aug17girl Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 (edited) I am looking for advice on read alouds and written work for my son who turned four in May. He will be going into public school junior kindergarten in September and we plan on afterschooling. He reads books like Frog and Toad and the original Curious George stories easily and loves to read. We are stuck on read alouds though because he is not interested in listening to books that do not have a lot of pictures. I understand that this is developmentally appropriate for his age, but I would like to be reading aloud things that are above his reading level. He will listen to things like longer picture books and Beatrix Potter, but he is able to read these himself as well. I’ve tried books like The House at Pooh Corner, A Bear called Paddington, and Stuart Little, but none of these have held his interest beyond two pages. Anyone have any suggestions on fiction to read aloud? Should I follow his lead and stick to picture book and try again in a few months? Or any suggestions on where to start to find non-fiction at the right level with lots of pictures for reading aloud. Edited August 30, 2011 by aug17girl To fix a typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 If you go to the library and look around at the picture book section, you will probably find some books that meet your criteria and have nice pictures. Some of the picture books are written with rich vocabulary and many words on each page. I have some books in my collection that are colorfully illustrated classics. They are few and far between, though. Perhaps you can find such a version of books like: Pinocchio; the Wizard of Oz; Little House in the Big Woods; Robert Louis Stevenson's poems; A Christmas Carol; Black Beauty. My kids are 4 and they are currenty listening to about a chapter a week of The Little Princess and Ribsy, without many pictures. (My sister reads the long books to them on Sundays.) I think Henry Huggins and Ramona the Pest would also be good for this age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I recommend starting with some of the shorter Roald Dahl Books -- The Enormous Crocodile, The Twits, and Fantastic Mr. Fox -- and ask your children's librarian for favourite illustrated fairy tales and folk tale collections and picture books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Look for "Read Aloud Editions". Our library has some of these, and I've also seen them in the discount section at Walden Books or Barnes and Noble. These are illustrated, larger versions of chapter books, but with the same text, for books like "Ramona the Pest" and "Paddington Bear". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 For non-fiction, there are lots of science and history readers that you could use. They are often at a 3rd-4th grade reading level and have plenty of pictures for interest. Some examples would be Let's Read and Find Out, Magic Schoolbus, DK Readers, etc. My kids weren't interested in longer fiction books right away, but they've warmed up to them now. My middle son is almost 5, and he finally enjoys a little bit of a chapter book without pictures. 6 months ago, he didn't. It's also perfectly ok to read aloud books that the child is able to read themselves. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I think My Father's Dragon is the perfect first chapter book read-aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The Story of Doctor Dolittle By Hugh Lofting This is a very beautifully illustrated book, with wonderful color pictures on almost every page that one would like to have framed and hung up all the wall. Doctor Dolittle is a famous animal doctor who can speak the languages of the animals. With the help of his favorite animal pets he sets off on a ship to Africa to cure the monkey’s who are suffering from a great sickness. This book has been edited and changed numerous times to make it appropriate to modern day standards. So the comments about racist comments depends heavily on which version you are reading, and this is complicated since many times since it was first published in 1920 changes to the text have been made without a forward stating that they have been made. One of the latest editions has a forward by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack explaining in detail all the changes they made to the book, and stating their reasoning behind it. The illustrations by Michael Hague are beautiful and nearly every other page spread has a full page illustration on it. This is the most common version sold at stores and finding a original edition of the book is quite difficult. In the original version in Chapter 11: The Black Prince you meet Prince Bumpo who loves fairy tales and states that he found sleeping beauty and kissed her awake, but she wouldn’t have him since his skin was black. Therefore the prince wants the Doctor to make his skin white. In the bowdlerisated version sleeping beauty wouldn’t marry Prince Bumpo since he is isn’t strong and brave. Therefore Prince Bumpo wants to be given the head of a lion so he would be strong and brave. Starting when Doctor Dolittle reaches Africa at the end of Chapter 5: The Great Journey and ending with Chapter 12: Medicine and Magic there are numerous occurrences of derogatory terms and sterotypes. Depending on the version you are reading this terms can be, “darkies, niggers, black, white”. But what terms used depend on the version you are reading. In the newest versions of the book the terms “darkies” and “niggers” aren’t used, the characters are referred to as “black” and “white”, and the country the Doctor comes from is called, “The land of the white man”. Sequels: The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923) Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924) Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1925) Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926) Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927) Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928) Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933) Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book (1936) Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948) Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950) Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952) * Please note that the sequel to this book, “The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle” is 350+ pages long, has fewer illustrations, and is meant for a more mature audience. Activities: This book is a great one to spurn on the study of animals using non-fiction books. The pets of Docotor Dolittle include; Polynesia the parrot, Gub-gub the pig, Jip the dog, Dab-Dab the duck, Chee-Chee a monkey, and Too-too the owl. Summary: Chapter 1: Puddleby You meet John Dolittle, a respected doctor and living with his sister in the small English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. His loves of animals grows over the years, and eventually scare off most of his human clients. Chapter 2: Animal Language His pet parrot Polynesia teaches him the language of animals and he becomes a veterinarian and becomes world famous among the animals. Chapter 3: More Money Troubles A crocodile escaped from a circus comes to live with Dolittle and scares away his paying clients, and even his sister. The animals take over the housekeeping, and tried to make money selling radishes and roses but it wasn’t enough and they all had a very hungry winter. Chapter 4: A Message from Africa A swallow brings the message that there is a terrible sickness among the monkeys in Africa. The Doctor borrows a ship from a sailor and supplies from the grocery and with his favorite pets sets off to Africa. Chapter 5: The Great Journey After six weeks of travelling they crash into Africa and the ship sinks. They all make it to land where a black man finds them and demands that they come before the King of Jolliginki. Chapter 6: Polynesia and the King The King of Jolliginki puts Dolittle and his animals in prison, because of the misdeeds of a white man that came to the land of Jolliginki before Dolittle arrived. At night Polnesia sneaks into the Kings bedroom and imitates Dolittle and convinces the King that he is a wizard and will make everyone sick if not realized from prison immediately. The Queen sees the parrot leaving the palace and the King realizes he has been tricked. Chapter 7: The Bridge of Apes The King sends his army and the Queen into the Jungle to capture Dolittle. He manages to escape just in time over a bridge made of living monkeys. Chapter 8: The Leader of the Lions The Doctor vaccinated all the healthy animals. At first the King of the lions wouldn’t help the Doctor care for the sick monkeys. But the Queen of the lion convinces him to, and he orders all the animals to help. After two weeks all the animals are cured. Chapter 9: The Monkeys' Council The monkey’s come up with the idea of giving Dolittle a thank-you present of a two headed animal called a pushmi-pullyu. Chapter 10: The Rarest Animal of All The monkey’s capture a pushmi-pullyu, a shy two-headed gazelle-unicorn cross and convinces it to meet Dolittle. Apone meeting him the pushmi-pullyu decides to go with him. The animals have a good-bye party for Dolittle. Chapter 11: The Black Prince Dolittle and his animals get lost in the Jungles of Africa and eventually wander into the Kings garden and get send back to prison. Polynesia meets Prince Bumpo who wants to be a lion(or white man, depending on the version you are reading) and convinces him that Dolittle can change him. Chapter 12: Medicine and Magic At night Prince Bumpo comes to the Doctor and promises to release him from prison and give him a ship he is can change him. After being released they hurry to the shore. Millions of swallows appear to lead them home. Chapter 13: Red Sails and Blue Wings On the way home they are chased by the pirates of Barbary in a fast ship with red sails. The swallows using a thousand small ropes pull the boat out of range of the pirates. Chapter 14: The Rats' Warning The tired swallows pull the ship to a island. All the rats leave the ship because it is a bad ship and will soon sink. Everyone leaves the ship to look for fresh water. Two swallows inform Dolittle that the pirates have come to the island and they are all Dolittle’s ship. Chapter 15: The Barbary Dragon Dolittle and his animals sneak onto the pirate ship and when leaving the bay Gub-gub the pig sneezes and the pirates block the exit to the bay using Dolittle’s ship. The ship the pirates are on sinks and the sharks help Dolittle convince Ben Ali to become a farmer. Chapter 16: Too-Too, the Listener They explore the pirate ship and find a locked room which has a crying person inside. Chapter 17: The Ocean Gossips A boy is found in the room, and he thinks the pirates drowned his uncle. Dolittle asks the porpoises who say he isn’t drown. Chapter 18: Smells Eagles search half the world and can’t find the uncle. Jip the dog tires to find him by following the smell of his black rappee snuff. He can’t smell him in the North, South, or East wind. Chapter 19: The Rock In the morning Jip smells him in the west wind. They travel to the west, and the swallows pull the ship till they stop at a giant bare rock. Jip and Dolittle find the uncle in a underground cave. Chapter 20: The Fisherman's Town Dolittle takes the boy and his uncle home, where they are welcomed like heroes and Dolittle and Jip are given fancy presents. Chapter 21: Home Again When he gets back to his own country Dolittle goes on tour showing off the pushmi-pullyu for money. When he has lots of money he goes home and buys the sailor two ships and pays back the grocer, and still has lots of money left over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aug17girl Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 Thanks for all the suggestions! I am going print this out and take it to the library and the bookstore with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whereneverever Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Another thought- my DDs listen better when their hands are busy. I let them mash playdoh or eat a snack while I am reading, especially something challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Mostly, you really do need to follow their lead. But here is what turned my dd on to longer read-alouds when she was that age. I first had her read an adapted version of a classic (in my case, Black Beauty). After I saw that she really liked that book, I ran across the full version of the book in the Great Illustrated Classics series for just $.50 at the library. Even though it is the full book, it has a picture on every page, and the chapters are very short. She complained about the black & white pictures, but she did not want me to stop reading after the first chapter. We made it part of what we did at bedtime, and I made sure that there was still plenty of picture-book reading going on. I did the same with Dr. Dolittle next, starting with the adapted version first. She seems to enjoy the books better when she already knows a little about the characters and the story. Ever since, we have always been reading a chapter book of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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