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Around here, we have a bedtime routine of reading aloud from a Chapter Book each night when my children are laying in their beds. It's a calming routine, for both them and me. So far we have read
Charlotte's Web
Sarah, Plain and Tall
All-of-a-kind Family
Stuart Little
Peter Pan
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Winnie-the-Pooh (all 4 original books)
Beatrix Potter, The Complete Tales
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
and we are about to conclude The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Some favorites on my shelf that I look forward to reading aloud are
The Shoe books (I own 3)
Caddie Woodlawn
The Secret Garden
The Chronicles of Narnia
I also want to buy for bedtime reading
The Boxcar Children
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
The Borrowers
The Little House Collection
The Wind in the Willows
I would love recommendations of books that were much-loved by you as a child. I plan on continuing this routine of bedtime reading for many more years and, while I anticipate repeating certain books because they're just that good, I want to have plenty of new material.
(Please keep in mind that I have both girls and boys I am reading to. I do want my boys to appreciate all sorts of literature, but don't plan on reading aloud Little Women or A Little Princess, etc., because I don't want to entirely bore them either. I figure Bronwyn and Aubrey can read those wonderful books on their own once they get a little older.)
Mr. Popper's Penguins was a favorite of mine. Also Trumpet of the Swan, My Side of the Mountain, A Gathering of Days, Scout, and... well that's probably enough from me for now. :) How do you keep the questions down during reading? I can barely make it though a page without a million (good!) questions, which takes a ton of time and breaks the story up considerably. Also, these books seem kind of advanced. Do they keep all the kids' attention?
ReplyDeleteI love all of the books mentioned above, both by you and Sarah. Mr. Popper's Penguins is such a fun one! My mom must have read Charlotte's Web to me a thousand times...I loved it and still do. I will have to think of some loved reads but you have all the ones that popped into my mind covered!
ReplyDeletePS the shoe books are great!
My jaw dropped open. I let each of my children pick a children's book that we read before bed. The usual favorites around here are Chika Chika boom boom, Don't let the pigeon drive the bus, The Cat in the Hat, Goodnight Moon, etc. Do your kids understand the language of those books?
ReplyDelete@sarahellie - for story books and reading throughout the day, they're allowed to interrupt with questions. But at bedtime, they're not allowed to interrupt. At the end of the reading time, I let them ask questions. I find that by then, most of their questions have been answered by the book anyway.And, yes, I'm sure most of the books go right over Jackson's head (and parts right over Gabriel and Bronwyn's, too!). But I find that the practice of learning to lay with their heads on their pillows just listening to me is good for them, both in that it helps them unwind at the end of the day and it enlarges their capacity to grasp/imagine. It took some practice before they really got adjusted to routine, but now it's one of their favorite parts of the day! (I started with simpler books-- Charlotte's Web, Sarah, Plain and Tall, etc. when we first started the routine, to ease into it, too.)
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorites were The Chroniclies of Narnia and I would plan on re-reading some of those every year. I would also recommend Black Beauty, Pinocchio and Bambi in their original unabridged form, not the Disney corruption. When the children get a little older they will love Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham and Rascal by Sterling North. I'll think more about this and pass on some additional titles as they come to mind.
ReplyDeletemany of my favorites were included in your list, but i also remember loving anything by Roald Dahl - Matilda, Danny the Champion of the World. I also loved Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, and anything by John Steinbeck like Of Mice and Men (though, maybe your kids are too young for that one - I don't know).
ReplyDeleteHi Brietta :) What great lists!
ReplyDeleteI HIGHLY recommend the Wind in the Willows - Meredith adored that one, and we return to it quite often. Mr Popper's Penguins, too. I will think about this one and send you any others that I can think of...
I wanted to thank you for your notes on the Narnia books. Now I just have to decide what order to read them in - LOL.
Also wanted to thank you for the reminder about the shoe books! They are right in there on the shelf! Love to you, Q
I was inspired. Tonight I dug out my three Louisa M. Alcott books. I know Little Women might be a bit much for Isaac at first, it's girly.. but then it's followed by Little Men and Jo's Boys. So I figure that will make up for it We read the first chapter in Little Women and my children grasped more than I imagined and Giovanna was wistfully relating to the March girls missing their father who was gone in the army as Jake is on his way home tonight from being gone for a week with the National Guard. Not to mention I greatly enjoyed it and even if it's over all their heads they're at least being exposed to language and dialog they will not hear elsewhere.I told Jake about it tonight when he called on his drive back and he was really happy about it! He says he'd like to read the Chronicles of Narnia once this series is over. I guess our reading lists are going to start getting long now that we're tackling literature we thought had to wait till later. What a silly thought I now realize.. but in any case - thank you! Thank you for sharing! Oh, and the added benefit was that when I finished the last paragraph all the children were sleeping away... ahhh
ReplyDeleteA lot of our favorites have already been mentioned. I get my booklists from different homeschool curricula, especially the ones that are known for their literature like Ambleside, FIAR, and Sonlight.
ReplyDeletemany of our favorites were already mentioned. (I love, love, love Rascal by Sterling North!)I would add:
ReplyDeleteWhere the Red Fern Grows
A Long Way from Chicago
A Year Down Yonder
Tuck Everlasting
Homer Price, Centerburg Tales (by Robert McCloskey)I could go on and on.
You can always read a book aloud that is miles ahead of a child's reading abilities. It is surprising how much they can grasp and enjoy!My kids are almost 15 and 17....and I still read aloud to them!
What can I say????
Great recommendations! I would add...The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnfordanything by George MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin, The Light Princess, At the Back of the North Wind)The Melendy books by Elizabeth Enright (there are four - these are possibly my most favorite)anything by (Can't remember her first name) Haywood - "B" is for Betsy, the Eddie booksRed Sails to CapriThe Voyages of Doctor Dolittle - Hugh Lofting (all of them are good, but that one's the best)
ReplyDeletewhen did you start reading the longer books to them? how old was Gabriel? I have already begun to notice how much Kai gets sucked into anything Garrett is doing so I am just curious about when you started. They both love reading! I laughed when i read your post about groundhogs- micah has shot 4 in our yard so far this year!! they are destructive and bothersome! to answer your q's- i see expressions that G and Kai make that def. make me think of my brothers. out of the two of them though, i see so much more parente in kai. for now (the rest of the summer maybe?) Garrett and Kai are both in cribs and the cradle is ready for estelle. we have a bunk bed for G whenever we are ready to set it up in his room. we are working on the potty thing...he sits on the toilet about once a day but we haven't had ANYTHING happen yet=)
ReplyDeleteSome of my kids favorites were already mentioned above. Another series my kids loved was the Sweet Pickles books by Perle, Reinach, and Hefter. The books were set in a fictional town of "Sweet Pickles" with the front of each books showing each character (Goose, Hippo, Iguana...) and the back inside cover having the fictional town map. They loved looking at the map and talking about where each of the animals lived in conjunction with one another. There were 26 books; one for each letter of the alphabet; and each was the name of an animal. Each book dealt with a character or personality trait, and also showed how each animal got "into a pickle" and what they did to get out of it. I remember some of their favorites being: Rest Rabbit Rest; Goose Goofs Off; Yakety Yak Yak Yak; and Me Too Iguana. So much fun!
ReplyDelete@estanopit - I started reading aloud at bedtime a little less than 3 years ago (I remember because I began this routine Daniel's first trip to Spain, which was June '06). Jackson was part of it by way of being the nursing baby while I read aloud-- much like Aubrey is now. Jackson hasn't ever known anything other than this routine and he totally takes his cues from Gabriel and Bronwyn anyway. Even has a 1yo, he would have been crushed if I'd left him out of the read-aloud time even though I've no doubt he didn't understand much of the story lines!We'll have to get Micah up here to kill our groundhog. This will be the third summer of attempting to get rid of the guy. Ugh!!!!
ReplyDelete*as* as 1yo...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Children's books!Some of my favorites:
ReplyDelete*Christopher Churchmouse Series - Barbara Davoll
Trumpet of the Swan - EB White
Strawberry Girl - Lois Lenski
The Mouse and the Motorcycle - Beverly Cleary
Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny - Jan Karon
Thomas the Tank Engine Series
Heidi - Johanna Spyri
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahme*These are my absolute favorite books for children under 6.
I don't have any suggestions, but had to comment on the whole Little Women book just because I think it's cute. When Gabe and his siblings were little (probably around your kids age) his mom read it to all of them, 1 girl and 4 boys, and he LOVED it!!! So don't go ruling it out completely!!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the Little Britches series by Ralph Moody? I read the first book of the eight book series aloud and it was fabulous. Let's put it this way, Sterling North (author of Rascal) is quoted on the front saying, "Ralph Moody's books should be read aloud in every family circle in America." I plan on having the boys finish the series either on their own or I may read more of them aloud. Highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteJude
p.s.
ReplyDeleteFor fun I just asked the two oldest boys which book was their favorite read-aloud from over the years.
They both answered quickly!
Matthew said-Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It is the story of a family creating a homestead in Oregon.
David said-Farmer Boy. We all know that one!
Jude
I second Judy's recommendation of the series by Ralph Moody. It's amazing. After we got too old to be read to at night, Mom continued to read to us at lunch time. That was one of the series she read... I was in high school at the time, and we all loved it.
ReplyDeleteDad read the Little House on the Prairie series over and over again because it was our favorite. We also loved All of a Kind Family.
For my own personal recommendation- I think you should invest in the Moffat books(there are 4) by Eleanor Estes. They're very cute and involve younger children as the main characters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Estes
We loved reading My Father's Dragon and A Grain of Rice. Another great one is Leading Little Ones to God by Schoolland. It is a book of Bible teachings that are clear and really easy to understand. The kids really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it!
ReplyDeleteCathy
@Judy - I'm so glad you reminded me of these books! I absolutely love Little Britches and totally forgot about it!
ReplyDelete@nadine - I bought some of the Moffat books for Camilla and Merrick a few years ago. I've never read them; I just thought they looked really cute. Good to know they get a vote of confidence! Maybe I'll just go "borrow" them long-term until I buy them as gifts for my kids at some point.
ReplyDeleteBrietta-
ReplyDeleteComing from a reading teacher's wife:
You are doing your children a GREAT service by reading these classics together!!!
They, too, are certain to be fluent readers at young ages- and forever
A lot of what has been mentioned are my favorites.
But, our family's ABSOLUTE favorite is:
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
http://www.katedicamillo.com/books/tale.html
I saw that the book is finally being made into a movie (to be released this December). I'm not sure how closely it will follow the book. You know Hollywood: distort everything and throw in a heaping portion of ungodliness, etc.
Anyway, you can read more here:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809420569/info
Have fun!!!
By the way, I am thinking of starting a children's book blog where various books are reviewed and recommended for families/teachers.
Maybe you could be a contributor
Sarah D.
All of those are great books and we've read a few that you mentioned. I don't know what I would recommend. All of your picks are great. I'd like to read Swiss Family Robinson soon. One thing I will do when I'm not sure what to read is grab a book of children's poetry from the Library (ie.Where the sidewalk Ends, etc..) and read a couple of poems from it at night. Kole enjoys a book called "Now we are 6" it is poems about Christopher Robin and different short imaginative stories. I think it is by A.A. Milne but, I'm not sure.
ReplyDelete@Gina - "Now We Are Six" is 1 of the 4 original books that come in the Pooh "series." I really enjoyed that 2 were stories and the other 2 were poetry. I myself don't have a tremendous appreciation for poetry, so I am glad to start at ground level with my children; hopefully we will all grow together in our understanding of the beauty of it!
ReplyDeleteI am furiously copying down titles I haven't heard of. What are the Shoe books? Who is the author? Thanks!
ReplyDeletethat is AWESOME. when i'm home, i read a chapter a night from The Chronicles of Narnia to Silas, Libby, and Eli for their bedtime story.
ReplyDeleteyour kids will remember story time for the rest of their lives. SO COOL.
Over from Quinne's... What a great list-- in your post and in the comments!Thanks, everyone!~Stacy
ReplyDelete@gandw93 - Noel Steatfeild wrote many "Shoe" books. A number of them are out of print and hard to find-- -- but the 3 I have been able to get my hands on are Ballet Shoes, Theater Shoes, and Dancing Shoes. I have re-read these books several times as an adult because I love them so much!*Note: they're definitely written for girls, though Theater Shoes in particular can appeal to boys because one of the main characters is a young boy (his 2 sisters are the other main characters).
ReplyDeletewell, patricia reilly giff books are usually pretty good read alouds and are at about a second grade level. they're fun. berenstein bears has also come out w/ch. books. however, those came to me while i was on here. the reason i came here was to give the recommendation of the Mary Poppins books by P.L. Travers. oh my goodness. they are so so excellent!!! so very wonderful and excllent, full of creativity, fun and imagination...i absolutely love them (they were not read to me as a kid, but maybe as a teenager)., However, i DID read them to children i babysat for on a regular basis and they loved them. i'm not kidding. i think your kids might appreciate them. they are fun. we read children's books together before bed (maybe 1 or 2) and then they go to bed-that's when rick reads them the Bible. and that's their favorite.
ReplyDeletep.s. you'll probably love them too.
ReplyDelete