Podcast Love: Read-Aloud Revival

Hi everyone! If you have kids in your life, I am recommending a favorite podcast today I hope you will check out, the Read-Aloud Revival. The show is all about "building a family culture around books" and "making meaningful and lasting connections with kids through books." The show focuses on stories, reading, and literacy with a special focus on the value of reading aloud with older kids who have already learned to read to themselves. The host Sarah Mackenzie talks a lot about how it's second nature to a lot of parents to read to little kids, but that practice tends to fall off once those little kids can read on their own. My toddler clearly still falls into the "little kid" category, but I still find this podcast very inspiring and it is downright dangerous for my own TBR with all the awesome middle grade titles that get recommended.

For the current season (#11), it has become a more frequent weekly show rather than biweekly as it was in the past. And let me tell you, those "extra" mini-episodes that have been airing in between longer interview episodes are some of my absolute favorites and I've listened to all of them more than once. I also think they give a really good idea of what the show is all about without a huge time commitment which is what inspired this post! If you like any of these, I think you'll find the Read-Aloud Revival a worthwhile addition to your podcast listening.

RAR #66: Do Audio Books Count as Read-Alouds?
RAR #70: How to Find Time to Read as a Busy Mom

RAR #72: How to Save a Bad Day

RAR # 74: One thing you won’t regret ← my #1, if I had to choose!

RAR #76: How to make reading aloud the best part of the day

And here are 7 of my favorite full-length episodes if you'd like to check out the archives and don't know where to start!

RAR #12: The Reading Promise

RAR #43: Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham ← I want to read his books!

RAR #49: Why We Should All Be Reading Aloud to Children

RAR Bonus Episode: The Most Important Part of Teaching Kids to Read

RAR #53: Can a Children’s Book Change the World? Linda Sue Park

RAR #56: What’s at Stake and Why Stories Matter, Jonathan Auxier

RAR Bonus Episode: Some of the Best Books by Living Authors ← ← TBR beware!

One thing worth noting, especially if you do a deep dive into the podcast archives, is that Sarah and many of her guests are homeschoolers. There is a ton of great information and inspiration even if you don't homeschool, I just think it's good to be aware that some of the advice and discussion comes from that perspective. Also, I really hate to admit this, but I personally am not a huge fan of the short final segment of each episode where kids call in to recommend a favorite book -- I feel like a horrible parent for admitting this, but I usually skip those!