Read aloud collection

[Little Green Leaves]

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking for a very specific type of read-aloud: a book, as thick and fat as possible, which has a mix of lots of different short stories and excerpts from longer books. I took out the What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know and we've been having fun reading the stories from the literature section. They're perfect for reading over lunch or snacks, and I love the fact that they are all stand-alone so I don't have to keep up with anything. Besides, if one kid decides that they HATE a story or are scared of it or whatever, we can just move on to a different story in the book. 

Can anyone suggest similar collections? I know I have at least one somewhere but I'd love to have lots. 

[Little Green Leaves]

9 minutes ago, OneThoughtMayHideAnother said:

I'm guessing you probably already have "Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children"? I came across the rec while re-reading sections in the WTM the other night, and saw the same author has "More Classics", too. Thinking of ordering it.

"Classics to read aloud" is the one we already have, yes. I like it a lot. I didn't realize there was "More" -- thank you!

[Lori D.]

 My suggestions are all out-of-print, but can be purchased used:

- Reader's Digest Great Stories for Young Readers -- 70 selections; most are complete short stories of a wide variety, and about a dozen are excerpts from longer children's stories
- Reader's Digest The World's Best Fairy Tales -- wide selection of all fairy tales; used hardbacks start at under $1 + postage at Amazon!

Multi-volume vintage anthologies
- Through Golden Windows -- 10 volume set  (here are 9 of the 10 volumes for $55) 
- My Book House -- 10 volume set (you can find complete sets in decent shape for about $80-100)
- Collier's Junior Classics Young Folks Shelf of Books -- 10 volumes (complete sets run anywhere from $60-90 or so)
- The Children's Hour -- 16 volume set (complete sets run about $225, but you can also build up your own set by buying a clump here or there and individual titles to fill in for around $100)

The anthologies have a *wide* range of types of literature -- nursery rhymes, poetry, fairy tales/folk tales, adaptations of classic lit., excerpts from classic children's lit.; some even have science/nature articles... 😄 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Lori D.

[Little Green Leaves]

5 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

 My suggestions are all out-of-print, but can be purchased used:

- Reader's Digest Great Stories for Young Readers -- 70 selections; most are complete short stories of a wide variety, and about a dozen are excerpts from longer children's stories
- Reader's Digest The World's Best Fairy Tales -- wide selection of all fairy tales; used hardbacks start at under $1 + postage at Amazon!

Multi-volume vintage anthologies
- Through Golden Windows -- 10 volume set  (here are 9 of the 10 volumes for $55) 
- My Book House -- 10 volume set (you can find complete sets in decent shape for about $80-100)
- The Children's Hour -- 16 volume set (complete sets run about $225, but you can also build up your own set by buying a clump here or there and individual titles to fill in for around $100)

Thank you!! This looks like a great list.

[Lori D.]

8 minutes ago, Little Green Leaves said:

Thank you!! This looks like a great list.

Let me know if you'd like any quick photos of table of contents for any of those -- I own all of them. 😉 

[Lori D.]

PS

Not thick, and more narrowly focused, but very fun and interesting are the also out-of-print American Adventures vol. 1 (1770-1870) and vol 2 (1870-2000).
Short (2-4 page) stories about often-little-known people and events that are off-the-beaten-path and of quirky interest.

Also, possibly William Bennet's Children's Book of Virtues (gr. K-3), and The Book of Virtues (gr. 3+) -- wide range of stories, some classics, from around the world, arranged to "virtue" or character trait.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Lori D.

[Little Green Leaves]

46 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

PS

Not thick, and more narrowly focused, but very fun and interesting are the also out-of-print American Adventures vol. 1 (1770-1870) and vol 2 (1870-2000).
Short (2-4 page) stories about often-little-known people and events that are off-the-beaten-path and of quirky interest.

Also, possibly William Bennet's Children's Book of Virtues (gr. K-3), and The Book of Virtues (gr. 3+) -- wide range of stories, some classics, from around the world, arranged to "virtue" or character trait.

Thank you! If you happen to have the American Adventures I'd love to see the table of contents (only if convenient and when you have time of course)!!

[Lori D.]

1 minute ago, Little Green Leaves said:

Thank you! If you happen to have the American Adventures I'd love to see the table of contents (only if convenient and when you have time of course)!!

That is the only one I'm not quite sure where it is... Which of course means it is likely in the bottom of a stack of boxes in the back of the laundry room, so very hard to get at... 😂 I'll do a tentative digging around later today and see if I can find it without too much trouble... 😉 

[Little Green Leaves]

11 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

That is the only one I'm not quite sure where it is... Which of course means it is likely in the bottom of a stack of boxes in the back of the laundry room, so very hard to get at... 😂 I'll do a tentative digging around later today and see if I can find it without too much trouble... 😉 

That's always how it goes, isnt it! If you can find it easily, I'd love to see it but if not, no problem. It looks like Amazon has at least 1 used copy and it's not too pricey.

[Little Green Leaves]

1 hour ago, OKBud said:

Elson

Treadwell

These look very cool. I had totally forgotten that Davy Crockett ever wrote anything until just now when I googled "Elson book." Thank you!

[Meriwether]

One of my favorite books is Treasury of the Familiar.

[Little Green Leaves]

1 hour ago, Meriwether said:

One of my favorite books is Treasury of the Familiar.

That looks really good. I love that it has historical documents too. Thank you!

[Little Green Leaves]

51 minutes ago, OKBud said:

Elson is a hidden gem. They sell them at RR but a few of them can be found free online.

Looks like Abe books has some too. And they have treasury of the familiar too!

[acresoft]

Harper's Young People

Also books by Joe L. Wheeler is great for short stories.

Some curriculum publishers sell readers that can be interesting. CLP has some nice readers. https://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/1

 

[Lori D.]

Ug. They were in the box that was on the bottom in the very back.
Double ug. They are not anywhere near as cool as the memory I had of them.

Each only has 15 stories, and there are comprehension questions and class extension activities after each short story. And they are emotionally and rather biased-ly written. So, I retract my recommendation. Below are photos of table of contents and first lesson:

 

[Lori D.]

On the other hand, I CAN unreservedly recommend the children's anthologies, and the Reader's Digest anthology -- here is the table of contents for the R.D. "Great Stories":

 

 

[Lori D.]

And here's the contents of the 10-volume Collier's Junior Classics:

Collier's Young Folks Shelf of Books contents (from my 1957 edition -- after 1960, the volumes were rearranged, and some selections changed up for other selections)

vol 1 = Fairy Tales and Fables
(66 fairy tales from England, Ireland, Germany, Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and India by 11 different authors, including some by the Grimm brothers; also + 14 Aesop fables)

vol 2 = Stories of Wonder and Magic
(26 folk tales and magic stories by famous authors such as Edward Lear, A.A. Milne, Carl Sandburg, George MacDonald, Walter de la Mare, Padraic Colum, Howard Pyle and Frank Stockton; also includes reprints of Aladdin and Ali Baba from "The Arabian Nights"; plus 8 stories by Hans Christian Andersen)

vol 3 = Myths and Legends
(10 Greek/Roman myths, some by Thomas Bulfinch or Nathaniel Hawthorne's Wonder Tales; 9 Norse myths; 6 myths from India; 7 Native American myths; 19 "old legends" which include St. George and Dragon, William Tell, The Flying Dutchman, and a number of legends about beasts and saints)

vol 4 = Hero Tales
(ALL selections are prose retelling excerpts (some by James Baldwin or Paidric Colum) from:
"The Odyssey"
"Rustem and Sohrab (from the ancient Persian epic "Shah-Nameh")
"The Forging of the Sampo" (from the Finnish epic "The Kalevala")
"The Song of Roland"
"The Chronicle of the Cid"
"Beowulf"
King Arthur and the Round Table
"The Hunting of the Boar" (a King Arthur story from the Welsh epic "Mabinogion")
"Finn and Oisin" and "Cuchulain" Finnish epics)
Robin Hood)

vol 5 = Stories That Never Grow Old
(ALL are complete reprints of the original, except where noted:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
The King of the Golden River (John Ruskin)
Jackanapes (Juliana Horatia Ewing)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Charles & Mary Lamb)
The Gold Bug (Edgar Allan Poe)
excerpts: Tales from the Travels of Baron Munchausen (Rudolph Eric Raspe)
excerpts: Gulliver's Voyage to lilliput (Jonathan Swift)
excerpts: Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

vol 6 = Stories About Boys and Girls
(20 works, mostly excerpted/reprinted chapters from longer works by mostly obscure authors, but includes more well known authors such as: Rachel Field; Louisa May Alcott; Mark Twain with a chapter from Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Booth Tarkington, with a chapter from Penrod; and Kathryn Forbes, with a chapter from Mama's Bank Account)

vol 7 = Stories About Animals
(26 works, mostly reprinted chapters from longer works by mostly obscure authors, but includes more well-known authors such as John Muir; Anna Sewell with a full reprint of her book "Black Beauty"; Jack London with a full reprint of his short story "Brown Wolf"; Eric Knight with a full reprint of his short story "Lassie Come Home"; Marjorie Rawlings with a chapter from "The Yearling"; and Rudyard Kipling with a full reprint of his short story "Moti Guj -- Mutineer")

vol 8 = Stories from History
(22 works, mostly reprinted chapters from longer works by such authors as Howard Pyle with a chapter from his Men of Iron; Andrew Lang; Hendrik Van Loon with 2 chapters from his Story of Mankind; Ester Forbes with a chapter from Johnny Tremain; Carl Sandburg from his biography on Abraham Lincoln; Robert Trumbull with a chapter from his autobiography on surviving a WW2 plane crash and survival in the ocean for 34 days; Ernie Pyle, WW2 war correspondent, with a reprinted article of heroism; chapters from biographies on Abraham Lincoln; an General MacArtherLouisa May Alcott; and a tall tale about The Devil and Daniel Webster)

vol 9 = Sport and Adventure
(24 works, some are reprinted chapters from longer works by mostly obscure authors, but also includes more well-known authors such as: Jack London with a full reprint of his short story "Chased by the Trail"; Howard Pyle with a chapter from his Pirates book; Conan Doyle with a full reprint of his short story "The Red-Headed League"; Robert Byrd with a chapter from his autobiography about flying over the North Pole; and Charles Lindbergh with a chapter from his autobiography about crossing the atlantic in a solo flight)

vol 10 Poetry (and reading index guide to all 10 volumes)
(over 320 poems, with a mix of nursery rhymes; poem riddles; children's poems, and at least 100 of the world's most famous poems (written before 1900) by all the most famous poets )

Edited August 6, 2020 by Lori D.

[Little Green Leaves]

10 hours ago, Lori D. said:

On the other hand, I CAN unreservedly recommend the children's anthologies, and the Reader's Digest anthology -- here is the table of contents for the R.D. "Great Stories":

 

 

Thank you so much for checking both books! The Reader's Digest looks really great. What a cool combination -- Ferdinand the bull AND Isaac Bashevis Singer!

[Little Green Leaves]

11 hours ago, acresoft said:

Harper's Young People

Also books by Joe L. Wheeler is great for short stories.

Some curriculum publishers sell readers that can be interesting. CLP has some nice readers. https://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/1

 

Thank you!

For some reason my computer's browser thinks Joe Wheeler's website looks super dangerous...I'm being warned against going there, haha.

[Lori D.]

3 hours ago, Little Green Leaves said:

Thank you so much for checking both books! The Reader's Digest looks really great. What a cool combination -- Ferdinand the bull AND Isaac Bashevis Singer!

I know! Plus it has:
- some American tall tales (Paul Bunyan, etc.)
- a few Greek myths from Nathaniel Hawthorne's Wonder Book
- a few stories from Kipling's Just So Stories
- an adapted version of one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- a classic sci-fi story from Isaac Asimov
- short stories by famed authors Sarah One Jewett, Carl Sandburg, and James Thurber
- a classic fairy tale by Oscar Wilde
- origin tales of King Arthur and Robin Hood
- several folktales from around the world
- several lesser-known but good fairytales
- plus excerpts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Winnie the Pooh, and one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books