It's been ages since my last Listless Monday, and I remembered the suggestion made by Amber about doing a list of great read aloud books for kids. This list is pretty wide in age-range, probably from kindergarten (and earlier) up. That's not to say that every book is good for a kindergartener, as there are some more mature titles. Use your discretion! But these all seem, in my narrow experience and wisdom, to be books that would be great fun to share with your kids or students.
Great Read Alouds for Kids of All Ages!
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (recommended by Emily)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach (and other Roald Dahl)
Charlotte's Web or Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (recommended by Amber)
The Flint Heart by Katherine and John Paterson
Frindle and other books by Andrew Clements (recommended by Amber)
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (recommended by Amber)
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (recommended by Emily and Amber)
Holes by Louis Sachar (recommended by Emily and Amber)
The Humming Room and The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter (recommended by contemplatrix)
The Indian in the Cupboard and other Lynne Reid Banks' books (recommended by Cheltz and Emily)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (recommended by Amber)
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville (recommended by Emily)
Little House On the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Long Way From Chicago, A Year Down Yonder, and A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater (recommended by Lee)
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald (recommended by Cheltz)
The Name of This Book is Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch (recommended by Amber)
Princess Ben and Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Ramona books and The Ralph Mouse Collection by Beverly Cleary (recommended by Emily)
Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
Rules by Cynthia Lord (recommended by Amber)
Savvy and Scumble by Ingrid Law
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (recommended by Amber)
The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and other Kate DiCamillo books (recommended by contemplatrix and Des)
A Tale Dark and Grimm and In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (recommended by Emily)
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
The Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt
Where Mountain Meets Moon and Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
And there are so many others (like all those classic kid's books you remember). I'd love to hear your suggestions too!
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
Posts
We're reading The Indian in the Cupboard right now. They loved the Mrs. PiggleWiggle books, but never could get into Pippi Longstocking.
ReplyDeleteI've never read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, but the name is enough to tempt me! Thanks for the suggestions, I'll get them added.
Deletethat is a great list. I think anything Kate DiCamillo writes is so lovely aloud. And Ellen Potter (Kneebone Boy, The Humming Room). two that come immediately to mind. This is a good list to have on hand because I know a lot of people who enjoy reading aloud in families and are always looking for recommendations.
ReplyDelete~L (omphaloskepsis)
Ooh, yes Kate DiCamillo does fabulous books. I'll get these added. I'm so excited to read with my kids someday!
DeleteLove this list! I'm always looking for books to read aloud to my kids. Okay, except I totally cannot read Charlotte's Web out loud because it makes me cry. :D
ReplyDeleteI've also had great success reading out loud The Boxcar Children series, Holes by Louis Sachar, Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville, The Hobbit, and various books by Lynne Reid Banks (like the Adventures of King Midas and The Fairy Rebel), Beverly Cleary (Ramona series - The Mouse and the Motorcycle), and Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing).
Sorry. Don't get me started! I was raised by a second grade teacher and she always had a book she was reading aloud to us. :D It's been a lot of fun to carry on the tradition as a parent myself.
Thanks for all the lovely suggestions! I'll get them added. How fun to have a teacher for a mom - I know I loved it when my mom read to us.
DeleteOoohh Thank you! That is an excellent list. And we've only read about 5 of those. Others that we've really liked are The Invention of Hugo Cabret, The Name of this Book is Secret (series), Ella Enchanted, Holes, Summer of the Monkeys, Rules, Frindle (and several others by Andrew Clements) and of course the first couple Harry Potter books. We're currently reading The Hobbit and I'm surprised at how much my kids love it, even my 6 year olds. One of them actually cried last night because we didn't have time to read!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I didn't think of Holes! There have been so many great suggestions, thanks for getting me thinking about read alouds :)
DeleteThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo is wonderful to read aloud. Lots of voices and the end of each chapter is a cliff hanger, if you will. You'll never want to stop reading. I've read it to 4th graders and they love it. But even younger and older will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned Stargirl! Great read aloud too!! Spinelli is so fun to read.
I've loved Spinelli books since I was in elementary school, so I'm pretty sure I'd love to read them aloud. Definitely I'll add some DiCamillo books to the list, cause she writes fabulous ones.
DeleteI love how many of us have great memories of being read to as a child. And I love that we can get a chance to pass that on to our kids or someone else's :)
ReplyDelete