (28:31): You're three and a half, and you live in Colorado. That's right. And what's your favorite book, May? May (28:37): Bunnies. Speaker 12 (28:38): The Velveteen Rabbit. May (28:39): The Velveteen Rabbit. Speaker 12 (28:44): And what do you like about The Velveteen Rabbit, May? May (28:48): Reading, just reading it. Speaker 12 (28:49): Just reading it. Speaker 14 (28:50): Hi, my name is [inaudible 00:28:52], and I'm seven years old. I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and my favorite book is The Boxcar Children because they solve mysteries. Speaker 15 (29:08): My name is [inaudible 00:29:09], and I'm three. Speaker 16 (29:15): What's your favorite book? Speaker 15 (29:16): Strega Nona. Eleanor (29:18): Hi, my name's [Eleanor 00:29:20]. I live in Canada, and I'm four years old. My favorite book's To Fly with Dragons, and my favorite part's the little baby dragon. Sean (29:32): Hi, my name's [Sean 00:29:34], and I live in Canada, and I'm six. And my favorite book ever is The Biggest Apple Ever. And my favorite part about it is when they think about the biggest pie, and then they actually make it. Speaker 19 (29:50): My name is [inaudible 00:29:51], and I'm three, and I live in Canada. Speaker 20 (29:54): What's your favorite book? Speaker 19 (29:58): Strega Nona. Speaker 20 (29:58): What do you like about Strega Nona? Speaker 19 (30:00): That there's a magic pasta pot. Speaker 20 (30:00): Nice. Logan (30:00): My name is [Logan 00:30:06], and I live in Saratoga Springs, Utah. And my favorite book is Candy Shop War because there's these kids, and they get magical powers from sucking on candies, and the person who gives them the candies is Mrs. White. Ava (30:35): Hi, my name is [Ava 00:30:36]. I am 10 years old, and I live in Michigan. I really like the book Grindle, and I like how funny it is, and just that it's based on a real ... well, not real, but you know, like a boy in school, and he's just so real. Roland (30:56): My name is [Roland 00:30:57]. I come from Tennessee. My age is five, and I love Dinosaur Train because it has dinosaurs. Sarah (31:10): Thank you so much, kids. It all counts. It's easy for us to think that reading novels or chapter books are somehow a more elevated experience than reading picture books, but we know that's not true. There's nothing a novel or a chapter book can offer our child that a picture book can't. We're going to dive into more about what we mean by that soon, but in the meantime, go read a picture book a day. Take the challenge. We dare you. It's going to be so much fun. And we'll see you in another couple of weeks. Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. (31:57): So many of us feel overwhelmed in our homeschool. There's a lot to do, and it feels like every child needs something a little different. The good news is you are the best person on the planet to help your kids learn and grow, and home is the best place to fall in love with books. I'm Sarah Mackenzie. I'm a homeschooling mother of six, the author of Teaching from Rest and The Read-Aloud Family, and I'm the host here, on the Read-Aloud Revival podcast. This podcast has been downloaded over eight million times, and I think it's because so many of us want the same things. We want our kids to be readers, to love reading. We want our homes to be warm and happy havens of learning and connection. We know that raising our kids is the most important work of our lives. That's kind of overwhelming, right? You are not alone. In Read-Aloud Revival Premium, we offer family book clubs, a vibrant community, and Circle with Sarah, coaching for you, the homeschooling mom, so you can teach from rest, homeschool with confidence, and raise kids who love to read. (33:25): Our family book clubs are a game changer for your kids' relationship with books. We provide you with a family book club guide and an opportunity for your kids to meet the author or illustrator live onscreen. So all you have to do is get the book, read it with your kids, and make those meaningful and lasting connections. They work for all ages, from your youngest kids to your teens. Every month, our community also gathers online for a Circle with Sarah to get ideas and encouragement around creating the homeschooling life you crave. They're the most effective way I know to teach from rest and build a homeschool life you love. We want to help your kids fall in love with books, and we want to help you fall in love with homeschooling. Join us today, at RARPremium.com.