The Daily Herald – Lydia Olsen 
We all can remember those special times when a story was read to us, whether at home by somebody we love, at school, or maybe at the library. The story came to life, and we were enthralled with the words. The magic of story reading is a powerful tool. At least 55 percent of Utah’s parents read to their children ages 0-5 everyday compared to 47.9 percent of the nation, according to a survey conducted by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention National Center of Health Statistics. Why does reading aloud matter so much? Those children in the 55 percent of Utah families who are read to daily are developing literacy skills and language awareness. They have larger vocabularies, which at age 3 is a large predictor of language skill and reading comprehension for ages 9 and 10. But the benefits of reading aloud aren’t just linguistic; spending that time together can also build relationships between parents and children. (more)