16th April 2020

Listening to a story being read aloud is great for improving a child’s reading skills and their attitude towards reading.

And whilst you reading aloud to them is incredibly beneficial, in reality, we do sometimes need children to be entertained independently.

Often, when children claim they ‘don’t like reading’, what they actually mean is that they ‘don’t like having to work out the individual words on the page’. It isn’t that they don’t enjoy stories or facts or poems but they find working it all out a bit of a chore.

Listening to an audiobook, an author reading aloud or a storyteller telling a story takes all that away; it allows a child to focus on the meaning and simply enjoy what they are hearing. And best of all, enjoying a book being read aloud will help them get better at reading because the more positive experiences a child has with books, the more resilient they become in their own reading.

So, read aloud to your children as often as you can, but if you do need other options, here are some links to some very special story times which have been made available by some of our friends and supporters...

Piers Torday

Coram Beanstalk reading helper and author supporter Piers Torday is reading at 2.30pm every day on Instagram Live. He is reading a chapter a day, beginning with The Last Wild. The chapters are available on Instagram TV for 24 hours. Search for and follow @piers_torday.

Cooped up kids!

Several of our author supporters are published by Chicken House books who have been sharing stories being read aloud on their website. 

Tom Palmer

Another of our author supporters has his own You Tube channel with videos of him reading from his books!

Poems and stories by Michael Rosen

Michael’s official Youtube channel is a wonderful place to listen to him reading and acting out his poems and stories. It's also free to subscribe!

Neil Gaiman

We love Neil Gaiman's atmospheric books and here you can listen to him reading them aloud to you on his website. Not to be missed! 

Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers reads one of his books every weekday on Instagram or access his videos on his website.

David Walliams

We couldn't have a round up of brilliant storytellers and not mention David Walliams. David is doing a free story reading every day on his website.

More free resources online...

Follow the Author Events Facebook page for lots of live author readings or check out a daily list of story readings and draw-a-longs on the children's book review website TOPPSTA. 

Grow a love of reading - tips and advice