There was a time when read-aloud was as firmly entrenched in the daily routine of school as going to lunch. Teachers read aloud to their students with the regularity of school bells announcing the beginning of a new day. No one questioned the practice—what could possibly be wrong with something so sensible, so enjoyable, something so thoroughly satisfying as reading aloud to students?

Yet as I work in schools around the country, teachers report feeling they don’t have time for read-aloud in their increasingly busy days. They report feeling they can hardly justify time spent reading to children, and that to do so makes them feel subversive. How very sad that something so pure, something so very simple, has become suspect.

In my book, The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource, I invite you to join me in an effort to reclaim read-aloud for our students and, yes, even for ourselves. Let’s reinvent this tried-and-true practice, this commonsensical standard in the education of our children. Let’s reclaim this sensible source of endless inspiration. Let’s reinvigorate this trusted means of investing in the minds of our students and opening their lives to a world beyond their own imaginations. Let’s re-envision read-aloud as a respected means of instruction. Let’s make every read-aloud intentional.

Toward that goal, we must be thoughtful in our selection of texts to read aloud. We must be clear in our own minds about why we are reading a particular title. I am advocating for reading aloud with the frequency of birdsong and with the zeal of a street performer. I am advocating for reading aloud from a wide array of titles that represent a variety of authors and illustrators and genres and topics. I am advocating for reading aloud several times each day. But I am also advocating that each classroom have a small collection, ideally five fiction and five nonfiction titles—Best Friend Books—that are read aloud again and again to build the level of familiarity that one would have with a best friend.

Creating a Classroom Collection of Best Friend Books

Visiting a small collection of Best Friend Books many times allows us to delve into small details during each visit, resulting in deeper insights than we will have with other books in our classroom library. We can discuss how an author most effectively reveals the characters and point to examples. We can identify where the tension builds and talk about how the author makes that happen. We can delve into how the writer used a particular craft move in an attempt to persuade the reader. Our BFBs will be the books we carry in our hearts and in our heads each time we engage in a conversation about our reading or writing. Our insights about these books become a reading lens for us as we approach new texts and a writing lens for us to plan our own writing. BFBs become a part of us; we carry them with us as we move through the grades.

When we gather books for reading aloud to invest time, language, and conceptual information, we may group them around the following:

·       Author Study. A collection of books written by one author, selected for a close examination of the writer’s style.

·       Genre. A collection of books from the same genre selected to explore the parameters of the genre. This may lead into a unit of study in writing or reading workshops.

·       Text Structure. A collection of books selected to demonstrate one or more ways of organizing texts or to demonstrate selected craft techniques in writing.

·       Topic. A collection of books selected to establish background, build vocabulary, develop concepts, or otherwise create a framework for deeper study of a specific topic, such as the Underground Railroad, the water cycle, or bats.

·       Theme. A collection of books selected to broaden or deepen an understanding of a selected theme, such as friendship, community, bullying, conservation, immigration, social justice, and so on.

I recommend five fiction and five nonfiction titles for a collection of Best Friend Books. When selecting titles, consider these guiding questions:

·       Does this book have adequate depth and substance to warrant visiting again and again?

·       Do the language and art offer various lenses for several visits?

·       Are the literary elements or text features strong enough to support focused exploration?

·       Is the information accurate and engaging?

·       Does the writer employ craft techniques to support the reader’s construction of meaning?

·       Does the use of text features (when included) clarify, elaborate, and/or extend information?

·       Will this book serve as a lens for thinking about reading other books?

·       Will this book help build reading insights that can be “flipped” into writing opportunities?

To learn more about the importance and power of Best Friend Books and reading aloud, you can purchase my book here.

About the author:
Lester L. Laminack, Western Carolina University Professor Emeritus, travels the country, working with educators on best practices in literacy instruction. He is the creator of The Ultimate Read-Aloud Collection—six read-aloud libraries, grades K–5, with lessons to engage students in deep thinking about fiction and nonfiction books every week of the school year. His professional books include Cracking Open the Author’s Craft: Teaching the Art of Writing and Writers Are Readers: Flipping Reading Instruction Into Writing Opportunities. He is also the author of many picture books, including Three Hens and a Peacock, a Children’s Choice Book of the Year.