NEW YORK — When we think of reading aloud, we often associate it with children, said Ms Kate DiCamillo, the author of “Because of Winn-Dixie,” which won the Newbery Medal for children’s books.

But grown-ups need to hear stories spoken out loud, too, she said.

At book events, Ms DiCamillo urges audiences to read to other adults. “It is an act of love to read to somebody,” Ms DiCamillo said.

“You feel cocooned, almost. It’s kind of like everybody puts down their defences and you’re together in the story.”

Here’s how to ease into it.

START WITH SOMETHING SHORT. Pick a person you are comfortable around, Ms DiCamillo said, and begin with a brief passage like a poem. (She suggested any volume from the anthology “Poem a Day: A Wide Range of Classic and Modern Poems.”)

If you’re ready to try short stories, “Binocular Vision,” a collection by Edith Pearlman, “is spectacular to read out loud,” she said. She also recommended “Peace Like a River,” a chapter book by Leif Enger.

FIND ANY OPPORTUNITY TO READ. You can read a passage to your partner before bed, Ms DiCamillo said, or to your family during breakfast.

“So every morning, the book’s right there on the kitchen table. Everybody’s in the kitchen, and you just read a chapter,” she said.

Bring along a book when you’re visiting someone in the hospital or at a nursing home, she said. If that person is in pain or having difficulty concentrating, she added, try children’s literature.

FOCUS ON YOUR CONNECTION RATHER THAN GETTING EVERY WORD RIGHT. Typically, we think about reading “as this cognitive and linguistic activity,” said Dr Maryanne Wolf, a researcher and scholar at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies.

But it also activates empathic areas in our brain “that trigger our ability to go beyond ourselves and to reach into the thoughts and feelings of others,” she said.

In the act of reading, she added, “we are transmitting emotions, we are transmitting affection.”

And while reading aloud can make some of us feel self-conscious, don’t worry about nailing every word, Ms DiCamillo said.

Reading aloud, she said, is a profound way to connect with somebody

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.