All early childhood educators and carers understand and appreciate the importance of reading aloud to children regularly and from as young an age as possible.

But while some children relish the opportunity to sit down and listen to a wonderful story being imaginatively read by an engaged educator for others it is torture and can lead to a disruptive experience for everyone.

American Author Jim Trelease has written a great book called The Read Aloud Handbook which offers a range of tips and tricks for early childhood educators seeking to maximize the benefits and enjoyment to be gained from reading aloud to children.

Jim has written a very practical list of key Do's and Don'ts for reading aloud. A list of his key ideas are summarised below:

What to do when reading out loud:

• Begin reading to children as soon as possible. The younger you start them, the easier and better it is.
• Use Mother Goose rhymes and songs to stimulate an infant's language and listening. Begin with simple black-and-white illustrations at first, and then boldly colored picture books to arouse children's curiosity and visual sense.
• With infants through toddlers, it is critically important to include in your readings those books that contain repetitions; as they mature, add predictable and rhyming books.
• During repeat readings of a predictable book, occasionally stop at one of the key words or phrases and allow the listener to provide the word.
• Read as often as you and the children have time for.
• Set aside at least one traditional time each day for a story.
• Remember: The art of listening is an acquired one. It must be taught and cultivated gradually - it doesn't happen overnight.
• Start with picture books, with only a few sentences on the page, then gradually move to books with more and more text, fewer pictures, and build to chapter books and novels.
• Vary the length and subject matter of your readings, fiction and nonfiction.
• To encourage involvement, invite the child to turn pages for you when it is time.
• Before you begin to read, always say the name of the book, the author, and illustrator—no matter how many times you have read the book.
• The first time you read a book, discuss the illustration on the cover. "What do you think this is going to be about?"
• As you read, keep listeners involved by occasionally asking, "What do you think is going to happen next?"
• Follow through with your reading. If you start a book, it is your responsibility to continue it—unless it turns out to be a bad book. Don't leave the children hanging for three or four days between chapters and expect interest to be sustained.
• Occasionally read above children's intellectual levels and challenge their minds.
• Picture books can be read easily to a group of children widely separated in age. Novels, however, pose more of a challenge and kids may need to be broken into age groups if there are more than two years (and thus social and emotional differences) between the children.
• Avoid long descriptive passages until the child's imagination and attention span are capable of handling them. There is nothing wrong with shortening or eliminating them. Pre-reading helps to locate such passages, and they can then be marked with pencil in the margin.
• If the chapters are long or if you don't have enough time each day to finish an entire chapter, find a suspenseful spot at which to stop. Leave the audience hanging and they'll be counting the minutes until the next reading.
• Allow your listeners a few minutes to settle down and adjust their feet and minds to the story. If it's a novel, begin by asking what happened when you left off yesterday. Mood is an important factor in listening. An authoritarian "Now stop that and settle down! Sit up straight. Pay attention" doesn't create a receptive atmosphere.
• Remember no one is too old for a good story, even a picture book.
• If you are reading a picture book, make sure the children can see the pictures easily. In school, with the children in a semicircle around you, seat yourself just slightly above them so that the children in the back row can see the pictures above the heads of the others.
• In reading a novel, position yourself where both you and the children are comfortable. In the classroom, whether you are sitting on the edge of your desk or standing, your head should be above the heads of your listeners for your voice to carry to the far side of the room.
• Do not read or stand in front of brightly lit windows when reading. Backlighting strains the eyes of your audience.
• Allow time for class discussion after reading a story. Thoughts, hopes, fears, and discoveries are aroused by a book. Allow them to surface and help the child to deal with them through verbal, written, or artistic expression if the child is so inclined. Do not turn discussions into quizzes or insist upon prying story interpretations from the child.
• Remember that reading aloud comes naturally to very few people. To do it successfully and with ease you must practice.
• Use plenty of expression when reading. If possible, change your tone of voice to fit the dialogue.
• Adjust your pace to fit the story. During a suspenseful part, slow down, and lower your voice. A lowered voice in the right place moves an audience to the edge of its chairs.
• The most common mistake in reading aloud - whether the reader is a seven-year-old or a forty-year-old is reading too fast. Read slowly enough for the child to build mental pictures of what he just heard you read. Slow down enough for the children to see the pictures in the book without feeling hurried.
• Preview the book by reading it to yourself ahead of time. Such advanced reading allows you to spot material you may wish to shorten, eliminate, or elaborate on.
• Bring the author to life, as well as his book. Google the author to find a personal Web page, and always read the information on your book's dust jacket. Either before or during the reading, tell your audience something about the author. This lets them know that books are written by people, not by machines.
• Add a third dimension to the book whenever possible. For example, have a bowl of blueberries ready to be eaten during or after the reading of Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal.
• Every once in a while, when a child asks a question involving the text, make a point of looking up the answer in a reference book with the child. This greatly expands a child's knowledge base and nurtures library skills.
• Create a wall chart or back-of-the-bedroom-door book chart the class can see how much has been read; images of caterpillars, snakes, worms, and trains work well for this purpose, with each link representing a book. Similarly, post a world map on which small stickers can be attached to locations where your books have been set.
• Reluctant readers or unusually active children frequently find it difficult to just sit and listen. Paper, crayons, and pencils allow them to keep their hands busy while listening.
• Arrange for a time each day, in the classroom for the child to read by himself (even if "read" only means turning pages and looking at the pictures). All your read-aloud motivation goes for naught if time is not available to put the acquired motivation into practice.
• Lead by example. Make sure the children see you reading for pleasure other than at read-aloud time. Share with them your enthusiasm for whatever you are reading.
• When children wish to read to you, it is better for the book to be too easy than too hard, just as a beginner's bicycle is better too small rather than too big.
• Encourage older children to read to younger ones, but make this a part-time, not a full-time, substitution for you. Remember: The adult is the ultimate role model.

What NOT to do when reading out loud:

• Don't read stories that you don't enjoy yourself. Your dislike will show in the reading, and that defeats your purpose.
• Don't continue reading a book once it is obvious that it was a poor choice. Admit the mistake and choose another.
• If you are a teacher, don't feel you have to tie every book to class work. Don't confine the broad spectrum of literature to the narrow limits of the curriculum.
• Don't overwhelm your listener. Consider the intellectual, social, and emotional level of your audience in making a read-aloud selection. Never read above a child's emotional level.
• Don't select a book that many of the children already have heard or seen on television. Once a novel's plot is known, much of their interest is lost. You can, however, read a book and view the video afterward. That's a good way for children to see how much more can be portrayed in print than on film.
• In choosing novels for reading aloud, avoid books that are heavy with dialogue; they are difficult reading aloud and listening.
• Don't be fooled by awards. Just because a book won an award doesn't guarantee that it will make a good read-aloud. In most cases, a book award is given for the quality of the writing, not for its read-aloud qualities.
• Don't start reading if you are not going to have enough time to do it justice. Having to stop after one or two pages only serves to frustrate, rather than stimulate, the child's interest in reading.
• Don't get too comfortable while reading. A reclining or slouching position is most apt to bring on drowsiness. A reclining position sends an immediate message to the heart: slow down. With less blood being pumped, less oxygen reaches the brain—thus drowsiness.
• Don't be unnerved by questions during the reading, particularly from very young children, make a point of answering the children to ask you the question again at the end of the book and answer them then.
• Don't impose interpretations of a story upon your audience. A story can be just plain enjoyable, no reason necessary, and still give you plenty to talk about. The highest literacy gains occur with children who have access to discussions following a story.
• Don't confuse quantity with quality. Reading to children for ten minutes, with your full attention and enthusiasm, may very well last longer in the child's mind than two hours of solitary television viewing.
• Don't use the book as a threat - "If you don't pack away, no story today!" As soon as children see that you've turned the book into a weapon, they'll change their attitude about books from positive to negative.

Click here for more information on Jim Trelease and The Read Aloud Handbook