A Little Aloud is an anthology put together by The Reader Organisation, a national charity which holds reading groups for people in disadvantaged positions, such as prison inmates, young mothers, and old folks homes. In these reading groups, they promote a sort of ‘bibliotherapy’ helping to build people up through reading aloud and to help bring people together over books.

Each section contains a piece of prose and a piece of poetry relating to the titled theme of the section, “Love and Marriage”, “In the Eye of the Beholder”, “Little Acts of Kindness”, “Ghastly Children.” The excerpts were selected  to create an atmosphere between the two pieces, whether it is a cozy Christmas warmth or a shuddery spine-tingler. Many of the selections here are from classic works such as Silas Marner or The Pickwick Papers, with the intent of bringing them to the reader in bite-size unintimidating chunks. The prose lists an estimated reading time.

I am a firm believer in reading aloud, especially with regards to poetry. Reading in your head just can’t always release the wordplay and rhythm an author has worked into a piece. While I didn’t read the prose aloud (to the relief of my fellow commuters), I did sit and read poem after poem from this book aloud, and have marked out my favorite stories and poems for rereads. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, selections from Jane Eyre to remind you of being an outcast teenager, On the Black Hill to feel set down in the gentle house of old bachelor brothers where even the clock is worn out. But, in honesty, these classics promote themselves. What this book does is pull together a whole bunch of selections guaranteed to make the reader feel something, to build a feeling and a scene that sticks long after the story is over, and maybe to get people excited about new stories, that might get passed on to friends, read aloud to roommates who just must hear this story, and get people thinking and talking about books.

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