Check it out
by CONNIE BROOKS
Libraries attract people who love reading. But what do they offer to people who, for whatever reason, struggle with reading? For years, the Kyle Library has collected audio books to bring the joy of reading to those who have trouble reading because of poor eyesight, having to clean up the kitchen, or because it’s best not to read while driving to work.
Until recently, however, the Kyle Library only had a handful of audio books for children. Thankfully, this has been remedied. Now the library boasts a core collection of about one hundred children’s audio books, including The Cat in the Hat, Ella Enchanted, Peter Pan, Henry and Beezus, Maniac Magee, and Holes.
Scientific evidence is emerging that multisensory learning (such as following along in a book while listening to it being read aloud) may benefit the reading process. So, exposing children to auditory learning can help them acquire expressive language.
Children’s audio books are intended to supplement the reading aloud done by parents, siblings, and other people in a child’s life (including Briseida Torres, the new story teller at the Kyle Library story times).
Audio books can play an especially important role for children with “print disabilities” such as dyslexia by helping them decode the complexities of written language.
So if the high ragweed count is making you hoarse, give your voice a break and come by the Kyle Library to check out some audio books for your children.
