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Adventures of Tom Sawyer - read aloud or silently read


bfw0729
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I started reading Tom Sawyer as a read aloud and I stopped part way into the book. I think I would prefer to have the children read this book on their own, but I'm not sure.

 

On a side note... I pick one book a year to do a lap book or unit study where we all read the book together and analyze it. I was thinking maybe I should have Huck Finn be that book instead of Tom Sawyer.

 

We will be doing the Phantom Tollbooth this school year.

 

Do you have your kids read the Mark Twain books or are they read alouds? 

 

My kids are 5th graders and a 4th grader.  

 

By the way, if I chose to not read the book aloud now, they would read the book around middle school. 

Edited by bfw0729
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I vote audiobooks too. For me, it simply brings so much more life to the story with the dialects and everything else. As an adult, I appreciated and noticed things on the audiobook  I hadn't noticed reading myself. 

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I think it depends on why you decided to stop reading it aloud. What was not working?

 

Be sure to read Huck Finn yourself before doing so with your children. While Tom Sawyer is approachable for younger kids, Huck Finn contains some difficult language and social themes. I would save it for high school.

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I think it depends on why you decided to stop reading it aloud. What was not working?

 

Be sure to read Huck Finn yourself before doing so with your children. While Tom Sawyer is approachable for younger kids, Huck Finn contains some difficult language and social themes. I would save it for high school.

 

:iagree: I wouldn't do Huck Finn with elementary students.

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My father used to read Tom Sawyer out loud to me and my siblings around the dinner table 30 years ago. I have fond memories of him reading a section and then heehawing out loud at the funny parts. I'll never forget his facial expressions while reading. Good times!

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What about listening to the audiobook together? My dd and I just did and it was fantastic with Nick Offerman narrating on Audible. It moved onto my list of favorite audiobooks :001_smile:

Ditto

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Chiming in here in favor of the audiobook.  My kids and I did it this past year, age 10.

 

I would note that even though it's mostly age-appropriate, there are a couple of things in there you will want to talk about with your kids.  For one thing, the "N-word" is in there two or three times.

Edited by SKL
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I'd have to do the audiobook. There's no way I could read that dialect.

 

Actually, all of my kids have hated Tom Sawyer, mainly because the dialect and regional word choices are pretty painful for them. My oldest at least appreciated the story, but #3 cites it as the only book he really hates. He loved the Scarlet Letter, oddly enough, but wanted to throw Tom Sawyer out the window.  :laugh:

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I started reading Tom Sawyer as a read aloud and I stopped part way into the book. I think I would prefer to have the children read this book on their own, but I'm not sure.

 

On a side note... I pick one book a year to do a lap book or unit study where we all read the book together and analyze it. I was thinking maybe I should have Huck Finn be that book instead of Tom Sawyer.

 

We will be doing the Phantom Tollbooth this school year.

 

Do you have your kids read the Mark Twain books or are they read alouds? 

 

My kids are 5th graders and a 4th grader.  

 

By the way, if I chose to not read the book aloud now, they would read the book around middle school. 

 

I read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn out loud to my kids when they were around that same age and we all loved both books. That is actually one of my favorite memories of reading out loud because we enjoyed those books so much. 

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My kids were really into it when I was reading the book. I think I will go ahead and read it to them (I enjoy playing the different characters and voices) and hold off with Huck Finn until high school. 

 

Thanks for sharing your personal experiences. 

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What about listening to the audiobook together? My dd and I just did and it was fantastic with Nick Offerman narrating on Audible. It moved onto my list of favorite audiobooks :001_smile:

Oh wow! I'll bet that is good! It depends on the kid. Of my big three (15, 12, and almost 9), two of them love audiobooks. The 12yo really doesn't like audiobooks at all. He much prefers to read something himself. So ymmv.

 

DD read TS in 7th or 8th; DS1 is scheduled to read it next year in 7th. I recall reading parts of it aloud to myself when I read it at about that age.

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