38 Quotes by Jim Trelease

The prime purpose of being four is to enjoy being four – of secondary importance is to prepare for being five.

What we learn in childhood is carved in stone. What we learn as adults is carved in ice.

The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.

Follow the suggestion of Dr. Caroline Bauer and post a reminder sign by your door: “Don’t Forget Your Flood Book.” Analogous to emergency rations in case of natural disasters, “flood” books should be taken along in the car or even stored like spares in the trunk. A few chapters from these books can be squeezed into traffic jams on the way to the beach or long waits at the doctor’s office.

Allow children to choose the books they wish to read to themselves, even if they don’t meet your high standards.

So how do we educate the heart? There are really only two ways: life experience and stories about life experience, which is called literature. Great preachers and teachers – Aesop, Socrates, Confucius, Moses, and Jesus – have traditionally used stories to get their lesson plans across, educating both the mind and the heart.

We have instant pudding, instant photos, instant coffee – but there are no instant adults.

The eventual strength of our vocabulary is determined not by the ten thousand common words but by how many rare words we understand.

Background knowledge is one reason children who read the most bring the largest amount of information to the learning table and thus understand more of what the teacher or the textbook is teaching. Children whose families take them to museums and zoos, who visit historic sites, who travel abroad, or who camp in remote areas accumulate huge chunks of background knowledge without even studying.