piraterose Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 (edited) My daughter will be 7 on Monday. I am just finishing reading the Secret Garden to her and I have to admit is was a little rough (tongue twisting for me, storywise a little slow for her). On her own, she has been a reluctant reader at home, but had been reading Junie B, A to Z mysteries and the Magic Treehouse books. She did enjoy Now We are Six book of poems by A.A. Milne. She has been really wanting the Diary of the Wimpy Kid, which she got last night and hasn't really put down. Yeah! Finally a book that she is into. Previous read alouds in the last year: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Charlotte's Web Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Ramona the Brave On The Banks of Plum Creek The Secret Garden Books I'm considering: The Little Prince (never read it myself is it slow or interesting?) Pippi Longstocking The Neverending Story I'm looking for something that has a little more humor this time around or at least a faster pace than TSG. Preferably a classic. She's not really an animal person, she prefers people (but did like Charlotte's Web). Thanks in advance for other ideas or comments on the books I'm considering. Edited April 22, 2011 by piraterose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Strawberry Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 The little prince is IMO a yawner. I prefer to read complete series, rather than just one book of a set. You might want to consider reading all the of the books of the series you have already started. It gives the child a much more complete experience. Almopst all of them are parts of series. I LOVED all the little house books when I was a child. There are 10 altogether. I was also a big fan of Pippi. I believe there are 3 books. I loved fairy tales and Aesop's Fables at that age. So do my kids. My daddy used to read me Kipling's Just So Stories. I still have his old copy, and still read them sometimes. The Boxcar Children were one of my faves. I haven't read them recently, so not sure of the quality, but I pink sparkly heart loved them as a child. She may not be quite ready, but you might look at Alcott's Little Women series. There are 4 books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Pippi is a good choice. My girls were astounded at her lack of manners. :D My dd6 is reading Mr. Popper's Penguins and enjoying the humor in it, that would make a good read-aloud also. They both enjoyed Peter Pan even though the language can be difficult. The Cricket in Times Square was another good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 If she liked the Ramona book, I would pick up another one of the series. I loved them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disney Dreaming Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 The Boxcar Children Gooney Bird Greene(there are 3 or 4 books) Mrs Piggle Wiggle Henry Huggins, Ramona, etc...(Beverly Cleary is great) Pippi(I plan on reading this to my dd this next year) Encyclopedia Brown books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Betsy-Tacy The Children of Green Knowe Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 My 7 year old LOVED the Grandma's attic series. She also really likes Milly Molly Mandy. I think they make great read alouds as each chapter is a self-contained story. There are 4 of the initial Grandma's attic books. There are more written following the Grandma character when she goes away from home to school but dd7 did not like those because the family dynamic that she loved in the original 4 was missing. It made her sad that she left her family. ETA: The Grandma's attic series is a Christian series. If that is not your cup of tea, you might want to skip them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Trumpet of the Swan Stuart Little Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Trumpet of the Swan BTW.. your "reluctant" reader is doing great. I have one that will be 7 in a couple of months, and she is just no where near ready for reading the level of books that yours is. She is doing great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 My boys like both of the Penderwick books, but they're really geared more for girls, so you could try those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piraterose Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 (edited) The thing is that since I work and Boo is in public school/aftercare, we only get 20 minutes a night for read aloud, and we don't even manage every night. So these books take 1.5-2 months for us to read (Plum Creek took 3 months). She is usually so over the book, she doesn't have any interest in me reading another book in the series. We tried with the glass elevator immediately after CATCC and by the third night she was over it and asked for a different book. And honestly, I don't want to be tied into one series for 6 months to a year because then I lose a year of exposing her to a variety of books. Books she can return to when she has the ability to read the series on her own. In the course of the next year we'll revisit the Ingalls again, especially since she is doing a prairie diorama for school due next month. We did fairy tales and Aesop's Fables when she was in Kindergarten last year. Edited April 22, 2011 by piraterose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piraterose Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Trumpet of the Swan BTW.. your "reluctant" reader is doing great. I have one that will be 7 in a couple of months, and she is just no where near ready for reading the level of books that yours is. She is doing great! She's reluctant in the fact that she prefers mommy to read to her, rather than reading to herself - and I have to set a timer and make her read - and every two minutes she's asking if her time's up. It's not about ability, it's about interest. It just seems odd that I have to bribe her to read, when my mom used to have to bribe me to do something other than read. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Have you considered trying them on CD? I find we get through them faster that way and I'm not stumbling over the words with a dry mouth. ;) Usually the reader is appropriately dramatic. Plus you can play them in the car. You'll be surprised how much you can get in during those drives to and from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disney Dreaming Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 She's reluctant in the fact that she prefers mommy to read to her, rather than reading to herself - and I have to set a timer and make her read - and every two minutes she's asking if her time's up. It's not about ability, it's about interest. It just seems odd that I have to bribe her to read, when my mom used to have to bribe me to do something other than read. LOL I have to do the same with my just turned *8* year old. However, we did just get an ADHD diagnosis, so this could explain her lack of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 The children of green knowe - Lucy M Boston. Something by Michael Morpurgo - his writing is brilliant. Milly Molly Mandy- Its lots of short stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTwinsMom1 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 My daughter is enjoying a book named: Aiden of Oren, The journey begins. I think it's cute so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 I just thought of two more ideas- Fudge by Judy Blume (whole series, there is a girl character, they are hysterical) Judy Moody and Stink (there are several books about each character, they are so much fun to read) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 We like a lot of the books mentioned so far, but I'll suggest a few I didn't see... The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois - About a man who tries to go around the world on a balloon but ends up crash landing in a secret diamond filled society. A great old Newbery classic. Finn Family Moomintroll - A very strange wistful tale about strange creatures in Finnland. No, really. But it's a classic and a very good one. Dh tried reading parts of it aloud and he very much disliked it, but the kids adored it and begged for the next one. Arabel's Raven by Joan Aiken - Okay, really my top pick. An almost Roald Dahl like series about a girl and her pet raven. The raven causes loads of trouble, but it's mostly in good fun. Everyone in the family (even dh!) loves this series. Also, a few of the books mentioned were more chapter books than read alouds. When my kids were really little and just learning to listen to longer stories, we used a few of these to start getting used to longer books with fewer pictures, but at this point (my kids are 6.5) I save books like Stink, Judy Moody, Ivy and Bean, Encyclopedia Brown, Boxcar Children, etc. for the kids to read themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Roald Dahl is Hysterical. Anything by him. Ballet Shoes or Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Agree with Roald Dahl - he is the best! Another favorite - Mandy, but Julie Andrews. Both DD and I LOVE that book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Magic Finger by Dahl was one of my dd6's fav. books (She loved most of his books--she hated Witches). She also reads Time Warp Trio books on her own b/c of the humor. She really enjoyed Gooney Bird and the Cleary books read to her as well. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 (edited) I LOVED all the little house books when I was a child. There are 10 altogether. The Little House books are my pick too. We're on the 4th book, On the Banks of Plum Creek. There's 9 books in the series, by my count, but there's also a series about Ma (Caroline) when she was a girl. That series is called The Caroline Years. ETA: I posted this before I saw the OP's post about how long it takes to get through a series like Little House. Edited April 22, 2011 by gardening momma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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