National Family Literacy Day On November 1st, we celebrated National Family Literacy Day. It’s the perfect time to ask yourself, which is better for your brain? Reading or listening? A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience says both reading and listening activate the same areas in the brain that determine the words semantics or meaning. So, whether your child is reading or you’re reading to them (and they are listening), you’re engaging their brain equally! It’s just more proof that reading to your child has incredible benefits. Need another excuse to read? A Yale University study found that book readers live longer! Read the research: