sweetpea3829 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) I recently posted a thread asking about read-alouds and received a lot of great suggestions. What I'm finding is that my group are a bit too young for some (many) of the books on my list. And while I definitely believe in reading a little above their heads, truth is...they're completely zoning out during much of our read-aloud time, and I suspect it's because the ideas behind The Call of the Wild and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (amongst others) are a bit too much above their heads. So...can anybody recommend some read-alouds that are specifically good for the under 7 set? If you know of ones that are audiobooks, even better. We mostly are using audiobooks from the library for read-alouds. Edited October 27, 2012 by Sweetpea3829 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mert Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 There's a 3 book set starting with My Father's Dragon. Ds also likes The Boxcar Children series. Several that we read for Amer Hist also come to mind: The Cabin Faced West, The Courage of Sarah Noble and A Lion to Guard Us. They're all written well and have a strong narrative without alot of extraneous flourishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My 4 and 6 year old really liked the My Father's Dragon trilogy. Super simple sentence structure, enough adventure to be interesting. (In fact, our library's CD froze on the VERY LAST CHAPTER, and my kids insisted that I purchase the books so we could finish it!) Mr. Popper's Penguins was also a hit, as well as Frog and Toad books. (The Frog and Toad books are great for new-readers, but they also make good read-alouds when they're very young.) (All of these we listened to on audiobooks.) They also like other books that were a little harder to understand (A Bear Called Paddington, The Reluctant Dragon and Winnie the Pooh). The combination of dialect and description made it difficult for my littlest to follow along; I just paused now and then to "recap" the storyline. They both ended up enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My kids like Charlotte's Web and Puppy Place books. We are also reading Stewart Little now and they seem to be liking that. They generally tend to love any book with a movie spin off of some sort too. If they had seen the movie before they tended to follow along much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Your oldest is not quite 7, if I'm reading that right? Depending on the kid I'd be doing a fair amount of good picture books at that age as well, like the Five in a Row lists and Caldecott Honor books. Some nice illustrated versions of various fairy tales and fables are good as well- Zelinsky and Brett have some lovely versions. I have some handheld Beatrix Potter books as well of some of the individual stories that are lovely I would agree as well with : My Father's Dragon Mr. Popper's Penguins The Giraffe, Pelly and Me Mrs. Piggywinkle Stuart Little Pippi Longstocking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My Youngest is not quite 7 yet. Some of the ones I find best for that age are: Books by Thornton W. Burgess. I don't mean the non-fiction books. My boys favorites were, "The Adventures of Peter Cottontail" and "Little Joe Otter". You can get audio versions of some of the books from LibriVox. Text versions of the books can be found at: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Burgess%2C%20Thornton%20W.%20(Thornton%20Waldo)%2C%201874-1965 Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. This is also available as an audio book. Two other much loved favorites are: Thor's Wedding Day by Bruce Coville and The Incredible Journey (both available as audio books with a full cast) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 These are some of the books we read and enjoyed when Ariel was younger. Not all of them are chapter books, but I think at that age it's good to have variety. Poetry: Poems to Read to the Very Young Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face (our copy came with an audio CD) Picture Books: Pickle-Chiffon Pie King Midas and the Golden Touch Twelve Dancing Princesses The Firebird The Little Engine That Could Rumpelstiltskin Rapunzel Chapter Books/Collections: A Treasury of Children’s Literature The Oxford Book of Fairy Tales James Herriot's Treasury for Children The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook Beezus and Ramona (most of the Ramona books are on audio) Emily’s Runaway Imagination No Flying in the House Catwings Betsy-Tacy A Bear Called Paddington (audio) Gooney Bird Greene Nurse Matilda The Boxcar Children Winnie-the-Pooh Raggedy Ann Stories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three4me Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) We do lots of picture books at our house! But as far as chapter book read-alouds, we've head success with Little House in the Big Woods, Charlotte's Web, Betsy-Tacy, A Bear Called Paddington, Pippi Longstocking, and Boxcar Children. One thing I've found with some of them is that if I can find a really great illustrated version of a book then the kids seem to enjoy it more. For example, we got this version of Pippi, and these full-color versions of the Little House books. Next on our list is this illustrated version of The Wind in the Willows. Another thing I've found is that my kids do best with books that don't have terribly long chapters. But that can be more difficult to find. Charlotte's Web was good for that, as well as Boxcar Children. Oh, and how could I forget Thornton Burgess books! My kids loved Old Mother West Wind and his other short chapter books. The chapters were only 2-4 pages long and were perfect for them! Edited October 27, 2012 by CamilikinsMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Have you looked through any of the editions of the Read-Aloud Handbook? He gives each book selection a suggested grade range, which would give you a good place to start. I think at that age we did James and the Giant Peach and Charlotte's Web, among others. Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My 5 year old has listened to the following with success over the last few months: Charlie and the chocolate factory Little House in the Big Woods Pippi Longstocking The Faraway Tree Stories The Wishing Chair Bedknobs and Broomsticks (there is a lot of magic in here that may not be suitable for a group) The Boxcar Children Ramona Quimby (various) Henry and Ribsy Dick King Smith books - (some are easier than others and my daughter actually does best with the ones written for young readers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 A couple I didn't see mentioned... The Jamie and Angus Stories by Anne Fine - these are a beautiful little set of stories (there are two sequels as well) that are perfect read alouds for younger kids. Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke - We read these as part of our Africa unit last year - they're meant to be early chapter books, but I think they make great read alouds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tld Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 My son's (age 5) favorite Thornton Burgess book so far has been "The Adventures of Reddy Fox." Also try, "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" and the whole Little House on the Prairie series. My brother was your older kids age when my mom read the series to us and I think he loved it the most! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Youngest listened to all these books, and is still under seven. Perhaps you could get an idea from his favorites. (Mind you some were picked with Eldest in mind, and he was just a tag-a-long) http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=429719 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakereese Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Wolf Story Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Mouse and the Motorcycle Charlotte's Web Many of the Roald Dahl books My Father's Dragon (all 3) My DD was able to sit through these happily at 4 and 5. I know what you mean about the zoning out. :glare: That was my DD until I started reading books like the ones above. Sometimes I still do separate read alouds because her brother enjoys different things (that are also at a much higher level). But I almost always have at least one book going for the both of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FromA2Z Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 A couple I didn't see mentioned... The Jamie and Angus Stories by Anne Fine - these are a beautiful little set of stories (there are two sequels as well) that are perfect read alouds. I think you recommended these to me last year. My 4 yo loved them and it really helped transition him into chapter books. We are re-reading them now. Thank you. For the OP: My Fathers Dragon Series Bear called Paddington My boys loved the Michael Hague illustrated Wizard of Oz James Herriot's Children's Treasury Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Children's Book of Virtues and Heroes The are loving the old Raggedy Ann and Andy books Just So Stories Mouse and the Motorcycle Series Catwings Series Hope that is a help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three4me Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Oh, I thought of some more my kids liked: The Lighthouse Family series by Cynthia Rylant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I read the Wizard of Oz to my 5yo, and she enjoyed it. I think mine were both younger than 7 when I read "The 101 Dalmations" to them. I wouldn't have considered Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, because it really is for older children (and adults, really). However, there is a "Nursery Alice," which is the basic story without the political/social commentary. Here's the 1000 Good Books List for primary children. Personally, I don't categorize books on whether or not there are chapters. We just read books we enjoyed; shorter ones don't have chapters, longer ones do. They're all good. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 My son has enjoyed many listed here as well as Kipling's Just So stories, the voyages of Dr Dolittle, Mercy Watson. He will pretty much listen to any audiobook. I check them out from the library and borrow from my mon. I want to get Paddington Bear at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share Posted October 28, 2012 Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone!!! Off to the library website...lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Mine have loved: All of a Kind Family Winnie the Pooh Mr. Popper's Penguins Wizard of Oz EB White books Ben and Me Indian and the Cupboard Little House books Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I read the Wizard of Oz to my 5yo, and she enjoyed it. :iagree:For both of mine, they were follow along and enjoy Oz before other chapter books. AFter that it was many of the ones mentioned, Fathers Dragon, Catwings, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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