“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”  Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957)

Low, growly monster voices; high-pitched teeny tiny bug voices; scared, trembly voices; bad British accents; “whoo whoo” owl voices; hisssssing sssssnake voices; bubbly fish voices; squeaky mouse voices.  Mama and Dada do all of these and more when they read with me.  It’s quite entertaining listening to them contort their voices for my reading pleasure!  The best part is that they do all of these voices without a trace of embarrassment because they know that as soon as I hear a funky sound or voice I’m instantly hooked.

Here are a few books that work really well with voices, usually because they have multiple characters and each character needs its own distinct voice:

   I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore:  My first “voice” book!  Gorilla gets a low, monster voice with lots of “ooo-ooo, aaa-aaas;” alligator gets “chomp chomp” sounds with chomping arm motions; skunk gets a nasally “smelly” voice (“ewww!” with lots of nose-wrinkling); alien gets a fast, high-pitched voice and lots of “ewwws!” when he eats bugs instead of peanut butter; dinosaur gets eating noises; and the one-eyed monster gets a low, growly voice with “boom, booms!” to emphasize his stomping.  A favorite of mine from about ten months old to two years old.

  The Pout-Pout Fish (Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna:  “I’m a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face…”  What a fun book for creative voices: pout-pout fish gets a low, sad, slow, gloomy voice; clam gets a prim little voice; jellyfish gets a wavering voice pitched up and down to mimic undulating tentacles; octopus gets a no-nonsense, tough guy voice; and squid gets a lady-with-an-attitude voice.  I really like this book and have been reading it with my parents for well over a year now.

  The Gruffalo (Picture Books) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: Another fun book to read with multiple voices for the different characters.  Mouse could get a squeaky voice, but Mama usually reads Mouse in her regular voice.  Fox gets a very bad British accent (don’t ask me why–something about fox hunts among the royalty in British literature); owl gets lots of “whoo-whooing” and extended “o”s wherever they occur; snake gets a hissing voice with elongated “s” sounds; and the Gruffalo gets a rough, gravelly voice.  Using voices made this story more accessible for me when I may not have been quite old enough to entirely grasp the nuances of the very clever plot line.

  Gorilla! Gorilla! by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross: There are minor characters that appear briefly throughout the book that you can give voices to, but the two main characters, Mama Mouse and Gorilla, are the two that Mama focuses on the most.  Mama Mouse gets a high, panicky voice to mirror how stressed out she is being chased around the world by a gorilla, while Gorilla gets a low, gravelly voice, loud and emphatic for all of the “STOPs!” and kind and gentle at the end for the surprise twist.

  Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! by Ed Emberley:  A good book for starting with voices because there are only two kinds of characters: the Big Bad Bullybug and the itty bitty baby bugs.  Mama and Dada use their “monster” voice for the Bullybug (rough, growly, and low), and a high-pitched, almost whiny voice for the itty bitty baby bugs.  A good book for tickles with a fun surprise ending.

  The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss:  For spicing up this already awesome classic, Mama and Dada give unique voices to each of the main characters.  Mama and Dada’s voices differ a lot for these characters though.  For the Cat, Mama does a jolly, slow, deep voice, while Dada does a deep voice with a playful don’t-take-me-too-seriously lilt.  For the Fish in the Pot, Mama does an annoying, high-pitched voice that makes the Fish sound like it’s strenuously objecting to the Cat, while Dada does a gravelly, low voice using lots of inflection for the objecting.  Although Thing 1 and Thing 2 only speak a few lines, Mama makes them talk very quickly and frenetically, imitating how they dart and flit around the house with their kites.

Clearly, these voices are just suggestions.  The best voices are the ones that parents make up for themselves that they are comfortable with and can remember (just try using a different voice after a toddler has heard and liked another!).  Act silly and without embarrassment: the only one who will know what you sound like will be your child, and he or she will love you (and books) all the more for it!

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-author, age 2.5)