What "We read it like this"* is all about

Does the world really need another blog? Most probably not.

This one might be fun to write (and record!), though. It might even be fun to read and listen to for someone out there.

This blog will contain reviews of my son's books, with a focus on what it's like to read them out loud and recordings of the way we read them.

My personal motivation is to keep a record of my son's books and of the way we read them to him. I'd like to have a record of what he likes about them, how what he likes about them changes over time, what we like about them, how we read them to him and how this changes over time.

Take The Gruffalo, for instance. We bought it when he was about 5 months old, and have been reading it to him ever since. Obviously the way we read it to him and what he enjoyed most about it back then is very different to what he enjoys about it and the way we read it to him now that he is almost two.

My "blogger" motivation is to offer reviews that may be of interest to other reading parents or carers, as well as examples of the (entirely personal and subjectively interpreted) way we read them. If anyone out there is into it, I'd love you to send in your recordings to compare notes!

My son is bilingual Spanish/English (his father is Spanish and we live in Madrid), so there will be reviews of books in both languages. I will always provide details of translated versions if available. This blog has a Spanish version: Lo leemos así.

I might sometimes go off on tangents too.

Will I really manage to get this going?


If you are interested in reading more about me and the blog, read this interview. 

I also write the blog Story Philosophy, with picture-book based philosophical discussions for the very young. 

All the books reviewed on this blog have been bought by us or taken out of the library by us. We do not accept publishers' review copies. I only include reviews of the books we like and not of the books we are not so keen on because life is short and I prefer to invest my time on the good stuff. 

*"We read it like this" is a reference to The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was None of his Business by Werner Holzwarth and the truly wonderful illustrator Wolf Erlbruch:




"Did you do this on my head?" 
he asked the dove who was flying past.
"Me? No, how could I? 
I do it like this!" she answered.