When Jim McKenna Reads,
Kids Learn to Love Books

Jim McKenna is a retired speech therapist who has devoted his life to helping children improve their language skills. His goal is to make children want to read for themselves, and he reads to children using voices, characterizations, inflections, accents, articulation, emotional expression and just plain good acting. Jim reads stories and books so they come alive. Now he's devoting his time to helping teachers and parents do the same.

Here's what Bernard Waber, author of "lra Sleeps Over", said about Jim's storyreading: " . . . a most stirring, touching, absolutely enchanting reading of "lra Sleeps Over". . . I will remember forever the nuances of humor and sensitivity you found in the text that even I hadn't realized were there."

The success of Jim's read-aloud presentations make him a recognized authority on reading to children. He has presented at the New York State Reading Conference, at Hodge Podge Books' "Let the Reading Begin" Conference in Albany, the Parents as Reading Partners Conferences in Utica, Buffalo and Long Island, The Young Authors' Conference in Naples, Florida, Canisius College Author Conference, and Medaille College Author’s Conference in Buffalo. He also is an annual lecturer at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida.