At the library: Participate in read-aloud Oct. 22

By LeAnn Kunz

Reading aloud is something we have always known is good for us. Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote a wonderful book called The Enchanted Hour and in it she explores the powerful benefits of reading aloud.

'The act of reading together secures people to one another, creating order and connection, as if we were quilt squares tacked together with threads made of stories. That's not just another metaphor, as a team of neuroscientists at Princeton has discovered. Even as reader and listener are enjoying their bouquet of neurochemicals ... their brain activity is synchronizing, creating literal order and connection in a process known as neural coupling.”

Sounds impressive, right? We read aloud to our children all the time, in school or at home, but how often do we read aloud as adults? Unless you are in a community theater production, you probably do not read aloud with other adults very often. So, let's do it!

The Washington Public Library is hosting 'The Raven Read-Around” via Zoom for adults on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. 'The Raven” is a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe and has a musical quality that lends itself to reading aloud. Participants in this Read-Around will take turns reading the stanzas aloud from this piece. Afterward, there will be a short discussion. You can come to read or you can just come to listen. If you would like to participate, please email leann.kunz@washington.lib.ia.us for a Zoom invite. I will email you the link to the event and a copy of the poem to read ahead of time. You can also find 'The Raven” on the public domain website Project Guttenberg www.gutenberg.org

I hope you will join me for this read-around experience and I hope to do more enriching read-arounds in the future. As Gurdon says, 'here is a reader, a book, a listener. The sound of the voice exists for a moment and then it vanishes. Like birdsong, it's gone - it is over. Yet it leaves traces of its passage in the imagination and memory of those who listen.” Let's enjoy this autumn evening with Poe together.