Please recommend a family read aloud for girls (9yo-13yo) who can't stop bickering.

[Jane Elliot]

When my boys were that age they just beat on each other if they had a quarrel. Those were the good ole days (although I didn't realize it back then.) The verbal sparring that girls do is driving me crazy.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Is the family read aloud supposed to quell the bickering (ie. have a moral lesson to it)? Or do you want us to choose a read aloud because your girls can't agree on one together?

[Jane Elliot]

Is the family read aloud supposed to quell the bickering (ie. have a moral lesson to it)? Or do you want us to choose a read aloud because your girls can't agree on one together?

 

Hmmm. I should have been a lot clearer. I'm looking for a book with a moral lesson.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Hmmm. I should have been a lot clearer. I'm looking for a book with a moral lesson.

 

In that case, I would recommend readings from The Book of Virtues.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

Little Women :001_smile:

[Jane Elliot]

Thank you. Both of those recommendations are perfect and both are already on my shelves.

[momee]

Not sure if you're a christian or not...but one book that helped our family tremendously was Young Peacekeepers.

 

It was helpful for me too to learn to instruct them on how to behave with each other when angry, offended, whatever.

Having not been taught that stuff myself, it was a stretch to teach my kids.

[happyhomemaker25]

My 10 and 13 yo daughters are really enjoying the book, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. Very Christian though.

[angela in ohio]

I asked my 14 yo for recommendations. This is what she said for books about siblings who get along/ work together:

The Moffats

Swallows and Amazons

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Derwood Incorporated

 

I always recommend Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm for any young ady. It is about the process of maturing into a lovely young woman who thinks of others abover herself. Stepping Heavenward is a Christian book about the same topic, though it would appeal more to 13 yo or so and up.

[Rosie_0801]

Mrs Piggle Wiggle.

 

:D

Rosie

[ktog29]

Mrs Piggle Wiggle.

 

:D

Rosie

 

:iagree: That was my first thought...I believe it's "The Fighter-Quarreler's Cure." That's our favorite!

[Cindy in C-ville]

Penderwicks. We love these books. They're not like Book of Virtues in that they don't have a moral for each story, but they are so much fun and there is much to talk about. :)

[OrganicAnn]

Mrs Piggle Wiggle.

[Krissi]

Little Women

[Jane Elliot]

Thank you, everyone.

 

I've been wondering about The Young Peacemakers. Did you use the workbooks that go with them. Where did you get yours? I've looked at Timberdoodle. There seem to be different formats. This summer would be a good time to do it together.

 

I'm going to check out Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, too. You've got to love that title.

 

And, the read aloud suggestions are great. We've enjoyed some of them in the past, especially Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. I think we'll read Little Women next.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Luann in ID

[melissel]

THANK YOU for this thread!!!! I'm having the same issues (and I'm sure it will get worse with age). I'm bookmarking...

[LibraryLover]

What about Babe, The Gallant Pig? There is a lot of conflict in that story about Fly thinking pigs and sheep are stupid, and in the end, of course, she learns she's wrong. Maybe the assumptions of ignorance about others would resonate some with them? That little sisters aren't stupid babies (sheep), and big sister don't know everything even if they think they do (Fly, the sheepdog). Fly even Loves Babe; she juest doesn't think much of pigs...at first. Grasping here...

[Alicia64]

The MOST wonderful series on the planet is about 4 sisters of varying ages -- who have adventures and get along.

 

I cannot tell you how good this author is. She's our favorite -- and I have two little boys! The humor is wonderful, there's never anything in the books that I have to worry about and the "lessons" are subtle, but significant.

 

It's all about siblings getting along -- but not freakishly so. They're normal and they disagree but they don't battle. They're not hateful in any way.

 

Her name is Hilary McKay. The first book, I'd recommend, is The Exiles, then The Exiles at Home and there's two more, but I forget the names. Easy to look up. Exiles sounds like a weird name, but it's all about family life with a grandma and parents.

 

The other series she did which is AWESOME starts with: Saffy's Angel, Permanent Rose, Indigo Blue and more but I forget.

 

Also there's a wonderful book from the early 1900's called A Little Princess -- I highly recommend this too for everyone. But especially for girls.

 

Hilary McKay loved A Little Princess so much that she wrote a sequel to it: Wishing for Tomorrow.

 

Absolutely GREAT read alouds. My boys would BEG me to keep reading!

 

Have a great time!!!!!!!!!

 

Alley

[stripe]

I also think Understood Betsy and Girl from Limberlost could be nice reads. Both are singletons, but both develop independence and character through the book. It might be good to have an example of a strong girl thinking clearly.

 

I love the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle suggestion. I've decided there's a lot of wisdom in those books!

[Veritaserum]

Little Women :001_smile:

 

:iagree:

[KristenS]

For humor, check out Kate Klise (and the illustrator is another Klise, so I may have them backwards). Anyway, all her books are a hoot, several are a series, but one stand-alone is Letters from Camp, all about bickering siblings. It's a riot ... they start out hating each other, and have to learn to work together to save themselves from whatever nefarious scheme was going on in that particular book. It's all journal/letter/article style (all their books are), and a lot of fun to read.

[unsinkable]

All of a Kind Family is a story with 5 sisters set in early 1900's NYC.

 

It might be kind of young for your oldest, though.

[homes-cooler]

Our grandson, 10, was all excited about Spirit Thorn, a book one of his friends was reading for the second time.

 

They had paid for a Kindle download, but we were able to find it gratis at the book's website, although I don't believe downloads were available there, just reads.

 

In our family, I'm the out loud storyteller, and I loved it -- especially the fairly complex moral development and the subtle introduction of sophisticated science. The story also pleased me because even though the adventure protagonist was a boy, the courage hero (heroine?) was a girl. Both were young teens.

 

For my tastes, I might have picked it for older kids, but he wasn't awfully concerned about that. For your 9 year old? I don't know. What are her tastes?

 

BTW - Angela in Ohio mentioned Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Wow! I had forgotten that excellent book.

Edited April 28, 2010 by homes-cooler

[hsmom3tn]

Another vote for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; All-of-a-Kind Family; and Little Women :)

[juelle]

We're reading 'The Railway Children', and I'm struck again by the lovely manners the children have been taught and the deliberate presentation of 'consideration of others'.

[jld]

Surviving the Applewhites is what first came to mind, but your girls might be a little young for that. It basically shows how unity (and a lot of fun) comes about when a family works together to accomplish something meaningful to all of them.

[Denise in IN]

Thank you, everyone.

 

I've been wondering about The Young Peacemakers. Did you use the workbooks that go with them. Where did you get yours? I've looked at Timberdoodle. There seem to be different formats. This summer would be a good time to do it together.

 

I'm going to check out Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, too. You've got to love that title.

 

And, the read aloud suggestions are great. We've enjoyed some of them in the past, especially Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. I think we'll read Little Women next.

 

 

Luann, the Young Peacemaker books are wonderful. I've gone through them with my boys and we've used the curriculum twice for VBS at our church.

 

I've purchased books from Rainbow Resource. The teacher's manual is necessary; the student activity books are nice but not essential. They have parts of the story and pictures (comic book style) along with the basic concepts, so kids can follow along with a visual. They also have pencil/paper activities that my boys mostly enjoyed.

 

The concepts in Young Peacemaker can be taught to any age, but the activities and teaching level of the curriculum is geared toward middle elementary, about 2nd/3rd up through 6th or possibly 8th.

[homes-cooler]

There's one more you might consider. Have they read Tuck Everlasting ? I don't remember the author's name, but the tale is gripping: a rural Southern family that happens to be immortal, so they always have to keep on the move (chased, of course, by an antagonist who very much wants to put an end to the Tuck problem). Reading level is a bit easier than Spirit Thorn, but the ideas involved are every bit as complex.

 

The book is one of the best discussion-starters you'll ever find. What would it be like to never grow old, as those around you age and die? What's it like to never fit in?

[Forget-Me-Not]

Check out Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy books. Strong family that loves each other and gets along, *squeaky* clean (for example, in one of the later books, Betsy decides she isn't the 'kind of girl' that holds hands with the boy she's 'going with' :D). Set at the turn of the century and just charming.

[martinswife]

Mrs Piggle Wiggle.

 

:D

Rosie

Yes! My dd8 just started reading her books and thinks the situations are hilarious!