Jenny in GA Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Last summer we did something fun during swim team -- every day we came home after the kids's practice, they all showered and changed, we ate lunch, and then hung out in the living room while I read a chapter of two of The Westing Game. I want to do that again this summer, and am trying to find a good read-aloud for a 13 year old girl, 11 year old girl, and 8 year old boy. I would do the Little House books, but we've read them all already. Any great suggestions? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 These books were so much fun for mixed ages - the younger dc love them and older ones don't mind. Suzanne Selfors' Smells Like Dog series - here's the first one: http://www.amazon.com/Smells-Like-Dog-Suzanne-Selfors-ebook/dp/B00351DSOQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399392609&sr=8-1&keywords=smells+like+dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Where the Red Fern Grows, Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Old Yeller, The Yearling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 The incredible journey. Three pets make an incredible journey in the wild to get home. The enchanted forest series, starting with Dealing with Dragons Eldest just started rereading this series and youngest is listening to it. Even though in the past few years the boys have already heard it four times and eldest has already read it once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 My first choice: - The Great Wheel (Lawson) Building of the first Ferris Wheel in 1893; lots of humor, engaging characters, and it's just flat-out interesting! This has remained one of our all-time favorites. Second choice: an adventure: - The Hobbit (Tolkien) - The Twenty-One Balloons (du Bois) - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) - One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Smith) -- such a fun and funny story, better than the movie versions! More great read-alouds: FANTASY - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) - The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) - Half Magic; Magic by the Lake, Knight's Castle (Eager) - Five Children and It (Nesbit) - The Book of Dragons (Nesbit) - The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming) - The Never Ending Story (Ende) HUMOROUS --or-- TALL TALE - Just So Stories (Kipling) - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson) - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) - The Great Brain (Fitzgerald) REAL LIFE ADVENTURE or misadventures - The Cay (Taylor) - Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) - The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) - Little Britches (Moody) - In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord) - Anne of Green Gables(Montgomery) - A Little Princess (Burnett) - The Secret Garden (Burnett) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) HISTORICAL ADVENTURE - Adam of the Road (Gray) -- Medieval England - The Great Turkey Walk (Karr) - The Prince and the Pauper (Twain) - Oliver Twist (Dickens) - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (and others by Howard Pyle) - Treasure Island (Stevenson) DETECTIVE / MYSTERY - Detectives in Togas (Winterfeld) - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg) - The Baker Street Irregulars (Newman) - Hank the Cowdog (Erickson) -- also humorous, and also a talking dog ANIMALS (real) - Owls in the Family (Mowat) - The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns (Farley) - My Side of the Mountain (George) - Summer of the Monkeys (Rawls) - All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) - Kildee House (Montgomery) - Because of Winn Dixie (diCamillo) - The Incredible Journey (Burnford) ANIMALS (talking) - Trumpet of the Swan (White) - The Mouse and the Motorcycle (McCleary) - The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, The Turret, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe) - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) - Redwall (Jacques) - Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling) - The Jungle Book (Kipling) - Rabbit Hill (Lawson) - The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Ben and Me Anna of Green Gables Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I just (last night) started reading The Hobbit for the first time ever. To myself (my children are too young). I am already excited about using it as a family read-aloud once they are older!!!! Loving it. My dad read The Chronicles of Narnia to me when I was about your children's age. Also Kate DiCamillo has some very fun family read-aloud books.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 The Trumpet of the Swan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Little Britches and The Man of the Family by Ralph Moody still remain our favorite family read alouds of all time. Followed by The Hobbit, of course... Chip the glasses and crack the plates! Blunt the knives and bend the forks! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates— Smash the bottles and burn the corks! Cut the cloth and tread on the fat! Pour the milk on the pantry floor! Leave the bones on the bedroom mat! Splash the wine on every door! Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl; Pound them up with a thumping pole; And when you’ve finished if any are whole, Send them down the hall to roll! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates! So, carefully! carefully with the plates! *Especially for girls: All of a Kind Family, Understood Betsy, Caddie Woodlawn, Anne of Green Gables, The Little Princess, and ( my favorite) Little Women. We also loved Patricia St John's unabridged version of Treasures of the Snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 We really enjoyed Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I would agree that the Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit are both good reads for those ages. We recently read Wheel on the School, which we really loved. We are currently working our way through The Breadwinner trilogy by Deborah Ellis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 A few my kids have loved: Swallows and Amazons (this is kind of slower and not for everyone, but they loved it) The Chronicles of Narnia The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 The Phantom Tollbooth was a huge hit with mine this year, from the kindergartner to the teenagers. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Just a warning about Anne of Green Gables. The first few chapters are FULL of long, descriptive sentences. In my mind, they are to show Anne's imagination to the reader; her thought processes as she travels to her new home. As she grows up and becomes more secure in her world, the sentences in the book grow shorter--still lots of description, but the writing mirrors Anne's own maturation. So the beginning can feel a little excessive/sloggy/slow but patience will take you into the story. I love when an author is so good, she can even make her word choice/writing style "tell" the story. IYKWIM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 The Ranger's Apprentice series. My whole family loves these books - girls and boys, younger and older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 My boys loved these but they might be too young for the 13 year old: The Penderwicks series The Moffat series The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings A Wrinkle in Time Mysterious Benedict Society series or The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict The Evolution of Calpernia Tate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian summer Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 My kids are the exact ages of yours. Ours favourites have been The Willoughbys (one of the funniest books I've ever read - kept the kids roaring) A Mango Shaped Space (interesting read about a character with synesthesia) The CandyMakers (sort of mysterious like The Westing Game) Harry Potter series Where the MountainMeets the Moon (beautifully written and engaging) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Narnia Hobbit and LOTR Thornton Burgess books (Reddy Fox, Bobby Coon, etc). These are family favorites in our house from the 3 year old to the parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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