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Favorite Not Well Known Read Alouds


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Do people who aren't me still read Albert Payson Terhune's dog stories? The anti-German sentiment of post WWI America is inappropriate for littles but he was prolific enough that we can be selective. He's free on Project Gutenburg.

 

We loved Lad: A Dog, so you are not alone, but I am pretty sure we read a sanitized version.

 

When we finished it, my dc (SPOILER ALERT) asked if we could go to Lad's grave. Sniff, sniff.

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We've read Lad too (and a sequel). So emotional!!

 

EVERYONE should read Owls in the Family, LOL funny! Red Sails to Capri was also LOL funny for my girls when I really got into it.

 

Mr. Popper's Penguins is read almost yearly here, and we discovered the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this year - it's great!

 

Also, Homer Price is fun.

 

Now, one I haven't seen mentioned is The American Twins of the Revolutuion. Vintage, funny accents, my kids have made me read it 3 times now (and we are Canadians!)

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We are currently reading Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. The cover had me convinced it was going to be cheesy. Boy, was I wrong. We all love it and even my sixteen-year-old listens in and is upset if we read a chapter without her. It's a laugh-out-loud story with endearing characters.

 

Elise in NC

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Several of our favorites have already been mentioned, but here's my list:

 

The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo

Anything by Roald Dahl, but especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach

Redwall - Brian Jacques

The Scarecrow and His Servant - Philip Pullman

The Night Journey - Kathryn Lasky

Angel on the Square - Gloria Whelan

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg (really anything by this author is good)

The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart

Watership Down - Richard Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

The Trojan War - Olivia Coolidge 

Girl in a Cage - Jane Yolen

The Poppy series - Avi

The Penderwicks - Jeanne Birdsall

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly

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Do people who aren't me still read Albert Payson Terhune's dog stories? The anti-German sentiment of post WWI America is inappropriate for littles but he was prolific enough that we can be selective. He's free on Project Gutenburg.

 

I read all of them. :-)

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I will list authors as well because pretty much anything by these authors is pretty good.

 

Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

Master of the Grove - Victor Kellerher

Playing Beatie Bow - Ruth Park

Ash Wednesday - Colin Thiele

Tomorrow when the War Began - John Marsden

Uncanny/Unbearable/Unbeleivable and many other Un.... Books - Peter Jennings (these are short stories with a twist)

The Belgariad - David Eddings

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We are currently reading Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. The cover had me convinced it was going to be cheesy. Boy, was I wrong. We all love it and even my sixteen-year-old listens in and is upset if we read a chapter without her. It's a laugh-out-loud story with endearing characters.

 

Elise in NC

 

LOVED this one! Highly recommend.

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I wouldn't dare suggest that anything I read is "not well known" on this board, but my kids and I have read so many stories about children (minus parents) who are on some island, it's ridiculous. After reading Swallows and Amazons and missing all the Treasure Island references, I decided to read Treasure Island to them (the original). Then we watched as many T-I themed movies as we could. (My youngest got into the spirit and started saying, "Sugar my timbers!") But this has made me rethink my approach to children's literature, in that I really want to be sure they have a foundation of reference material to get books like Mistress Masham's Repose (next on the list) -- so I am going to read Gulliver's Travels first.

 

We (or at least I) enjoyed The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett (the even harder-to-find sequels, not so much, although I have them), and I think Eleanor Estes's Moffat books are enjoyable.

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I'll add one more: The Chestry Oak, by Kate Seredy. For some reason I cannot fathom, people seem to like her other works better. They pale in comparison to the Chestry Oak. It is the model for sacrifice, integrity, honor, true love.

 

I cannot read it without weeping uncontrollably, BTW. I read it to each child, with a huge cloth napkin in my lap, and I'd warn each child that Mommy would be crying in this chapter, or sometimes Mommy would be weeping uncontrollably in this chapter. Even the satisfying ending makes me weep. Best.book.ever.

 

Another one is Hurry Home, Candy, by Meinert De Jong (sp? too lazy to go look it up, lol). It also makes me cry...the ugly cry, you know, with hiccupping and lots of nose-blowing. Worth.every.soggy.tissue.

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Oh!
 

I realized I did a blog post on off-beat book recommendations a while back. I haven't read any of these aloud to an actual kid, but I think they would all work well as read-alouds just the same.

 

http://postapocalyptichomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/slightly-off-beat-book-recommendations.html

 

* A Lemon and a Star by EC Spykman

* Dune Boy by Edwin Way Teale

* Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

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I realized I did a blog post on off-beat book recommendations a while back. I haven't read any of these aloud to an actual kid, but I think they would all work well as read-alouds just the same.

 

http://postapocalyptichomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/slightly-off-beat-book-recommendations.html

 

 

I had fun browsing your blog ... thank you!

 

Regards,

Kareni

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The only one we've done that no one has mentioned is Treasures of the Snnow by Patricia St. John.

  

We love all of Patricia St. John's books so far! This was our first and we also watched the movie... of course the book is better... and the movie is very old. 

 

The Tanglewood's Secret is great too!

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