How to Defeat Loneliness (One way, at least)

Reading is a powerful tool that connects us with others. A book can show a child that that they are not alone. For example, as you read with your child about Ira wondering whether or not to bring his teddy bear to his first sleepover, in the book "Ira Sleeps Over"*.

That turmoil was real for Ira, and children realize its normal to be afraid of new experiences, and it is also okay to have a comfort item to help them. Reading books, the child can relate to the characters on some level. Now pair that with a trusted adult reading it to them. An adult who the child can connect with daily, consistently over a book. How can the child or the adult feel alone? 

Mem Fox explains it this way: The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn’t achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who’s reading aloud—it’s the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony.**

Child+parent+book=emotional sparks! which lead to a lifetime of literacy and connection for the child. 

"We read to know we are not alone' by William Nicholson

Waber, B. (1972a). Ira sleeps over. Houghton Mifflin.

Fox, Mem. Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever. Harcourt, 1998.