The Superpower that Might Matter Most by Richard Glover SMH Spectrum

Reading books to children is good for everyone involved.

I'm giving them a gift.

Later they will also read to themselves, way past bedtime, pretending to be asleep before slipping the light back on and feasting on one, or five, more chapters.

Thank you, Richard Glover, for sharing the joy and importance of reading aloud to your precious grandchildren. This piece, by Richard Glover in the Sydney Morning Herald today (12th July 2025 Subscriber link), is a perfect follow on from another that appeared last Saturday "Is it goodnight for the bedtime story?" by Lauren Ironmonger. (SMH Subscriber link) and from my blog post where I responded to another SMH piece entitled "The Final Chapter". 

If I could make one change to the heading of this SMH Spectrum piece, I would delete the word MIGHT because this does matter and it matters SO much. Sorry for all the shouting.

So, thinking about this topic first off, I am going to share a couple of personal examples from just this week. 

Example one: Lifeline run bookfairs in my area four times each year and I try to attend all of them. I especially love going through all the endless boxes of children's books because I find treasures but even more, I love doing this when I have a purpose. This week my friend needed books for her grandkid's preschool which is in a small, remote, northern NSW town. Easy! I found 35 fantastic picture books for just AUS$1 each. I know lots of these will now be read aloud to kids in the preschool and hopefully, if they have a home lending program, which you find in some preschools, a few of these books might even feature as nighttime read alouds - well that's my dream. It was also wonderful to see so many people at the fair and especially young mothers with tiny children filling up bags and strollers with piles of books.

Second example: Another friend of mine spends one day a week with her great nephew. He recently turned one. When my friend was a child, her dad read aloud every night so it is very natural for the aunt to read to this little fellow AND their house is filled with books AND even better this young fellow has learned one very important word - BOOK. He is so happy when his mum or dad or my friend sit with him on the lounge to read and reread his own favourite books. 

Third example: Another grandmother friend of mine asked her now 21-year-old granddaughter if there was a book she would like. This grandmother is a former bookseller and is a book reviewer and also a children's literature academic. Her house is filled to the brim with books. Her granddaughter asked for a specific book but she didn't remember the title - just the essence of the story - luckily this fragment was enough for her grandmother. The book was located and special memories of reading this book over a decade ago were shared. (If you are curious I have put the cover of this book at the bottom of this post).

Parents - can I just say you are truly missing out on something so easy to do with your child and if you borrow books from a library this a FREE activity and it is something you can do over and over again and you will build a beautiful relationship with your young reading companion and WOW isn't this so much better than screen time. AND this is the kind of activity, reading aloud to your child every day, that can easily fit into your daily routine - surely you have ten minutes to read a picture book. I am going to say that again - surely you have ten minutes to read a book to your child AND this is an activity that can become addictive in absolutely the best sense of that word. 

One of the biggest things I miss from working in my former school library, now that I have retired, is reading aloud to the children (of all ages from 5-12). Just like Richard, I used to love using all the voices in books. This week I talked about or revisited some old books that I read hundreds of times: The Pumpkin Man and the Crafty Creeper (Margaret Mahy); Jandy Malone and the Nine O'Clock Tiger (Barbara Bolton); O'Diddy (Joceyln Stevenson); Jeremiah in the Dark Woods (Alan Ahlberg); and of course, my all-time best ever read aloud Chilly Billy (Peter Mayle) and many many more.

I always gift books to new families in the hope that, in these families, reading a book will become a natural part of every day. This week I also talked about the revised book from Megan Daley - Raising Readers - a must read book for all parents.

Here are a few quotes from Richard Glover:

• "Oh my god, I love reading aloud."
• "Who doesn't like reading books to kids?"
• "Fun for me is precisely the phrase I'd use, whether it's the memories of reading to my own children decades ago or reading to those children's children. Often the same books, the pages all torn and tatty."
• (I need to say it is a wonderful thing to see a book all torn and tatty because this is a book that has 'lived' and not lingered on a shelf).
• "What's so good about reading aloud? The child ... is sitting still ... sitting calmy, head leaning on your shoulder, entranced. What's not to love?"
• "Books give you a shortcut into understanding the personality of the child."
• "One of the defining divisions of the future, some say, will be between those who have the concentration span to read a book (and therefore complete other life tasks) and those who need fresh stimulation every few minutes."
• "Together with their parents, I may be helping develop the one superpower that will matter."

I do wish, in a way, that Richard had not cited Toby by Margaret Wild as an example - although of course his piece is personal. I love that he shared an authentic reading experience but this is a book that, as a parent, you do need to read it first just to check that it is okay for your child. I worked with a colleague years ago who lost a family dog who looked just like Toby. She couldn't even pick up this book or put it back on a shelf. 

Richard also mentions (in case you are compiling a list) The Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson); Big Ted (a book based on the television program Play School); and Where the wild things are (Maurice Sendak)

I have been 'banging on" about this topic for years. My blog is called Momotimetoread because I had way too many kindy kids returning books to my school library only to tell me 'mummy or daddy or whoever didn't have time to read it!'  That is heart wrenching and I am going to say something even stronger - not reading to your child is a form of terrible neglect.

POST UPDATE - check out the blog post from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything. Her response reflects her deep thinking and experience with this important topic of reading aloud to children (of all ages). 

Reading with children is precious time, time that you will not get back!

Here are a few recent posts about the importance of reading to children:

• December 10, 2023, Read aloud to your child every day
• July 5, 2025, The Final Chapter SMH Good Weekend Magazine
• November 21, 2019 Reading to preschoolers (part four) and part five
• February 16, 2024, Reading is in the news they say we need a revolution - lets revolt!
• February 7, 2024, 1000 books before school

Read more about Little Blue here

If you find Little Blue why not grab a willow pattern plate to show your child and this book:

1000 Books before School

 

If you have a child aged 0-6 and your local library logo is on this poster, why not investigate this program. This program is also run in other parts of Australia such as Victoria. 

I know 1000 books sounds like a lot of reading but really a picture book only takes a few minutes to read and if it is a winner with you and your child it will be a joy to re-read. 

Read three books a day and you will finish in less than one year. Read one book a day and you will finish in less than three years. Every book that your child completes or listens to counts!

How the program works:

• A library membership card is required. Not a member? Join for free at your local library or online. 
• Visit a library to register and receive your first reading record.
• Mark your reading record each time you read together with your child.
• Once you have read your first 100 books, visit your local library to receive your ‘I’m reading 1000 Books Before School’ book bag.
• Each time you reach the next 100 books milestone, bring your reading record into your local library to receive a merit patch for your book bag.
• After reading 1000 books, children are awarded a certificate to celebrate their achievement.
• The program finishes once your child reaches the goal of 1000 books, starts school, or turns 6 years of age.

These charts are about school aged children but it is so important to start your daily read aloud routine in a family during the early years.

Pocket Treasure by Wenda Shurety illustrated by Juliana Oakley

Allira loves her dress with pockets because she can carry her precious things, keep her hands warm and give her a place to store all the treasures she finds along the way:

"But best of all, her pockets were perfect for holding treasures inside, like sparkly trinkets, garden gifts, and many special bits and bobs."

Then over the following pages we see Allira give each of these bits and bobs to her class mates - acts of generosity and spontaneous kindness. By playtime, though, her pockets are empty and Allira really wants to decorate the huge mud cake she has made for her teacher's birthday. Now think of the expression 'one good turn deserves another'. Each of Allira's friends come to the rescue offering things from their own pockets to decorate the cake. Oh and the teacher has the most affirming and perfect reaction when she sees her cake. Then you can go back and look at the illustration where all her pocket contents are scattered around Allira - it would be fun to match these with each child and then identify the reason for her gift. 

At the start of this book I thought here we go again - another book about girls who like clothes with pockets [I always love my pockets] BUT then I discovered this book is SO much more. And this will sound unpatriotic but I was amazed to discover this book is Australian. I have not heard of either the author or the illustrator before today.

Wanda Shurety from Booktopia: Born in London, Wenda Shurety travelled extensively as part of her studies to become a research scientist before developing a love of writing stories for children. She now lives in Brisbane. Pocket Treasure is Wenda's second picture book with Affirm Press, following the successful Backyard Magic.

Juliana Oakley is an illustrator from Latvia based in Bahrain.

I do hope Affirm Press have entered this book for the 2024 Children's Book of the Year award [Early Childhood] because I think this book could easily make the Notable list. The final end paper, which defines each of the children's names and how this relates to the word treasure, truly adds a layer of delight to this story.

As I said this book is about so much more than pockets but that topic could be a fun mini theme in a preschool so here are some other books to explore: