[Baby Max lolz]Facebook Reading to your children can do wonders for their future success. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, reading aloud to your children and talking about pictures and words in age-appropriate books can strengthen language skills, literacy development, and parent-child relationships. What's more, a study conducted by a number of pediatricians shows for the first time the positive biological effect reading to your kids has on their brains. MRIs revealed that children with greater home-reading exposure had greater activity in the parts of the brain that help with mental imagery and narrative comprehension. So what are the best books to read to your kids? Certain successful people offer their favorites: ROBERT FAGLES' TRANSLATION OF 'THE ODYSSEY' Penguin Classics "Reading aloud was my favorite part of being a parent to young children, hands down," Anne-Marie Slaughter, mother of two and president and CEO of think tank New America, tells NPR as part of the Storybook Project. "I often hunted up and read them books that my grandmother read to me and that I can still recite together with my father. They are enchanted stories, shared memories, distilled love." When her sons were younger, Slaughter says they would read simplified versions of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Greek myths. "One day when they must have been about 5 and 7 I brought home the actual Odyssey, in Fagles' wonderful translation, and just read them the first page or two so that they could hear what the real thing sounded like. "They loved it; we read it slowly, but all the way through," she says. FIND IT HERE » ROSEMARY WELLS' 'EDWARD UNREADY FOR SCHOOL' Dial Slaughter tells NPR that her family members are big Rosemary Wells fans and love all her books. "But perhaps because my oldest son is named Edward, this one became a particular favorite," she says. "Edward is a young bear who just isn't quite ready to join all the happy, busy kids at school. One look at his face on the cover says it all." FIND IT HERE » HOLLIE HOBBIE'S 'I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (TOOT AND PUDDLE)' Litte, Brown Books for Young Readers Slaughter tells NPR that this is her family's enduring favorite Christmas book. "Something about the illustrations so completely capture the anticipation of Christmas — the one that gets us every time is a picture of the jet flying over the Atlantic, with only the lit porthole windows visible, but with 'Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells' sailing out into the night air presumably from Toot's seat." FIND IT HERE » SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER
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