I received the following question in my email box today:Do you have a top 3 read aloud suggestion for lower elementary and a top 3 for middle school age?That is not as easy a question to answer as I thought. There are just so many great read alouds. Off the top of my head:
Grade School:However, if I think about it another minute, there are so many other titles that could take a place on the list. Well, except for The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. That book is undefeated as number one. If I ask my children what their favorite read alouds were, they would each have their own top-3.
Princess and the Kiss
The Squire and the Scroll
The Weight of the Mass
Middle School
The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
Railway Children
Little Princess
So, what would be on your top-3 list? And why? Please let us all know in the comments. Maybe by putting all of our heads together we can come to some kind of a consensus. Or, at least, discover some new read aloud titles.
... And what about high school? Do you still read aloud in high school? The Hobbit and LOTR would be at the top of my list. What would top your high school read aloud list?
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14 comments:
Johnny Tremain has been a favorite for the grade 4/5 crowd. Fabiola for the grade 7/8! Plenty of others, but those are the two that pop into my head.
Great question, Maureen! :)
For the very little guys:
It's hard to beat the Frances books(Loban), The Three Little Pigs(The Wolf's Side of the Story),and Shakespeare's Cats (Herbert).
For the young crowd, Hank the Cowdog series (Erickson), Narnia, and The Hobbit....and The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man (Alexander).I know that's one extra, but it was begging to be included. ;)
For older but still young (10-12?) By The Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman), the Redwall series, and The Indian in the Cupboard (Banks).
Older kids: LotR, Pride and Prejudice, John Adams (McCullough)...and the Bartimaeus Trilogy (Stroud) also begs to be allowed honorable mention.
Looking forward to the recommendations of others!
I have a new favourite read aloud - superb book! - for upper elementary to middle school. I would let my high schoolers read it themselves. _The Great and Terrible Quest_ My kids fell in love with the Harry Potter books, although I know not everyone likes them, when I read the first few out loud. For littler ones, the Magic Tree House series are good also.
My all time favorite read alouds for the younger elementary age are: The Winnie the Pooh series, Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
For older elementary (I don't have kids over the age of 10) I'd say The Night Journey by Kathryn Lansky, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Hobbit.
Oooh, hard to get it down to a top 3, but here goes:
For 6-12s, our kids love the original (i.e. not abridged / chapter-book-ized) Little House books ... both the Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Melissa Wiley. We've also enjoyed other "family" series like All-of-a-kind Family by Sydney Taylor and the Fairchild family books by Rebecca Caudill. Oh, and the Sally books -- is that 4?
For a bit older, of course the Narnia Chronicles.
For middle school, we have liked:
Little Britches by Ralph Moody - good stuff about fathers and sons, helping your family with whatever you can, persevering through difficulties, responsibility, plus lots of plain fun.
The Red Keep by Allen French - adventure, ideals of chivalry
The Reb and the Redcoats and Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery - both these offer great characters that the kids relate to, and show how men can behave honorably even under difficult wartime circumstances
Trying not to repeat previous choices.
Primary:
Rabbit Hill
Seven Silly Eaters
The Hobbit
Middle:
Jules Verne's Mysterious Island
Lord of the Rings
Older:
Pride & Prejudice
McCall Smith's Portuguese Irregular Verbs series
I teach a Literature class for teens, and so far the favorites have been hands-down Frankenstein and The Giver.
Yes, great question! I cannot narrow it to three top ones, but here are some recent choices from our house. In addition to all the others mentioned (Narnia is an always favorite here):
Early Primary:
Chickens to the Rescue
anything by Margaret Wise Brown (she begs to be read aloud)
Where the Wild Things Are
Elementary (and on up):
Caddie Woodlawn--really anything by Carol Ryrie Brink
The Phantom Tollbooth (we are re-listening to the audio book now; it is a great production)
Homer Price and the sequel, Centerburg Tales
My 12 yo is reading me Pride & Prejudice these days, and the whole family is loving it. I was surprised because I've read it multiple times but didn't realize quite how laugh-out-loud funny Austen can be.
I admit that most of mine come from the Sonlight reading list - where I learned the value of read-alouds. We still set aside 30 minutes every day after lunch.
Younger Elementary:
Ferdinand (the bull mentioned in "The Blind Side")
Miss Rumphius (girls)
My Father's Dragon (boys)
Middle Elementary:
One Hundred and One Balloons
The Great Wheel
The Saturdays
High School:
Persuasion (couldn't help the repeat of Miss Austen)
Screwtape Letters (and a repeat from C.S. Lewis)
The Bronze Bow
Warmly,
Candise & Crew
My 10-year old daughter says,
Nancy Drew
Velveteen Rabbit
Dear Mr. Blueberry
Runners Up:
Where the Wild Things Are
Tale of Desperaux
My 8-year old son says:
Rats of Nimh
Boxcar Children
Stuart Little
Runner Up:
16-year old daughter:
Boxcar Children
Five Children and It
Magician's Nephew (Narnia)
14-year old son:
Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia)
Inkheart
Thief Lord
The 12-year old son adds his 2 cents:
Mouse and the Motorcycle
Magician's Nephew (Narnia)
Redwall
Runner up:
Charlotte's Web
Now I just need to ask the 18- and 20-year olds.
Oops. didn't type the 8-year old's runners up:
Mouse and the Motorcycle
Tale of Desparaux (sp?)
There seems to be a mouse theme running with my kids.
Grade School:
Twenty and Ten
Friendly Gables
The Phantom Tollbooth
close runner-up: Caddie Woodlawn
Middle School:
Enemy Brothers
The Man Who Was Thursday
The Winged Watchman
Wow - that was tough!
My 10-year old ran in and said, "You have to change my list! You have to add Betsy Tacy!!!"
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