


Her book is formatted much the same way she inserts anecdotes about parenting her five (!!!) children in between arguments: the highs and lows of attempting to read out loud to them as much as humanly possible. Like any good storyteller, she hooked us at the beginning with a fairy tale, and continued to incorporate it into her speech as she continued. I was lucky enough to hear Gurdon speak at a Calgary Reads event, (full disclosure, it’s an organization I absolutely adore and am a member of their Board of Directors) and it’s clear she’s comfortable with public speaking, because although she was feeding us statistics, I was so engaged with her talk.

We know why books are important, but I’m always happy and willing to read a book that’s going to further support this idea anyway. Many bookworms, and followers of this blog ( Grab The Lapels I’m looking at you!) will be nodding their heads knowingly. Doesn’t it feel good to read a news article talking about how coffee is good for you, when you drink it regularly? Or how dark chocolate is a healthy alternative to milk chocolate, when you just ‘happen’ to prefer dark chocolate anyway? This is how I felt reading The Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon it lays out a convincing argument on why reading out loud to your kids is so important, in fact, reading out loud to just about anyone is a worthwhile activity. Now I know I’m not the only one who feels a sense of smug pleasure when reading a non-fiction book extolling the positives of a habit you already practice.
