Help, we need a fabulous read aloud not often listed!

[tuckabella]

The last three books I've picked have not worked for one reason or another.

We read a lot so most of the usual books have been read like Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan etc. etc.

 

Can you recommend a read aloud that your kids LOVED that isn't in most of the read aloud lists on WTM forums?

 

THANKS!

 

Alley

 

Might I just say that we have truly enjoyed the first Pineapple Place book because of a post you made a while ago. Today we started the second book.

 

So, thanks SO much. And :bigear:

[Alicia64]

Might I just say that we have truly enjoyed the first Pineapple Place book because of a post you made a while ago. Today we started the second book.

 

So, thanks SO much. And :bigear:

 

Tuckabella -- That means so much to me. Thank you for saying so. Isn't Anne Lindbergh wonderful? You might want to check out her book The Worry Week too. Prisoner of Pineapple Place was great too. And definitely do Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.

 

Everyone else -- Thank you for all of these fantastic ideas! We also LOVED: TumTum and Nutmeg, Frindle, Cricket in Times Square (the other Chester books were okay, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

 

But I've just ordered everything else!

 

I hope the thread will keep going!

 

Alley

[lisabees]

Mio, My Son and Ronia, The Robber's Daughter and all others by Astrid Lindgren

Moomintroll series

Animal Family by Randall Jarrell

Wolf Story by William McCleery

Smartest Man in Ireland by Mollie Hunter

The Great Good Thing by Rod Townley

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

Tuck Everlasting and Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbit

Mandy and Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards

[Targhee]

Fin Family Moomintroll (and other Moomin stories)

The Wind Boy

The Princess and the Gobin

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

 

 

We have loved these on audiobooks:

Charlie and the Cocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Call it Courage

Several short stories collection by Hugh Lupton

[Peony]

The Otterbury Incident, by C. Day Lewis is a great book, for grown-ups or children.

[Lori D.]

Here are some that our DSs enjoyed at that age:

 

- The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (Cameron)

- The Toothpaste Millionaire[/url] (Merrill)

- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken)

- Half Magic (Eager)

- The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson)

- The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois)

- The Great Wheel (Lawson)

- Chucaro: Wild Pony of the Pampa (Kalney)

[3 Only Children]

One of my son's all time favorite book is The Phantom Tollbooth. Highly recommend this book, it has plays on words, fun characters.. Don't let the title fool you, it is not about phantoms and the main character is a boy. Great read aloud!

[Alicia64]

One of my son's all time favorite book is The Phantom Tollbooth. Highly recommend this book, it has plays on words, fun characters.. Don't let the title fool you, it is not about phantoms and the main character is a boy. Great read aloud!

 

:iagree:Fantastic book! I hope a few more read-aholics will add to this list of "books not normally mentioned!"

 

Thank you everyone!

 

Alley

[3 Only Children]

Hank the Cowdog is a wonderful series for boys. Always makes my son laugh and there are over 50 titles so you won't run out of good stories for a long time. It's a fun book to do "voices" with, I make Hank sound like a cross between a serious FBI agent / army sargeant and Drover as a country simpleton. Hank and Drover are dogs. Good vocabulary lessons built in too.

[Pen]

The last three books I've picked have not worked for one reason or another.

We read a lot so most of the usual books have been read like Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan etc. etc.

 

Can you recommend a read aloud that your kids LOVED that isn't in most of the read aloud lists on WTM forums?

 

THANKS!

 

Alley

 

Don't know what's on usual lists, nor have I read all of this one, but if you are liking Kate Di Camillo, certainly also Because of Winn-Dixie is worth reading.

 

My son is himself reading things by Lloyd Alexander, but they could certainly be wonderful read a-louds.

 

I am reading to him bit by bit the book in my sig (Through the Eyes of a Stranger), and a book by Louis Sachar (spelling?) titled something like Wayside school which is weird, but kind of funny.

[Jocelyne]

There are some great books on this list that we have enjoyed, and plenty more that I'll have to check out. I sure wish there were more hours in the day for me to read aloud (or, at the very least, that the resident toddler let me read aloud for long afternoons like the 8-year-old would love for me to do!).

 

Anyway, here are a few more to add to the list:

 

Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains

Any Which Wall (expecially if you enjoyed Half Magic!)

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic

The Cheshire Cheese Cat

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

[woolybear]

My kids loved (and still talk about it today) when we read Tum Tum and Nutmeg. You can read my more detailed post about it here and see if it's something you might enjoy.

:iagree: I just came here to post this. Huge hit here. My boys were literally on the edge of their seats at times, cracking up at other times. All the Tumtum and Nutmeg books are great.

[TriciaS]

The Tale of Despereaux! We just read that and even my 4 year old was enthralled! It's wonderful and so well written!

[BatmansWife]

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

[kubiac]

My Family & Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - all about a science-inclined boy living a free-range (and yet very indulged childhood) in pre-WWII Corfu

 

Frankie by Wilanne Belden - about a magical family whose newest baby brother grows up to become a griffin

[sagira]

There are some great books on this list that we have enjoyed, and plenty more that I'll have to check out. I sure wish there were more hours in the day for me to read aloud (or, at the very least, that the resident toddler let me read aloud for long afternoons like the 8-year-old would love for me to do!).

 

I hear ya! My nine-year-old is like this, but my five- and 1-year-old won't have it. My middle one is still on picture books and finds audio books or me reading more difficult books boring as she doesn't understand.

[RoundAbout]

My son loved the Cat Pack Gang books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (author of Shiloh). The first book is about two house cats who escape into the world and their adventures. I think there are four total:

 

The Grand Escape

The Healing of Texas Jake

Carlotta's Kittens

Polo's Mother

 

Lots of fun and he has asked me read each one again right after finishing.

[Jocelyne]

My son loved the Cat Pack Gang books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (author of Shiloh). The first book is about two house cats who escape into the world and their adventures. I think there are four total:

 

The Grand Escape

The Healing of Texas Jake

Carlotta's Kittens

Polo's Mother

 

Lots of fun and he has asked me read each one again right after finishing.

 

I second this rec. These books I great :)

[yvonne]

My 9-year-old's favorite book right now is Freddy the Detective. :001_smile:

 

My boys and daughter loved the Freddy audiobooks! There was also a book of poems by Freddy that they thought were hilarious. :) We were able to get most from our library.

[JudoMom]

Nick of Time

[Julie Smith]

My boys and daughter loved the Freddy audiobooks! There was also a book of poems by Freddy that they thought were hilarious. :) We were able to get most from our library.

 

I really wish the library had his audio books. But they only have one, "Freddy and the Popinjay". Since it's no popular the library isn't going to buy more. I did point out that perhaps the first, second or third book in the series has more chance of being popular than the what seventh? But the library disagrees. :(

 

I did read the first 3 books to my boys 2 times each a long time ago. My boys loved them at the time, I wouldn't mind re-visiting them. But I must admit I don't want to read them. Bad reading mom, I know.

[momma aimee]

Now I feel well know. Since I didn't even start this thread, or mention in it anywhere that my kids like Burgess books. I admit I am typing up a word document listing our first 500 read alouds and what my kids thought of them. I'm also including when we read them, and how many times we have read each book.

.

 

i am NOT at all being rude, this is a honest question -- i real A LOT to my kids, but ? Are you counting the 32-page "picture" book -- or all 500 chapter books?

[Julie Smith]

i am NOT at all being rude, this is a honest question -- i real A LOT to my kids, but ? Are you counting the 32-page "picture" book -- or all 500 chapter books?

 

With very few exceptions every book on the list takes st least an hour to read or listen to. I did count maybe three, 32 page picture books since my son read them to me and pointed out it took way more than an hour to read. I then read out loud those three books in way less an an hour each But he wanted them counted on the list, so I counted them.

 

With the exception of those three (or less ) Picture books the only things taking an hour or less was the cat wings series (again my eldest first read them out loud and it took him more than an hour. So it counted as a book when I than read it out loud) and the Jim Weiss CDs which are only approximately 1 hour.

 

If you want the list I'll find a link to my old thread listing the titles of our first 450 read alouds.

 

(Note that includes books listened to as an audio as a family, and if I read a book 7 times it counts as 7, not one)

 

So the list does include quite a few quick reads, such as all the Thornton W. Burgess book several times each. But the list also has many long books such as Swiss Family Robinson, and The Wind in the Willows. Tomorrow we will be finishing The Secret Garden. (1 chapter left)

 

Eldest also just finished reading to himself a Enchanted Forest book, so we are listening to it as an audio recording. I have already read the book out loud once, and so has my husband. The average length of an audio book in the enchanted first series is 5+ hours.

[Julie Smith]

Oh yes, I do have a few other things on the list that are not chapter books.

 

My husband sometimes read the kids a rule book to a board game. For example he read out loud the rules to Descent the Second Edition. The rule book is big and thick and it took him more than 2 hours to just read the rules out loud. This was after we had played the game once or twice. The kids just wanted to hear all the rules.

 

ETA, here is the link to the thread listing our first 450 read alouds

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=403133&highlight=450

Edited September 17, 2012 by Julie Smith

[Catherine]

Dominic by William Steig. Audiobook is wonderful!!

[xixstar]

I want to say Thank You to those who mentioned the Tumtum and Nutmeg books - we picked up one and it has been the first read aloud that has really captured and held my oldest littles' attention. She is just captivated by it and every time we have a free minute or two, she brings it out to read some more. :)

Edited September 18, 2012 by xixstar

[Bluegoat]

My dd7 just finished reading The Princess and the Goblin and loved it. I think it would make a great read-aloud.

[Bluegoat]

My Family & Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - all about a science-inclined boy living a free-range (and yet very indulged childhood) in pre-WWII Corfu

 

 

:iagree:THis is one of my favorites! My dh is a serious hunter, and I read out loud to him the part about the author brother claiming shooting well was about understanding the principles involved and not practice and going hunting with the sportman brother, and I thought my dh was going to bust his gut laughing.

 

Also, Luke Baldwin's Vow

Maybe if they like boyish adventure stuff, Lost on the Barrens.

[LindaOz]

We are loving The Ranger's Apprentice series. Even my dh is in on this one ;)

[Momma2Luke]

haha... don't know why it showed up twice....

Edited September 18, 2012 by Momma2Luke

[Momma2Luke]

A book that I find not often mentioned is Rascal by Sterling North. I first read this to my son when he was 5 and he ADORED it.... then a few weeks ago, we spotted the unabridged audio cd version at the library so we listened to it again...

 

wonderful book that I think should be in every boy's library...

[MunRoLy]

Wow! I just went through this thread adding so many wonderful books I haven't heard of to my Amazon wish lists! Thanks for all the great recommendations.

[Rosie_0801]

Walking the Boundaries by Jackie French

So Far From Skye by Judith O'Neill

Marmaduke the Possum by Pixie O'Harris

Finders Keepers by Emily Rodda

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs

Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall

Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel C. Pedley

[crazyforlatin]

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry, and the audiobook is read by Jim Dale.

 

Neil Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants

 

Neil Gaiman's Coraline, which we need to read aloud again as it's nearing that time. DD preferred this over his other book, The Graveyard Book.

[Julie Smith]

Neil Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants.

 

If you liked that one, I think you would love,

 

"Thor's Wedding Day" by Bruce Coville.

[crazyforlatin]

If you liked that one, I think you would love,

 

"Thor's Wedding Day" by Bruce Coville.

 

DD did enjoy Thor and thought it was quite funny. We actually listened to Thor based on your recommendation from weeks ago. I think she prefers Norse over Greek but Egyptian over everything else. After we listened to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, she asked for Chinese myths.

[stripe]

The Rescuers (not Disney). OOP, worth looking for.

 

it's back in print!

http://www.amazon.com/Rescuers-Review-Books-Childrens-Collection/dp/1590174607/

 

Published by the NY review of books.

 

They also reissued Beyond the Pawpaw Trees.

 

My kids have also liked Edward Eager's and Eleanor Estes' books.

[Julie Smith]

DD did enjoy Thor and thought it was quite funny. We actually listened to Thor based on your recommendation from weeks ago. I think she prefers Norse over Greek but Egyptian over everything else. After we listened to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, she asked for Chinese myths.

 

:) Yah. I'm glad I'm having a reading influence on someone outside this household. :)

[tammyw]

We recently read Ginger Pye, The Great Brain, and Little Britches (still reading this one). We have loved them all. I'm thinking I prefer the older books :)

[happypamama]

My kids laughed and laughed at the Wayside School books when we listened to them (some read by me, some recorded).

[Guest Savoir Faire]

We are constantly listening to books on tape. I have 6 and 8/boy/girl.

 

Recent books that went well:

 

Chocolate Touch (read-aloud)

Mr. Popper's Penguins

The Twits by Ronald Dahl

 

Up next: Cricket in Times Square

[Esse Quam Videri]

One of our favorites that kiddos have asked for again and again is Baby Island. It's funny, lighthearted, and fast paced.

[flamommy2mygirls]

My kids loved (and still talk about it today) when we read Tum Tum and Nutmeg. You can read my more detailed post about it here and see if it's something you might enjoy.

 

Picked this up at the library and my girls are loving it! Thanks for the suggestion!!!

[Carol in Cal.]

The Wheel on the School

 

Number the Stars

 

Half Magic (so funny)

 

Ben and me (likewise)

 

The Egypt Game

 

From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

[mamalbh]

Fin Family Moomintroll (and other Moomin stories)

The Wind Boy

The Princess and the Gobin

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

 

 

We have loved these on audiobooks:

Charlie and the Cocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Call it Courage

Several short stories collection by Hugh Lupton

 

We all loved The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane!

[Alicia64]

We're really enjoying Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. It's about the life of a real self taught navigator who updated in a big way the world of navigation.

 

My 9 year olds loved it and so did I, but it gets a tad slow at times describing ship stuff, but overall it's a great story. And a real testament to self schooling.

 

Alley

Edited September 28, 2012 by Alicia64
found Amazon's Wish List.

[momtoamiracle]

Tammy I am a lover of old books too. I have the whole Littlr Britches collection. I hadn't thought of starting them as a read aloud to my son. He would love the first one.

 

 

 

The mercy books by Kate Dicamillo (sp) are a hit with my boy. Every time he listens to them he wants to eat buttered toast.

 

 

 

Love the lists, writing them down to check if my library carries any of them.

[momma aimee]

which is the first Tum Tum and Nutmeg.

 

the rose cottage?

 

Aimee

[Julie Smith]

which is the first Tum Tum and Nutmeg.

 

the rose cottage?

 

Aimee

 

It's confusing.

 

 

http://www.tumtumandnutmeg.co.uk/book.htm

 

If I remember correctly, "The Rose Cottage Tales" contains the first three books in the series.

[Hunter]

I'm sorry I haven't read the whole thread. Has Bambi been listed yet? It's not old enough to be copyright free, but not new either, so it tends to go unnoticed.