Park Road Books and I are pleased to announce our second Read Aloud Rodeo, a read-aloud story-time event that will take place at Park Road Books (4139 Park Road) from 10:30 to 12:30 on Saturday, March 8, 2025. At the Read Aloud Rodeo, children’s authors, local educators and literacy advocates will participate in a two-hour marathon reading of picture books aloud to children. For more information about this event, please click on the following link: https://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/read-aloud-rodeo-celebrating-read-across-america-day
The Read Aloud Rodeo is tied to the National Education Association’s Read Across America Week, which traditionally kicks off on the second day of March in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
Park Road Books and I previously collaborated on an annual event called the Seuss-a-Thon, which involved a marathon reading of picture books by Dr. Seuss. Like the previous Seuss-a-Thons, the Read Aloud Rodeo will include a marathon reading of picture books, but at this year’s event, not all the featured picture books are by Dr. Seuss.
My interest in organizing the Read Aloud Rodeo has a personal connection For me, the act of reading aloud to children relates to my own childhood. I went to a very small, rural school that did not have the resources that were generally available in larger schools at the time. As a result, my dyslexia went undiagnosed. My third-grade teacher told my parents that she thought I was “mildly retarded,” but the school did nothing to help me overcome my learning disability. Luckily for me, my father did. He read aloud to me practically every night, and this experience helped me develop my love of literature even though I initially found it difficult to read on my own. By cultivating my interest in books and stories, my father provided me with the incentive to persist in my efforts to become a proficient reader despite my dyslexia. I am sure that I would not be an English professor today if my father had not read to me during my childhood.
In recent years, researchers have studied the impact of reading aloud to children, and their research findings are consistent with my own experiences. Ralf Thiede, a colleague of mine at UNC Charlotte, summarizes these findings in his book Children’s Books, Brain Development, and Language Acquisition. As Ralf points out, the act of reading aloud to children plays a major role in helping children build their vocabularies and learn how language works.
While I believe there is a pedagogical value associated with reading aloud to children, the purpose of the Read Aloud Rodeo is just to have fun. I invite everyone in Storied Charlotte to bring their kids to Park Road Books next Saturday for a fun story-time event.
