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15 years ago,

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I was a teaching artist 
in the New York City public schools,

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and one of my projects 
was adapting and directing

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a production of "Charlotte's Web"

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with a group of third graders at PS 220,

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the Mott Haven Village School
in the South Bronx.

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As a way to begin our work together,

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I read aloud the first chapter from 
E. B. White's famous and beautiful book.

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As some of us may recall,

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the story begins with Fern
learning that her father, Mr. Arable,

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is off to the hoghouse to kill the runt 
of the litter with his axe.

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(Reading) "Please don't kill it,"
she sobbed, "It's unfair."

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Mr. Arable stopped walking.

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"Fern," he said gently,

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"you will have to learn
to control yourself."

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"Control myself?" yelled Fern;

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"This is a matter of life and death,
and you talk about controlling myself?"

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Tears ran down her cheeks,
and she took hold of the axe

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and tried to pull it 
out of her father's hand.

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(Reading ends)

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Well, the pig is saved,
and later that morning,

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Fern discovers a carton
on her chair at breakfast.

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(Reading) As she approached her chair,
the carton wobbled,

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and there was a scratching noise.

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Fern looked at her father,
then she lifted the lid of the carton.

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There, inside, looking up at her
was the newborn pig.

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It was a white one.

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The morning light shone 
through its ears, turning them pink.

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"He is yours," said Mr. Arable,
"Saved from an untimely death.

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And may the good Lord 
forgive me for this foolishness."

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Fern couldn't take her eyes
off the tiny pig.

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"Oh!" she whispered, "Oh! Look at him!

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He is absolutely perfect."

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She closed the carton carefully,

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for she kissed her father,
then she kissed her mother,

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then she opened the lid again,

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lifted the pig out
and held it against her cheek.

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(Reading ends)

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Well, when I finished reading the chapter,
the kids lined up for lunch,

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and a little boy named Joey
tugged at my sleeve and he said,

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"Miss B., I felt like I was right there.

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Like, I could really see that little pig.

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I never got inside a book 
before like that."

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Well, I was thrilled
that Joey was enjoying the story,

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but, to be perfectly honest, at the time,

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I was much more concerned
with how in the world

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we were going to make 
all those farm animal costumes

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just using pillow cases,

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and whether the kids 
would memorize all their lines or not.

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They did. And we did.

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And everytime I visited that classroom,

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the kids couldn't wait 
for me to read aloud to them again.

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For all the kids in the audience:

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would you raise your hand 
if you really like it

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when teachers read aloud to you
or parents read aloud to you?

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Or adults? Do you remember 
being read to? And loving it?

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Well, I've been an educator 
for almost 20 years.

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And I've read thousands 
and thousands of pages aloud.

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And I've never met a group of kids
who didn't love it,

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who were immune to the spell
of a great book being read aloud.

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As a teacher and a mom,
I can't think of many things

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that matter as much
as reading aloud to our kids.

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At all ages. At school and at home.

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Because reading aloud gives kids 
a special kind of access

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to the transformative power of story,

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and the experience 
of what real reading is all about,

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which is to deeply understand,

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to think, to learn and discuss 
big ideas about the world,

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about the lives of others
and about ourselves.

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So, when I think back to what Joey said
to me all those years ago,

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"Miss B., I felt like I was right there.
Like, I could really see that little pig.

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I never got inside a book
before like that."

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I'm struck by this idea

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that reading aloud for Joey

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made it possible for him
to get inside a book;

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as though before that experience
he was outside.

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Because Joey is not alone 
in feeling that way.

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Reading for a lot of kids
can feel like a locked building.

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Without the right key or the right code,

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or the right experiences,
they can't get in.

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They feel like they're outside.

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Because for some kids, 
dealing with the code,

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the tangle of letters and sounds,
tricky words and vocabulary,

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is a more difficult process
for any number of reasons.

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The decoding of words
takes up so much brain energy,

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they don't have 
a lot of brain space left over

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to actually take in the story 
or the meaning.

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For other kids,
the decoding isn't so difficult,

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but it can sometimes feel like they're 
just translating words across a page,

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like how I might do with a medical 
textbook or a medical journal.

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I could translate or decode the words,

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but I wouldn't be able to understand them,
or think, or talk about them.

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How many of us here have found ourselves
halfway down a page only to realize,

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"I have no idea what I just read."

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(Laughter)

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When teachers and parents read aloud,
we do the decoding work.

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We deal with the print 
and the tricky vocabulary and words,

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and we free kids to think.

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So they can use all their brain energy

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to imagine the story
and learn new information.

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So all children listening have access

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to the amazing reading party
happening inside the building.

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And we want kids to get in the building
and get to the party and stay there.

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Even while they're still strengthening
their decoding or comprehension

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or vocabulary muscles
in books they can read on their own.

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Because even when kids
are reading on their own,

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reading aloud to them 
has a tremendous impact

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on their independent reading lives.

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Because when kids go back
to their own books,

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they know that world should come alive
in their brains as they read.

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They know that real readers pause
to wonder, think, ask questions.

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They know that real readers
let the stories affect them.

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Maybe even change them.

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Because the way that we stop and react
at something that we read aloud

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gives us an opportunity 
to model compassion,

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to wonder aloud in a genuine way

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about a choice 
a character or a community made.

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When we read aloud, we can help kids
walk in the shoes of people

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who might be 
radically different from themselves.

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Or see reflections of themselves,

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which might make them feel less alone

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or more hopefull.

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What happens 
when we walk in the shoes of Kek,

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a young refugee from Sudan
who comes to Minessota

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after seeing his brother 
and father killed in a war?

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What can we learn from Auggie,

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who was born with a rare facial anomaly?

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Or Delphine,

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who is eleven years old 
and goes to Oakland, California in 1968

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to meet her mom for the first time,
who is active in the Black Panther Party?

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Or Annemarie,

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who helps her best friend
escape to Denmark

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during The Holocaust?

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We can give kids access

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to stories, and books,
and ideas, and information

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that they otherwise
might not get a chance to explore,

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or explore as deeply.

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And finally,

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reading aloud 
gives us a chance to look up

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from our screens,
our phones, our computers;

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to connect with each other

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through the simple act of reading
and talking together.

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When we read aloud at school
we're often gathered together in one place

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and we're teaching kids
how to talk together,

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how to listen,

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how to look each other in the eye and say:
"What do you think?"

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To say, "I think differently
and here is why."

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But we're also creating moments
of connectedness and joy

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in our classrooms, on a daily basis.

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And at home,

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it's a chance to carve out a time
when we're not on our phones,

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but we're entirely focused on our kids.

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Or we pull up alongside them
and read and talk together.

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Even when they can't sit
in our laps anymore.

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Even and perhaps especially 
when they rather be on their phones.

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Even when they're not three or four,

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but they're eight, ten, twelve, a teenager

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and they might not be as inclined
to share so much with us anymore.

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Having a book to lean on
can help us get inside them.

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In her new book, Reclaiming Conversation,

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Sherry Turkle reminds us
how esential face to face conversation is.

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She says, "We're tempted to think
that our little sips of online connection

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add up to a big gulp of real conversation,

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but they don't."

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I believe that reading aloud together

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provides an opportunity for a big gulp.

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For a chance to connect and talk together,
in consistent meaningful ways.

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So the kids not only fall in love
with books and reading,

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and get better at it,

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but they also learn to think deeply,

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to consider other points of view.

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They learn to listen
and they learn to look up.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)