This year, the year of the pandemic and its impact on education, reading to young children and encouraging all children to read are more important than ever.

When you read to a very young child, even a child who has not yet reached a first birthday, and certainly before the child knows words are written as well as spoken, that child learns to love the sound of words. Often, young children understand the meaning of words just from the feelings that come from the intonation and emphasis of a spoken word.

While children are being read to, they are developing important language and listening skills that will prepare them to understand written words.

Here are some of the benefits that apply equally to both reading and being read to. Reading improves vocabulary, grammar and writing skills through the example of clear communication. Reading stimulates the imagination, encouraging the reader to picture what is described. Reading plays an important role in academic success because the more you read, the better you read.

And, last but most definitely not least, getting lost in a good book can be a lot of fun!

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NEW BOOKS

Fiction: “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Irin Carmon; “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop,” Fannie Flagg; “The Transcendent Kingdom,” Yaa Gyasi; “Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic,” Alice Hoffman; “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” Karen Kingsbury; “Elsewhere,” Dean Koontz; “Jingle All the Way,” Debbie Macomber; “Monogamy,” Sue Miller; “Cardiff, By the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense,” Joyce Carol Oates; “Confessions on the 7:45,” Lisa Unger

Nonfiction: “Good Mourning: Moving Through Everyday Losses with Wisdom from the Other Side,” Theresa Caputo; “Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology,” Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz; “One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History,” Ted Cruz; “Guinness World Records 2021,” Guinness World Records; “A Promised Land,” Barack Obama; “How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders and Game Changers,” David M. Rubenstein; “To Me, He Was Just Dad: Stories of Growing Up with Famous Fathers,” Joshua David Stein (Editor)

Juvenile: “What Is the Story of Dracula?” Michael Burgan; “Who Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg?” Patricia Brennan Demuth; “Life Cycles: Everything from Start to Finish,” DK; “Who Was Kobe Bryant?” Ellen Labrecque

Children’s picture books: “Cozy,” Jan Brett; “Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn,” Kimberly and James Dean; “Sun Flower Lion,” Kevin Henkes; “Every Night Is Pizza Night,” J. Kenji Lopez-Alt; “Dr. Seuss’s You Are You! A Birthday Greeting,” Dr. Seuss; “Unlimited Squirrels: I Want To Sleep Under the Stars!” Mo Willems