Read alouds that you don't particularly like

[Josephine]

Ok, I just read the second story in Uncle Wiggily's Story Book. These stories haven't particularly captured my attention. Do you have any criteria for tossing a read aloud? Do you have any criteria before you decide to read something?

 

 

Josephine

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Ok, I just read the second story in Uncle Wiggily's Story Book. These stories haven't particularly captured my attention. Do you have any criteria for tossing a read aloud? Do you have any criteria before you decide to read something?

 

 

Josephine

 

Very few I haven't liked, this was one of them. We shelved it after two stories. My criteria, if we aren't enjoying it for some redeeming reason, it gets shelved, sold or given away. I wouldn't make you or your children miserable because you are supposed to read it. There are way too many wonderful, high-quality books out there to substitute any dud. :) Just my .02.

[Aurelia]

If no one has interest in the story, we drop it. I did this with the Burgess Bird Book for Children. We got about a quarter of the way through it and just lost interest. Maybe we will try again in a couple of years, or in 3 or 4 I can have Ariel read it to herself.

[Wildwood]

I give a book a couple of chapters to engage us, and if it fails to do so I put it away. I used to feel like I needed to finish it because it was part of our library but, I don't do that anymore. I know we can always try again another time because sometimes I pick books that are just a bit over my dd's head. I'm learning!

Also, I feel like I am still discovering what types of stories appeal to my dd at this point in time. I have some books I thought she would totally get in to and I was so wrong. I am finding out that her choices are quite different than what I would automatically pick for her.

[Staceyshoe]

It's probably due to my lack of talent at read alouds, but I find that books with a lot of dialogue don't work well. I'm not great at creating unique voices for characters and ds gets lost. If there's a great book like that, I search the library's audio books for a professional version.

[Saille]

This is gonna get me in trouble, but I never liked The Phantom Tollbooth. *ducking*

 

I LOVE The Mysterious Benedict Society, but it was too long a read-aloud for us...it dragged on and on. Although if Number Two had had more lines, I'd have enjoyed it more. I had her doing that super-efficient nasal drawl secretaries had in the old black and white movies, so she was very fun to read.

[creekmom]

We didn't like Alice in Wonderland.... a little too creepy for us.

 

That said, we are loving the 2nd Homer Price book right now.. Centerburg Tales- More Adventures of Homer Price.

[shinyhappypeople]

Ok, I just read the second story in Uncle Wiggily's Story Book. These stories haven't particularly captured my attention. Do you have any criteria for tossing a read aloud? Do you have any criteria before you decide to read something?

 

 

Josephine

 

The inclusion of this book was a big reason we didn't buy SL's p4/5 core. Oh, and I'm not a Brer Rabbit fan either because of the over the top dialect. Blech.:tongue_smilie:

[Cinder]

I never actually read this aloud--if I had I might have gone mad. We listened to Ginger Pye on audiobook. It was sooooo boring! It just went on and on about nothing! My ds's thought it was ok, though.

 

 

Cinder

[littlebug42]

We tried to read Stuart Little once and it bored both of us to tears and my daughter will listen to pretty much anything. My dd8 also tried to listen to the Chronicles of Narnia on audio book read by Kenneth Branagh and she hated it. She said that he read way too slow. She decided that she would just read those instead of listen.

[LibraryLover]

Mr Popper's Penguins.

 

I hate/detest/loathe that story. Kids love it, so I plod on. It's hideous.

 

Also, the English version of The Wheel on the School is absolutely horrible.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Mr Popper's Penguins.

 

I hate/detest/loathe that story. Kids love it, so I plod on. It's hideous.

 

 

:lol: I loved this one. I laughed so hard at the sheer improbability of it. Dds were :001_huh: most of the time, probably because I was giggling through it. Just curious, what was "hideous" about it. I love to hear other people's reactions to books, especially if they are strong.

[Alphabetika]

I never actually read this aloud--if I had I might have gone mad. We listened to Ginger Pye on audiobook. It was sooooo boring! It just went on and on about nothing! My ds's thought it was ok, though.

 

 

Cinder

 

:iagree:

 

I read this aloud when we did SL several years ago and vowed never again!

[LibraryLover]

:lol: I loved this one. I laughed so hard at the sheer improbability of it. Dds were :001_huh: most of the time, probably because I was giggling through it. Just curious, what was "hideous" about it. I love to hear other people's reactions to books, especially if they are strong.

 

 

 

It was stupid. Impossible. I can't stand it, and I have read it aloud 3 times. I have *never* met a kid who didn't enjoy it. :gag: (I never read it to my eldest...I didn't know the foul thing exisited then, so I hold out hope he would also hate it). It's not even written well. It might be the all-time aweome kid book ever, but imo, it's dumb!

 

Is that enough? :tongue_smilie:

Edited May 11, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Guest Cindie2dds]

It was stupid. Impossible. Dumb. I can't stand it, and I have read it aloud 3 times. I have *never* met a kid who didn't enjoy it. :gag: (I never read it to my oldest...I dodn't know the foul thing exisited then)

 

Is that enough? :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks for the clarification. :D Three times, wow! Nope, not here. Both kids were listening at the same time. It's done.

[Rebecca77]

I don't mind Uncle Wiggly, but my 5yr. old sure isn't havin' it. I really struggled through SL Core 6 and got completely burned out with historical fiction. I did Core 2 this year and didn't even attempt Ginger Pye after reading about so many negative experiences.

[LibraryLover]

Thanks for the clarification. :D Three times, wow! Nope, not here. Both kids were listening at the same time. It's done.

 

 

I have kids spread out in age. I was forced to read the sickening thing.

 

I think we also hold the record in taking the longest time in history to read The Wheel on the School. OMG, did we have to force ourselves through that one.

 

I just pray that the Dutch version isn't as comatose-inducing. My youngest and I would laugh about which one of us would fall asleep first. I don't think we ever got through a whole chapter without dosing off. It has to be the most repetitive & predictable book, ever. I like to think we just own a crappy translation, because OMG, why would that book be famous? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzsnorezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Edited May 11, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Carol in Cal.]

And DD loved the part where all the men had to go fix things or there would be no piece in the town.

 

I hated reading Winnie the Pooh aloud. I can't tell you why. Just hated it.

 

For Alice in Wonderland, my mom decided to read this to us when I was far too old to appreciate being read to, let alone being read a nonsense book that you couldn't keep your mind on. I never could understand what the big fuss was about with that book. Then I saw the movie, and realized that it was a book that was really just an oral tradition-type story written down. For the first time I developed a view of the overall. Then I read the annotated version, that told about all the sly references to other extant fiction and poetry of the day, and that made it all good. Still, it was far too much trouble for a book that was not all that great to start with.

[LibraryLover]

And DD loved the part where all the men had to go fix things or there would be no piece in the town.

 

QUOTE]

 

OMG We wanted to die, it was so predictable. LOL

 

And we like the pissy Mary Poppins, but at least she wasn't trying to pound on kids. The old guy in the wheel -chair? I know he redeems himself in the end, but holy crap. What a violent tool.

Edited May 11, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Food4Thought]

The Iron Giant.

 

My 6-yr old loved it. He made his dad read it all, then me. The grammar was excruciating, and the story bored me nearly to tears!

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I have kids spread out in age. I was forced to read the sickening thing.

 

I think we also hold the record in taking the longest time in history to read The Wheel on the School. OMG, did we have to force ourselves through that one.

 

I just pray that the Dutch version isn't as comatose-inducing. My youngest and I would laugh about which one of us would fall asleep first. I don't think we ever got through a whole chapter without dosing off. It has to be the most repetitive & predictable book, ever. I like to think we just own a crappy translation, because OMG, why would that book be famous? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzsnorezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

You know, this sounds like a promising idea. We need a read aloud thread that classifies books in one of four catergories: vomit inducing, smash worthy, just confused, or sleep inducing. :ack2::smash::huh::sleep: What do you think?

 

That is the beauty of home schooling, we can toss books that we just cannot stomach!

[LibraryLover]

You know, this sounds like a promising idea. We need a read aloud thread that classifies books in one of four catergories: vomit inducing, smash worthy, just confused, or sleep inducing. :ack2::smash::huh::sleep: What do you think?

 

That is the beauty of home schooling, we can toss books that we just cannot stomach!

 

 

It became a game for us. It was like ...can we do it? LOL It was just *so* awful.

 

 

We add Hans Brinker to this. We stopped caring about his family, sorry to say. We finished it. We were ....Awww....sweet.

 

Thank GOD its over.

[8filltheheart]

Mr Popper's Penguins.

 

 

 

LOL.....as soon as I read the thread title, that is the book that popped into my head.

 

I didn't actually mind parts of the book, but my goodness, I have NEVER hated an ending as much as that one!

 

Some books that I love are much more difficult to engage in as read-alouds. There is something to the cadence of some authors' writing that makes it difficult for me to read engagingly out loud even though I adore the book. Those, I save for them to read to themselves. I don't ever want to ruin a book for them b/c of my poor skill!

[Amy Jo]

Peter Pan. Even I had a hard time getting through it. When I tried reading it to the kids ... :( Maybe I will try again next year.

[Carol in Cal.]

And DD loved the part where all the men had to go fix things or there would be no piece in the town.

 

QUOTE]

 

OMG We wanted to die, it was so predictable. LOL

 

 

 

...it was delightfully funny! Over and over again! Just like how the cat in Half Magic tried to talk but couldn't! Or like the jokes in Ben and Me! And I love to make my DD laugh. Just love it.

 

However, making her laugh is not worth teaching her bad grammar AND bad attitudes in a single boring package, which brings me to Junie B. Jones--never promoted in OUR house. Ugh.

[LibraryLover]

 

...it was delightfully funny! Over and over again! Just like how the cat in Half Magic tried to talk but couldn't! Or like the jokes in Ben and Me! And I love to make my DD laugh. Just love it.

 

However, making her laugh is not worth teaching her bad grammar AND bad attitudes in a single boring package, which brings me to Junie B. Jones--never promoted in OUR house. Ugh.

 

 

Oh, we all like Half-Magic! My oldest dd especially *adores* Ben & Me.

 

We have never read Junie B Jones, so I can't comment on that book.

[plain jane]

For us it was Water Babies and also Wind in the Willows. Tried so hard to get through both of those but there's just no way. I even went so far as to pawn them off on dh to read these books to them. Nope. He'd fall asleep faster than I did. :001_huh: I figure if the kids really want to hear the endings, that's what audiobooks are for. So far, we have no takers. :tongue_smilie::lol:

[nmoira]

The Raggedy Ann stories drive me to a state of almost homicidal frenzy. I'd rather read Milly-Molly-Mandy, 'cause I can imagine her growing up, moving to the city and then "Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes to the Pub" or "Milly-Molly-Mandy has an Out-of-Wedlock Child." Keeps me sane.

[swimmermom3]

The Raggedy Ann stories drive me to a state of almost homicidal frenzy. I'd rather read Milly-Molly-Mandy, 'cause I can imagine her growing up, moving to the city and then "Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes to the Pub" or "Milly-Molly-Mandy has an Out-of-Wedlock Child." Keeps me sane.

 

:smilielol5:I really wish you didn't share that. I am a highly visual person and will spend the rest of the evening picturing that in my mind and snickering.

[nmoira]

 

:smilielol5:I really wish you didn't share that. I am a highly visual person and will spend the rest of the evening picturing that in my mind and snickering.

Then just be glad I didn't share the rest. :tongue_smilie:

[i.love.lucy]

My vote is for ... wait for it ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Girl!!!:ack2:

 

I know, a beloved classic. Yuck on the dialect!!

[Violet Crown]

We found three old Uncle Wiggily books, and middle child latched onto them. We were forced to read the stories to her daily. She was on the cusp of reading, and would follow along, stopping us occasionally so she could try reading the sentence, which dragged out the process and prevented you from entering that mind-escaping state where you're reading but really thinking about something else. She'd clearly decided these were the stories she would finally learn to read on, so what could we do but acquiesce?

 

My husband offered to write a macro for more Uncle Wiggily stories: UW meets a feeble creature in need of assistance; UW helps out; UW later encounters slight inconvenience; rescued creature appears and comes to his aid. Rinse, repeat. Like Androcles and the Lion rewritten for kindergartners in Purgatory.

[Pippen]

I see there's already a line for Ginger Pye (my kids begged me to quit) and Mr. Popper's Penguins (which I thought was funny/cute but they couldn't wait to be over).

 

I gave up on Anne of Green Gables because my daughter was hating it. I know it's a beloved novel for many but she was relieved to shelve it.

[Dinsfamily]

We loved Uncle Wiggily. Even my then-3yo got into it. It was hard for me to read at first.

 

We haven't had an RA that everyone hated yet...I'm not sure how much we'd have to dislike it to give up.

 

The Raggedy Ann stories drive me to a state of almost homicidal frenzy. I'd rather read Milly-Molly-Mandy, 'cause I can imagine her growing up, moving to the city and then "Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes to the Pub" or "Milly-Molly-Mandy has an Out-of-Wedlock Child." Keeps me sane.

 

You've ruined MMM for me ;). She'll never go to a pub, she'll turn into an sweet innocent woman. :tongue_smilie:

[Mommyfaithe]

I hate Pippi Longstocking. I know it is supposed to be funny...but I NEVER want my kids to think it is OK to act like that. I forget every few years and read it aloud to the next rgroup of littles....last time I just tossed it. Dreadful book.

[Jen+4dc]

Very few I haven't liked, this was one of them. We shelved it after two stories. My criteria, if we aren't enjoying it for some redeeming reason, it gets shelved, sold or given away. I wouldn't make you or your children miserable because you are supposed to read it. There are way too many wonderful, high-quality books out there to substitute any dud. :) Just my .02.

:iagree:

It's probably due to my lack of talent at read alouds, but I find that books with a lot of dialogue don't work well. I'm not great at creating unique voices for characters and ds gets lost. If there's a great book like that, I search the library's audio books for a professional version.

 

I always try to get it on audio if it's one with a lost of dialect!

 

You know, this sounds like a promising idea. We need a read aloud thread that classifies books in one of four catergories: vomit inducing, smash worthy, just confused, or sleep inducing. :ack2::smash::huh::sleep: What do you think?

QUOTE]

:smilielol5:

 

Some books that I love are much more difficult to engage in as read-alouds. There is something to the cadence of some authors' writing that makes it difficult for me to read engagingly out loud even though I adore the book. Those, I save for them to read to themselves. I don't ever want to ruin a book for them b/c of my poor skill!

 

We are currently listening to LOTR on CD because the sentences are just.too.long. for me to read aloud comfortably.

 

My husband offered to write a macro for more Uncle Wiggily stories: UW meets a feeble creature in need of assistance; UW helps out; UW later encounters slight inconvenience; rescued creature appears and comes to his aid. Rinse, repeat. Like Androcles and the Lion rewritten for kindergartners in Purgatory.

:rofl: (Or for parents in purgatory!)

 

All Sail Set for some insane reason I actually perservered through. Like a previous poster, I despise Junie B. Jones and won't read Ramona Quimby to my kids either because they are whiny little snots who always misbehave and have bad attittudes! But we loved Henry Huggins!

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

I am currently reading War of The Worlds to my boys. I really don't like it. My older son was begging to to read it, though, and I know he couldn't get through the stilted language by himself. I'm not fond of the story and it is difficult for me to read aloud (mostly due to unfamiliar names of places, antiquated phraseology, etc.)

[robsiew]

We gave up on Peter Pan pretty early (and we even did audio). I think if we had been able to get into it we could have done okay, but the beginning was too boring for the kids and we didn't make it. English way of life is so foreign to them.

 

We only read the first portion of "Jungle Book" and then were were DONE!

 

We listened to Alice in Wonderland a long time ago and I do have to admit it's not my fav. It was a bit above the kids' heads at the time too. We did do Through the Looking Glass this year and that went well. I think we all preferred that to the first one.

 

I do have to throw in that my dd HATES with a passion Charlotte's Web! She saw the movie (the newer one) and refuses to read it at all! I have never been able to get out of her why... whenever I ask she just says, "I just hate that story!" :lol: I've never met a child that hates Charlotte's Web!:001_huh:

[Mom22ns]

I never actually read this aloud--if I had I might have gone mad. We listened to Ginger Pye on audiobook. It was sooooo boring! It just went on and on about nothing! My ds's thought it was ok, though.

 

 

Cinder

 

That is interesting to me. Both my kids read this themselves when they were 8 & 10 and would rank it in their "all time favorites". I read and enjoyed it too. Maybe it needs to be read faster.

[Poke Salad Annie]

I hate Pippi Longstocking. I know it is supposed to be funny...but I NEVER want my kids to think it is OK to act like that. I forget every few years and read it aloud to the next rgroup of littles....last time I just tossed it. Dreadful book.

 

 

I loved all the Pippi books when I was a young girl. That said, I recently tried one out as a read-aloud, and was completely embarrassed. Needless to say, we moved on quickly to another title. ;)

[prairiegirl]

I try very hard to persevere but there have been a few that we have ditched in mid-read: Pippi Longstocking, Waterbabies and Kidnapped. Oh, and Back of the NorthWind. We listened to that on audio instead. That was a weird book. :confused:

[Melissa in CA]

The Raggedy Ann stories drive me to a state of almost homicidal frenzy. I'd rather read Milly-Molly-Mandy, 'cause I can imagine her growing up, moving to the city and then "Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes to the Pub" or "Milly-Molly-Mandy has an Out-of-Wedlock Child." Keeps me sane.

 

:lol::lol:

[Gratia271]

I've never met a child that hates Charlotte's Web!:001_huh:

 

We have two here!

[MissKNG]

attention. Do you have any criteria for tossing a read aloud? Do you have any criteria before you decide to read something?

 

 

Yes, I don't read anything that goes against my Biblical convictions and beliefs. I also don't read anything "scary" to the girls.

 

I learned my lesson with Pinocchio. I thought because it was a "classic" and was a Disney movie (never saw that movie) that it would be a wholesome book. It was terrible imo and scary to my big girl (she was afraid of ghost crickets for about a week after I read that part). I stopped reading it and just in time because Pinocchio was about to come to a house where everyone inside was dead. Ugh. And they used words like "assassins" for the cat and the fox. Not a nice word to explain to a PreK kid. That book got dropped fast.

[Melissa in CA]

My vote is for ... wait for it ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Girl!!!:ack2:

 

I know, a beloved classic. Yuck on the dialect!!

OMGosh!! Me too!! Hated that book! And thankfully so did my son, so we dropped it mid way.

 

Another book I absolutely despised, that people would drone on about being so wonderful was Eagle of the Ninth from Core 6. Gag. Gag. Gag. Talk about trying to weed through a difficult-to-read and thoroughly boring who-gives-a-flip book. I just knew it had to get really good at some point though, ya know? I mean people said it was sooooo good. So I forced my boys to listen to my butchered reading of it, hoping for that wonderful moment when it would all be worthwhile. It never came. What a stupid book.

 

We didn't at all care for Flame over Tara or Otto of the Silver hand either. :confused:

 

SL has some wonderful books in their Cores, but they have some real snoozers too.

[TrixieB]

We add Hans Brinker to this. We stopped caring about his family, sorry to say. We finished it. We were ....Awww....sweet.

 

Thank GOD its over.

Hans Brinker: we listened to the book-on-CD on a car trip. Thank God dh was driving, because it was so boring that I fell asleep. We gave up on it partway into the 2nd disc.

[stripe]

Oh, and I'm not a Brer Rabbit fan either because of the over the top dialect. Blech.:tongue_smilie:

I know what you mean, but try a different version. I read two of the Jump!: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit versions and they were far less obnoxious.

 

I see nothing wrong with dumping books no one likes.

 

My mom gave me an old copy of a Raggedy Ann book (in Cookie Land?) and I think it was the scariest book my kids had ever read at that point. Evil creatures trying to eat them, etc etc. We had to finish that one.

[way2cross]

We couldn't get into The Golden Goblet, but a lot of people like it.

[MrsMe]

Ginger Pye. The first part was daunting and they'd flip back and forth and there was a ton of people and they'd get off on tangents. I suppose it could be a good book, but I couldn't get past it. It was too hard to read as a read-aloud too.

[cottagechick]

OMGosh!! Me too!! Hated that book! And thankfully so did my son, so we dropped it mid way.

 

Another book I absolutely despised, that people would drone on about being so wonderful was Eagle of the Ninth from Core 6. Gag. Gag. Gag. Talk about trying to weed through a difficult-to-read and thoroughly boring who-gives-a-flip book. I just knew it had to get really good at some point though, ya know? I mean people said it was sooooo good. So I forced my boys to listen to my butchered reading of it, hoping for that wonderful moment when it would all be worthwhile. It never came. What a stupid book.

 

We didn't at all care for Flame over Tara or Otto of the Silver hand either. :confused:

 

SL has some wonderful books in their Cores, but they have some real snoozers too.

 

I read Otto and Eagle to a 9th grader this year, and he enjoyed them, but I HATED them. I can't imagine trying to read these to younger kids and expecting them to understand the plot whilst I butcher the names of people and places every two sentences. I'm doing the same with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table with my 9 and 10 yo boys right now, but they love it. Guess I better get used to heads being cleaved from their bodies for the next year of middle ages study :tongue_smilie: