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Please suggest "fun" read-alouds for my girls. Romance / suspense / humor preferred.


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I'm looking for books on 5th-6th grade level and preferably 150 or so pages in length. Light, easy reading, in other words.

 

Here's what we'll be reading for literature this year:

 

Beowulf (Globe Fearon Adapted Classics)

1001 Arabian Nights (Geraldine McCaughrean)

King Arthur (Core Classics)

Robin Hood (Core Classics)

Canterbury Tales (Geraldine McCaughrean)

Stories from Shakespeare (Geraldine McCaughrean)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare)

Calico Captive (Elizabeth George Speare)

 

The read-alouds don't *have* to be set in the same time period as our history and literature (AD 500-1750s), but I would prefer that.

 

ETA: The books do NOT have to be historical--even fantasy is fine--but I would like them to have the "flavor" of this particular time period (AD 500-1750). I am looking for FUN, engaging plots that incorporate humor, suspense, and especially ROMANCE--I teach teenage girls who hate to read, and I want to draw them in!

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. :)

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Matilda's Secret (Sandra Goldbacher) - involves Henry VIII's 5th wife, some suspense

The Light Princess and Other Stories (George MacDonald) - not historical, but does include princesses, humor and light romance

Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) - a variation of the Cinderella story

The Thirteen Clocks or The Wonderful O (James Thurber) - humor, mild romance

 

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Matilda's Secret (Sandra Goldbacher) - involves Henry VIII's 5th wife, some suspense

The Light Princess and Other Stories (George MacDonald) - not historical, but does include princesses, humor and light romance

Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) - a variation of the Cinderella story

The Thirteen Clocks or The Wonderful O (James Thurber) - humor, mild romance

Thanks! I've heard of two of these, but not the other two. I'll see what I can find out. :)

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Sounds like the girls are doing Middle Ages this year?  Mine is too...so I have a few extra readings for her lined up.

 

The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (neither is really a "light" read but thumb's up for life in the time period, plus girl protagonists of course)

 

I Rode a Horse of Milk-White Jade (Mongols, adventure, girl protagonist, a horse and a cat and family honor)

 

And Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages. 

 

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The Ramsey Scallop is one of my favorite middle ages books.  

 

Others that often end up on reading lists:

 

A Door in the Wall

Adam of the Road

Men of Iron

Otto of the Silver Hand

Children of Odin (retelling of Norse myths by Padraic Colum)

 

Rolf and the Viking Bow

Treasure of Glastonbury

The Lost Baron

(The last few in italics are reprinted by Bethlehem Books.  You might look at their catalog to see if there are more titles that fit your period.  They tend to reprint good stories that are out of print.  Because they are older, they are gentler in some areas, but might have stereotypes in others.)

 

One book that I never see mentioned is The Little Duke, by Janet Yonge.  This is the story of the great-grandfather of William the Conqueror.  

 

Readings of classic fairy tales might be a good choice too.  My 12th grader was just reading Till We Have Faces, and I was struck with how similar the story is to the classic version of Beauty and the Beast (both works drawing on the story of Cupid and Psyche).

 

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What about some George MacDonald?

Fairy Tales (  We think that ironic stories of fairy tale wishes gone wrong is a recent development, but MacDonald was playing with this long ago.  The Light Princess, and The Day Boy and the Night Girl are two of my favorites.)

 

The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and Curdie

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Ben and Me 

Half Magic

The Twenty One Balloons

 

Those are some of the funniest older children's books I have ever read.

 

Not to be missed for this age:

Number the Stars (set during WWII and based on a true story)

In Place of Katya (hard to find but absolutely exquisite--set in Russia during the 1700s)

The Diamond In The Window (my absolute favorite book until I read LOTR)

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