Jump to content

Menu

Help with our next read aloud


Recommended Posts

I have a bunch of book lists I'm going through, but I'm posting on here for suggestions for our next fun read aloud.  This is separate from our science and history readings, which we sometimes do together, but they do mostly on their own.

 

My boys are 12 and over the past few years, our favorite fun read alouds in order are:

 

1.  Harry Potter series

2.  Tie between the Itch series and Hunger Games series (we just did this one as I was worried about some of the content - they did fine)

3.  Mysterious Benedict Society series

4.  Narnia

 

These are books where they were begging me to read more each day.

 

They also read for fun at night.  My one son flies through books so that is making this a bit harder on me.  

 

We listened to The Hobbit on audio-book this summer and we are getting ready to start Lord of the Rings on audio-book.

 

Any suggestions are welcome!  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are at the top of the all-time favorite list here! :)

 

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians books (Riordan) and the Artemis Fowle series (Colfer) were fun ones that our 2 DSs enjoyed.

 

For something complete different, we did Kon Tiki (Heyersdahl) as a read-aloud about that age. Non-fiction first-hand account of the recreating of an ancient sailing -- in the 1940s, six men made a log raft and sailed it from South America to the South Pacific islands. Another non-fiction that may be of interest is The Colditz Story (Reid) -- or possibly The Great Escape (Brickhill) or The Forgotten 500 (Freeman).

 

Life With Jeeves (Wodehouse), and other short stories by P.G. Wodehouse were a big humorous hit with DSs. 

 

Also much enjoyed at about that age: All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) and sequels.

 

For solo reading, one DS here loved mysteries, and at about that age started enjoying the Sherlock Holmes short mysteries (Doyle) -- but that could also be a great read-aloud, reading 1-2 short stories per session. :)

Edited by Lori D.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a great list already!

 

I'm going to focus on SF/F because that sounds like their main interest. (Coincidentally, it's also mine!)

 

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

 

Ambassador and Nomad (you have to read both books)

 

Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact

 

The Conch Bearer (the first book starts off slow)

 

Labyrinth Lost (some romantic feelings and I think one kiss)

 

The Savage Fortress

 

Stranger (there's some dating and romance, but it never goes further than off-screen kissing and is not the point of the book)

 

The Jumbies

 

Greenglass House

 

Shadowshaper

 

Mars Evacuees

 

Mortal Engines

 

House of the Scorpion

 

The Midnight War of Matteo Martinez (okay, this one REALLY is a little young, but I liked it so much I'm gonna put it on all the lists for a while!)

 

Face Like Glass

 

Nine Pound Hammer

 

Hammer of Witches

 

On a Clear Day

 

The Earthsea Cycle

 

Annals of the Western Sea (starts with Gifts, I think)

 

Zeroes

 

Killer of Enemies (this one is on my TBR pile)

 

Vodnik (one disturbing scene of bigotry)

 

On a Clear Day

 

You might also consider some more realistic fiction:

 

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

 

Kinda Like Brothers

 

How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy

 

Bud, Not Buddy

 

King of Mulberry Street

 

Heart of a Samurai

 

If I Ever Get Out Of Here

 

The Great Greene Heist (not so great literature, but a fun, quick read)

 

The Birchbark House

 

Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (a little young, but not so much they won't enjoy it, I don't think)

 

Dragonwings

 

American Ace

 

Hello Universe

 

Mission Mumbai (another one that's a little young, but not that much)

 

The Way Home Looks Now

 

On Two Feet and Wings

 

 

So that's quite a mix I typed up, about half strictly middle grade and the other half clearly YA.

Edited by Tanaqui
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are at the top of the all-time favorite list here! :)

 

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians books (Riordan) and the Artemis Fowle series (Colfer) were fun ones that our 2 DSs enjoyed.

 

For something complete different, we did Kon Tiki (Heyersdahl) as a read-aloud about that age. Non-fiction first-hand account of the recreating of an ancient sailing -- in the 1940s, six men made a log raft and sailed it from South America to the South Pacific islands. Another non-fiction that may be of interest is The Colditz Story (Reid) -- or possibly The Great Escape (Brickhill) or The Forgotten 500 (Freeman).

 

Life With Jeeves (Wodehouse), and other short stories by P.G. Wodehouse were a big humorous hit with DSs. 

 

Also much enjoyed at about that age: All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) and sequels.

 

For solo reading, one DS here loved mysteries, and at about that age started enjoying the Sherlock Holmes short mysteries (Doyle) -- but that could also be a great read-aloud, reading 1-2 short stories per session. :)

 

They both loved The Hobbit and my hold on LOTR is ready for pick-up :-).

 

I'm not sure why, but neither was interested in Percy Jackson.  I brought the first book home several times and it was a no go.  Both read Artemis Fowle on their own -- really enjoyed that.

 

I will definitely be looking at your other recommendations.  Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's see....how about

 

The Graveyard Book

Redwall

Miss Peregrine

Running Out Of Time (M.P. Haddix)

The Westing Game

 

I just ordered The Westing Game from the library to start with.  I hadn't heard about this one -- thanks so much!  I forgot about Redwall!  I will look up the others this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a great list already!

 

I'm going to focus on SF/F because that sounds like their main interest. (Coincidentally, it's also mine!)

 

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

 

Ambassador and Nomad (you have to read both books)

 

Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact

 

The Conch Bearer (the first book starts off slow)

 

Labyrinth Lost (some romantic feelings and I think one kiss)

 

The Savage Fortress

 

Stranger (there's some dating and romance, but it never goes further than off-screen kissing and is not the point of the book)

 

The Jumbies

 

Greenglass House

 

Shadowshaper

 

Mars Evacuees

 

Mortal Engines

 

House of the Scorpion

 

The Midnight War of Matteo Martinez (okay, this one REALLY is a little young, but I liked it so much I'm gonna put it on all the lists for a while!)

 

Face Like Glass

 

Nine Pound Hammer

 

Hammer of Witches

 

On a Clear Day

 

The Earthsea Cycle

 

Annals of the Western Sea (starts with Gifts, I think)

 

Zeroes

 

Killer of Enemies (this one is on my TBR pile)

 

Vodnik (one disturbing scene of bigotry)

 

On a Clear Day

 

You might also consider some more realistic fiction:

 

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

 

Kinda Like Brothers

 

How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy

 

Bud, Not Buddy

 

King of Mulberry Street

 

Heart of a Samurai

 

If I Ever Get Out Of Here

 

The Great Greene Heist (not so great literature, but a fun, quick read)

 

The Birchbark House

 

Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (a little young, but not so much they won't enjoy it, I don't think)

 

Dragonwings

 

American Ace

 

Hello Universe

 

Mission Mumbai (another one that's a little young, but not that much)

 

The Way Home Looks Now

 

On Two Feet and Wings

 

 

So that's quite a mix I typed up, about half strictly middle grade and the other half clearly YA.

 

I'd better be able to find some from here :-)!  Great list!  One of my boys read Greenglass House on his own and enjoyed it!  I know we haven't read any of the others.  This will keep me busy looking too :-)!  Thanks for taking the time to type out that list!

 

We read a lot together and some others that we really enjoyed were Things Not Seen, Out of My Mind, Wonder, Wrinkle in Time (one son finished the rest on his own), The Secret Keepers (same guy that wrote Mysterious Benedict Society), and The Unbreakable Code and sequel.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I have a kiddo who loved Narnia, HP, The Hobbit, LOTR. Some other hits:

 

Ender's Game

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

Companion books to LOTR books/films--making of, maps, etc. 

Rocket Boys (FYI: this is a coming of age book, and there is one backseat scene)

The Sea of Trolls

Gregor the Overlander 

Eragon series

 

You might also check out The Wizard of Earthsea and Graceling

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...