crazyforlatin Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The most recent one was Doll Bones, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/doll-bones, linking this as it may be scary for younger kids. And, this week, Wonder, which I bet will be good based on some of the hivers' reviews here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomandlorih Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The Town Cats and Other Tales by Lloyd Alexanderhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Town-Cats-Other-Tales/dp/0141301228 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The City of Ember was our most popular read aloud by far. The kids actually groaned when we would stop for the day. The also loved Half Magic and we went on to read some of the sequels as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 DD and DH are currently reading "Four Frontiers", which is a collection of Heinlein's juvenile novels from the 1940's/early 1950's. Usually young, male characters trying to make their way in a new world/planet. They're enjoyed g comparing the 1940's view of space (and Heinlein's politics, taken in context) with what we now believe/know. DD's only complaint is that they're all boys (Heinlein's early work was mostly published in Boys Life, so that's understandable). They've read a lot of Classic sci-fi this year. In general, anything published before 1960 is pretty safe for any age-after that, things start to get more iffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 My son loved The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald. The main characters are a rough group of boys. It's set in turn-of-the-century Utah (I'm pretty sure it was Utah). It does have some dark content, though - one of the shopkeepers starves to death...the kids bring up a lot of religious issues (the community has Mormons, other Christians and one of the shopkeepers was Jewish)...there is a new school teacher in town that the boys hate (because he's hitting the boys at school), so they try to get him fired by framing him for something... Just saying, it's not for everyone, but my son really enjoyed the book. That was probably his favorite book this year. This was my husband's favorite book growing up and he loved reading it aloud again to my girls a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The two biggest hits for read alouds this year were Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky, both by Grace Lin. Yes, my girls LOVED when we read "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" aloud, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWillSoar Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The Mysterious Benedict Society was the book that turned my reluctant reader into an avid reader. He got it for Christmas when he was ten and never looked back. This was one of my favorites that I read to the kids. I also loved the Narnia books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 We are just finishing up the Chronicles of Prydain. We are about 50 pp. into the last book. The Welsh names presented a learning curve at the beginning but we all love the story. For Christmas we enjoyed Madeleine L' Engle's The Twenty Four Days Christmas and The Gift of the Magi. Farmer Boy was a hit here in the the fall. Did the Chronicles of Prydain stay strong all the way through? We're just starting the 2nd book. The girls really like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Did the Chronicles of Prydain stay strong all the way through? We're just starting the 2nd book. The girls really like it. My kids have already requested not to do the second. :crying: But I may ignore them. It definitely stays strong. The last two books won more awards than the early part of the series. They're also a little darker and more philosophical as well, which it sounds like your girls will likely enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 My kids have already requested not to do the second. :crying: But I may ignore them. It definitely stays strong. The last two books won more awards than the early part of the series. They're also a little darker and more philosophical as well, which it sounds like your girls will likely enjoy.This never took here :( But we never did it as a read aloud and I may do try that. There's a different standard here for IR and RA ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 They really loved the first book. We're reading it almost reader's theater style - Shannon reads Taran and Morgan reads Elionwy and Gurgi. I read all the boring characters and the narration. They're super engaged, partly because they are reading too. We've never done a whole book like this before, and I didn't plan it, it just kind of happened spontaneously. Anyway, we're going with it. I think that the girls liked the book more than I did. I didn't dislike it, I just found it a little depressing - this is a world surrounded by a powerful evil but there isn't really explanation of why or how it all got set up this way. It just feels a little thin in the background mythology to me, given that I haven't read The Mabinogion anyway! Also, I have read a *lot* of quest series in my life! So it feels more formulaic to me than it does to them. Anyway, they are happy and I don't hate it, so I think we'll keep going. The chapters are just the right length for bedtime reading, so that's a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian summer Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The Willoughbys is hilariously fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Dh wants to read books theater sytle. But I can't imagine doing so unless it is a play. I wish the english language was set up differently. So it would always be: Mom said, "I like to drink juice". Instead of: "I like to drink juice," said Mom. So you know who is talking before the have to read the words. It's fine for short sentences like the above, but it is hard to figure out who needs to read what when you have tons of characters making large speeches. Right! I feel the same way. It's really annoying to me to read this way. But the girls love it, so I'm telling myself it's a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Did the Chronicles of Prydain stay strong all the way through? We're just starting the 2nd book. The girls really like it. We took a break after The Black Cauldron because it was a litte dark for my 7 yo., esp at bedtime. Those cauldron-born a bit creepy! They loved the Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer was good, but had some slow spots. The High King, so far so good. Dd loves Eilonwy and Ds loves to do Gurgi's voice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Well, I can tell you it's NOT The Wheel on the School. Although we find the story interesting and DD really wants me to read it, I just cannot get through it. First time I've had this problem. Note to self...choose shorter books and ones with shorter chapters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 My son loved The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald. The main characters are a rough group of boys. It's set in turn-of-the-century Utah (I'm pretty sure it was Utah). It does have some dark content, though - one of the shopkeepers starves to death...the kids bring up a lot of religious issues (the community has Mormons, other Christians and one of the shopkeepers was Jewish)...there is a new school teacher in town that the boys hate (because he's hitting the boys at school), so they try to get him fired by framing him for something... Just saying, it's not for everyone, but my son really enjoyed the book. That was probably his favorite book this year. There are a bunch more, too. My favorite was always "Me and my Little Brain", where the younger brother tries to step into his older brother's shoes as the mastermind when the older brother goes to boarding school. Soup, by Robert Newton Peck is a similar series. I believe both series are semi-autobiographical. (Note-A Day No Pigs Would Die, by the same author, is focused on the narrator, but is much, much heavier-it deals with the boy handling the death of his father, as well as being a "dead dog" book-in this case, the boy's pet pig.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I love reading Dahl's The Witches, even as I feel guilty. The Witches are clearly supposed to be German, (Well, I guess Nazis. I think the entire book is horribly stereotypical/incorrect/ anti- witch. ;) But it's so much fun to read.) Anything by Dick Smith-King. I adore Babe, the Gallant Pig. "That'll do, pig. That'll do." Anything by Shirley Hughes Anything by Nesbitt Milly-Molly-Mandy All of the Mary Poppins books I've always had a love affair with Goodnight Moon, as it's a lullaby. It's the cadence, the slowing down; put my kids to sleep. The room gets darker, the bunny wiggles around. Always worked like a charm here. (Although I'm too immature to read The Runaway bunny. "I'll blow you...") Goodnight, Gorilla, because my youngest son would giggle madly at the end (the gorilla in their bed, the empty banana peel). Sweet memories Most everything by Jan Brett The Dulce Domom chapter in Wind in the Willows is, to me, one of the most beautiful and comforting pieces of prose ever written. It ends, "But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad so see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 We're reading through the Narnia series right now. Prior to that, we loved Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. It was a favorite from childhood as well. We read my old hardback; I seriously dislike the cover for the new paperbacks. :/ I didn't realize until I posted about some of my favorite books that there are more in the Pepper series! Where have I been?! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillmalo Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 We are just finishing Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech. Next up is Fortunately, The Milk. However, after the suggestion above, I'm wondering if we should listen to the audio version instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Kringle, by Tony Abbott at the suggestion of this Board. At the same time we were also reading Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. While she enjoyed Kringle quite a bit, she absolutely fell in love with Moccasin Trail. She would beg and beg for me to keep reading every day after finishing a chapter. Even DH would come out of his office to listen once and a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Well, I can tell you it's NOT The Wheel on the School. Although we find the story interesting and DD really wants me to read it, I just cannot get through it. First time I've had this problem. Note to self...choose shorter books and ones with shorter chapters. It's not just you. I think it's funny that I see it often as a loved suggestion. I did love it as a kid actually, but it's one of the only read alouds we've had to abandon. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48820592 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 "A Year Down Yonder" was a big hit here. The grandma was a scream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlynn Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 At that age my boys absolutely loved The Indian in the Cupboard series. I did, too. Right now I'm reading Watership Down to my nine year old and we're both enjoying it. I keep hearing about people who didn't like it at all so I'm a little worried about the second half of the book, but so far so good. I was going to mention Watership Down too. We loved the whole thing. My son is almost 16yrs. Old and we read this when he was 10. Still his favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Lulu* Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 There are a lot we've loved already meantioned. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom has been a massive hit. It gets a little heavy with the he said, said he, but it is so funny and works well as a read aloud. The audio book of The Hobbit is wonderful. My child with the least tolerance for read alouds requests it over and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.