2026, books, Family, Gatherings, Uncategorized, Words

Reading Aloud

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Husband and I read aloud to our children countess hours when they were little. We were both really good at expressive character voices.

I was a little disappointed realizing that our new church here in Luverne had a much reduced music ministry compared to our ND church. The choir sings only perhaps once every couple of months instead of every Sunday. We have found a new and fun niche, however, in being readers of the scriptures, Psalms, and prayers during services. The pastor reads the Gospel passages.

Our fellow church members really like the way we read. Husband says I speak very clearly and read expressively as though there are children listening (which there are). Some people who had my mother as a Grade 3 teacher or knew her well tell me my voice is just like hers. They seem to find it comforting. When Husband reads you can tell he understands everything he is reading and imparts that meaning. Last Sunday I had to read a selection from Isaiah in which the writer had God speak in a really pissed off voice. I used that sort of voice as I read. People were very appreciative and complimentary.

We have choir rehearsal twice in the next two weeks for the Reformation Day service later in October. We only read in church about once a month. Now if we can only figure out how to get more reading time in with our grandchildren.

How would describe your reading voice? What might you like to read aloud in public if you got the chance? Who read to you when you were a child and what were your favorite things to hear?

26 thoughts on “Reading Aloud”

  1. my theater wannabe voice in reading out loud. i dont do it often but i enjoy it. my grandkids dont have the attention to sit but the youngest will do it if the pictures are good
    renee you can facetime the readings to your grandson if that works. maybe hed enjoy it and ot would give you an excuse to pop your head in

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  2. The Minnesota novelist, John Hassler, wrote some connected series of books, the stories in which either touched on or were centered at Rookery State College or the town of Staggerford. The first Staggerford book starts at Mass one Sunday morning, where the mayor reads the Epistle, “and makes it sound like a city ordinance.” I hold that very dear when I hear someone read any scripture in church, even the 10 Commandments. I want to shout out from the Pew “Make it Live!”
    As for what to sing, If you can figure out how to search a WordPress blog (I can’t, but maybe you can), I’ve written the entire lectionary (and then some) for singing. Find it at https://aboksu.wordpress.com/ I’d be flattered if any church would use it.

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  3. I have a face for radio and a voice for . . . um, not radio? I’ve never thought my voice was all that good, so I’d never “want” to read anything aloud in public. That said, I don’t mind reading excerpts of my books when I do author speaking engagements where part of the program is me reading a few pages. At least when I’m reading those words, I can convey the exact meaning, emotion, and feel of each word, get the rhythm and timing right, and hopefully make it enjoyable for the listeners.

    We had a long tradition of Mom reading to us kids “Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve just before bedtime. I’ll remember those moments forever. I’m sure Mom read to us many times when we were little kids, but I don’t recall any specific titles.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  4. Funny – I too remember Mom reading ..Night before Christmas, and Curious George, etc. She read with a lot of expression, I remember. Then I would “read” them to Little Sister – we have a photo of that, in the big rocking chair.

    I love reading aloud now; we read every day here, since Husband’s stroke – and we take turns with chapters. I do try to vary the voices and wish I could do accents like an Irish brogue, but not so far.

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  5. Rise and Read Aloud, Baboons,

    I especially remember my dad reading to me, and begging my mother to hide a certain book that he had to read over and over (“What Do Daddies Do All Day?). He was an entertaining reader. My mother also read to us a lot. After all the early family trauma of my father’s illness, my grandmother’s illness and death, the loss of parents’ farming dreams, then moving to a new town, my mother would read to us in a particular comfortable chair. She read us the “LIttle House” books. It is one of the few memories I have of her being nurturing rather than demanding and critical. Her life demanded so much from her. I am sure reading to us comforted her as much as us.

    I had great difficulty learning how to read after all the losses combined with a punitive Kindergarten teacher. I was very afraid to go to school after all that. Second grade came around and I still could not read. Mom bought me my own set of books. My favorite was “Mabel the Whale,” the story of a beached whale. I worked and worked all that year reading “Mabel” aloud and to myself until I could read successfully, then never stopped after I discovered reading contained stories about people’s lives. I do not enjoy reading aloud, although I read a lot to my son. But I still love it when someone reads to me, thus my constant use of audiobooks.

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  6. It’s neurologically amazing that we can read, let alone sing aloud.

    I was read to as a child both in school and at home, so naturally, I read to the s&h. It was a little shocking when his 2nd grade teacher noted he could not read! I had been a bit concerned before this, but was always reassured that “he’s very bright” and he could do all the letters and such in English and Spanish whenever I voiced my concern. Bless that young teacher (I think she was maybe Peruvian?) who knew what she was seeing and got him extra help.

    A friend of ours pointed out that maybe he figured that if he could read for himself, maybe I would stop. Could be, but by 3rd grade he was ripping through Tolkien and you know the rest. I do hope he’ll read to his own kids (theoretical at this point).

    My own voice is pretty much gone at this point, both reading and singing. I miss it.

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  7. My folks were pretty active in church. I don’t remember mom ever doing any reading, but dad did it a couple times and he hated speaking in front of people. I have two very clear memories of him at church, and both times he struggled with the mic or stumbled over words, and I know he hated it.

    I don’t like hearing my own voice; it never sounds right to hear ourselves.

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  8. Husband’s sister has continued the family tradition of making up stories with protagonist trios. She tells her grandchildren stories about Uncle Chris (Husband) who she describes as “The Tall One”, Uncle Craig, “The Fast One”, and herself as “The Trouble Maker”. Her grandchildren love her stories.

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  9. My mom read to us once in a while when we were very young, but not very often. I her reading recall classic childrens’ tales and Dr. Suess. We had Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and I think, Anderson’s Fairy Tales in the bookshelf. Some of those were pretty scary.

    I had trouble reading when I was in 1st grade. My teacher, Mrs. Smith, figured it out and gave me extra help. I was reading at 6th grade level by 3rd grade, and high school level by 6th grade. I read novels from my parents collection without their knowledge when I was 14 or 15.

    I think having an expressive reading voice might indicate a talent for performance, especially if you can use different “voices.” I think I might have this talent, but I’ve never tried it. My voice isn’t strong at all anymore, and I’m sure I’d get hoarse quickly if I tried. I have no desire to read anything aloud to anyone these days. That would just be uncomfortable.

    I’m taking Spanish on Monday evenings. Our teacher is a lot of fun. He reads us stories. He projects the story on a screen in English, while reading it to us in Spanish. It has been great for listening and increasing vocabulary. He has made slight modifications to everyone’s names. I am now “Senorita Krrreestah!”

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  10. I don’t care for my speaking voice and cringe when I hear it on recordings. But I read aloud to my kids a lot, from picture books through early chapter books. Junie B. Jones made us all laugh.

    My parents read to me a lot, so much that I knew how to read by the time I got to kindergarten. I remember a lot of Little Golden Books and Dr. Seuss. I would have favorites that I asked them to read over and over, to the point that Mom could recite them from memory years later. Dad would go off-plot and improvise. His rendition of Cinderella was especially hilarious.

    My paternal grandparents made a practice of reading books aloud to each other. Dickens was their favorite. Husband and I read aloud together too, for a while. Dickens really is a perfect author to read aloud. If I was to read aloud, it would be Dickens, or Austen, or perhaps Tolkien.

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    1. I loved when the teacher read aloud to us, usually a chapter a day. Miss McGill, our fifth-grade teacher, had a flair for drama and did different voices for the characters.

      The exception was Old Yeller. When it came to the end, I felt sick and had to excuse myself from the classroom I spent my time in the girls’ bathroom until it was safe to go back.

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  14. Mayo has a new voice recognition app that they’re testing to find out if they can determine by your voice when you’re sick part of my dealers that I call in every Saturday morning about 10 o’clock and do an O like in show for four seconds and then an ah like in father the to read a 400 word passage from little women. after 6 months or so the characters take on voice inflections and an emotional approach to their parts in the reading

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  15. My mom was the reader. Many of my older relatives were sure I learned to read very early but it just wasn’t true. We didn’t have a lot of extra cash back then so I had relatively few books and eventually I had them all memorized, even when to turn the page. So it LOOKED like I was reading, but not really. I had a fabulous kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Anderson) so I was reading by the end of that year.

    I read to YA; unlike me, she had tons of books. Not sure about the quality of my reading voice, but I did do different accents and pitch/tone, depending on the book and the characters in the book.

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