Read Alouds for high schoolers (with a 6th grader, too)

[silver]

Yes, I still do read alouds with my high schoolers. Yes, I have a younger kid that will also be listening. I want to find some good books to read aloud that are appropriate for my (young) 6th grader while still being good for the high schoolers.

I'd say that romance/sex or dark/depressing themes are what I'm mostly trying to avoid, with books that are engaging to middle schoolers, even if they don't understand the book to the full depth that a high schooler or adult might. 

[cintinative]

I still read aloud but we don't have that big of an age gap.

How old are your oldest children?

Some that we have enjoyed that might work

Count of Monte Cristo

My Antonia

The Scarlet Pimpernel

maybe some stuff by George MacDonald like On the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin

The Hobbit

The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, The invisible man (HG Wells)

I'm sure there are tons more but I am away from home and I will have to check our lists. 

 

[silver]

The oldest is 11th grade.

We've done The Princess and the Goblin and The Hobbit. I've been thinking of trying War of the Worlds. I see that audible has the radio broadcast of that one--do you think that'd be a better way to do that one?

ETA: I just checked and my son read The Time Machine this past spring, but it doesn't look like he's read any other HG Wells stuff.

Edited July 21, 2023 by silver

[lewelma]

We read out loud throughout high school with a 4 year gap between the kids. So 6th grade with 10th grade. I don't remember which of these were read when younger was in 6th grade.

Lord of the Flies

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame

Snow Crash (Stephenson)

Dirk Gently books (Adams)

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Catch 22

Cat's Cradle (Vonnegut)

Guns Germs and Steel  (Diamond)

[cintinative]

18 hours ago, lewelma said:

 

Lord of the Flies

To Kill a Mockingbird

 

Since the OP mentioned she doesn't want dark books . . .

Lord of the Flies is pretty dark. I would wait until your 6th grader is older. It is an "easy" read but it is a difficult theme/topic, if you know what I mean.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about a very hard thing but interspersed with comic relief. We really enjoyed it, but you should be aware one of the characters is accused of rape. That may or may not be an issue with a 6th grader.  

 

[lewelma]

4 minutes ago, cintinative said:

Since the OP mentioned she doesn't want dark books . . .

Lord of the Flies is pretty dark. I would wait until your 6th grader is older. It is an "easy" read but it is a difficult theme/topic, if you know what I mean.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about a very hard thing but interspersed with comic relief. We really enjoyed it, but you should be aware one of the characters is accused of rape. That may or may not be an issue with a 6th grader.  

 

Agreeing the Lord of the Flies is dark, so skip that one if you don't think your 6th grader can handle it. However, my kids did both love it because they could talk about it as they went as a group of 3. I think it is a horrible book to give to a kid to read in isolation, but as a read aloud, it takes a different tone, and created contemplation rather than horror in my kids.

As for To Kill a Mockingbird, it was actually their favourite read aloud out of the list I gave above.  It led to so many good discussions, lots of rabbit trails, and about a month of deep, close, family interaction and thought. 

[cintinative]

Here are some others:

Mark Twain--The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Tom Sawyer, maybe Huckleberry Finn? 

Sherlock Holmes stories

Father Brown mysteries

Strong Poison

Rosemary Sutcliff's versions of The Odyssey and The Illiad

Shakespeare Stories by Garfield

Kidnapped

Treasure Island

Robinson Crusoe

Around the World in 80 Days 

maybe The Yearling

[cintinative]

@Lori D. You always have book ideas.  😃

[lewelma]

I did Tom Sawyer as a read aloud last year with my niece who was in 7th grade, and through her eyes, I saw the complete passive characterization of Becky. We had some very long and interesting discussions about that. Then we read the Hobbit, with no female characters at all.  After those 2, it became clear that she was desperate for books with strong female characters, and I will say that a lot of classics are definitely lacking in that area. So something to consider if you have a dd. 

[lewelma]

I would pass on Huck Finn. It is very dark in the first half, and uncomfortably funny in the second half.  Huck is brutalised by his father, which is very clear in the book. I did Huck Finn with my younger in 12th grade and it took a lot of processing to make sense of it. You also have the problem with the n word, which you either say over and over, or you change for the reading. It is pretty yucky either way.

[HomeAgain]

Jacob, Have I Loved - two sibling trying to figure out what it means to be supported and loved

Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

The Alchemist

Invincible Louisa

The Astronaut Wives Club - this one might not interest your kids, but some find it fascinating to see how the families were treated and their experiences

The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

The Martian (Weir)

 

[Amoret]

Last year, we read all of Bleak House, which was really fun. It's a long, long book, but one of my favorites. I had no idea until we started what a delight Dickens is to read aloud. I wasn't sure the kids would like it (7th and 9th grades), but they both loved it.

You might also check out Kon Tiki, a true adventure story about a group of guys who sail a raft across the Pacific. We all enjoyed that one quite a bit as well.

We have also liked The Count of Monte Cristo, the Earthsea trilogy (the first three books; there are some later ones that have more adult themes; the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, also by Le Guin, is really good, too), and Connie Willis's time travel books (though skip The Doomsday Book, if you don't want grim)

We also did the Story of Art, which  is probably not what you are looking for, but it was an interesting overview of (mostly western) art history.

[Lori D.]

Some short stories:
Bulfinch's Mythology (Thomas Bulfinch) -- retellings of classic Greek myths
Twice Told Tales; Wonder Book (Nathaniel Hawthorne) -- short stories / retellings of classic Greek myths
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving) 
The Light Princess; The Wise Woman; The Golden Key (George MacDonald)
Farmer Giles of Ham (JRR Tolkien) -- humorous mock epic

And longer works:
Life With Jeeves (PG Wodehouse) -- humorous
The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde) -- humorous
Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) -- epic fantasy quest
Watership Down (Richard Adams) -- epic adventure quest
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain) -- history/adventure
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll) -- get a version with annotations by Martin Gardiner
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) -- novella, so a short novel / long short story 😉 
Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) -- child protagonist who suffers, so may not be good for a sensitive child
Ben Hur (Lew Wallace) -- historical fiction

And, what about watching a good production of a Shakespeare play every so often?

Also, what about classic poetry once a week or month?
 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Lori D.

[LostintheCosmos]

Read alouds that have worked here for a large age range (high schooler down through 1st grader):

Great Expectations and Hard Times
PG Wodehouse
Lloyd Alexander beyond Prydain (we're currently reading the Westmark trilogy)
Kipling's Kim
Eagle of the Ninth
Emily Wilson's Odyssey (her Iliad is coming out soon I think)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Prince and the Pauper
Treasure Island

We also read Shakespeare with people taking parts. 

[Cecropia]

Dragonsong/Dragonsinger (McCaffrey)

Our Town (Wilder)

The Nose/The Overcoat/Diary of a Madman (Gogol)

Out of the Silent Planet (Lewis)

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (Jerome)

[Kendall]

I read the following aloud to kids 5 year old through 17 year old (and 4 in between)

 

Northanger Abbey/Emma/Persuasion. all by Austen

A Christmas Carol. by Dickens

Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt (can't recommend this highly enough!)  very funny with also deep things

My Family and Other Animals (I did edit some things as I went, but this is a family favorite and very funny at times)

Little Britches

Pay Attention Carter Jones also by Schmidt. (same notes as above)

Clementine series by Pennypacker. (I would classify these as intermediate fiction, but my high schoolers enjoy them a lot and I had college children home who would listen in-they appreciated it because of having to work with kids)

I haven't read Three Men in a Boat aloud, but it is funny

I have read Wodehouse (one of the jeeves books) aloud as well so I second that recommendation

 

That's a start and all I have time for at the moment!

 

[Kendall]

I am also going to second Connie Willis.  I want my children to enjoy To Say Nothing of the Dog on their own and I assign it (after some exposure to Jeeves, Three Men in a Boat, and reading the Moonstone). 

This spring I read To Say Nothing of the Dog aloud and even though my daughters had read it on their own the previous year, we all thoroughly enjoyed it as a read aloud - even the child who complained before we started that she had just read it. 

 I agree about Doomsday Book being grim. 

 

Connie Willis is an amazing author.

 

 

[Red Dove]

Some books I have tried with my Kindergarten - 8th graders:

Narnia series
A Long Way From Chicago
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (As a previous poster said, you may want to change the N word throughout, and it was so much more violent than I thought. If I had pre-read that, I wouldn’t have chosen it for my K-4th graders.)
 

I haven’t read this to my children yet, but it is in the pile to read: Wee Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald

[vonfirmath]

On 7/26/2023 at 10:20 AM, Kendall said:

I am also going to second Connie Willis.  I want my children to enjoy To Say Nothing of the Dog on their own and I assign it (after some exposure to Jeeves, Three Men in a Boat, and reading the Moonstone). 

This spring I read To Say Nothing of the Dog aloud and even though my daughters had read it on their own the previous year, we all thoroughly enjoyed it as a read aloud - even the child who complained before we started that she had just read it. 

 I agree about Doomsday Book being grim. 

 

Connie Willis is an amazing author.

 

 

I LOVE Doomsday Book. It is one I read over and over. I finally decided to go on and read the rest of the series and so I got to read To Say Nothing of the Dog -- It's MUCH different from Doomsday for sure. I had not read Three Men in a Boat or anything it referenced so probably missed stuff.

 

[Kendall]

2 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

I LOVE Doomsday Book. It is one I read over and over. I finally decided to go on and read the rest of the series and so I got to read To Say Nothing of the Dog -- It's MUCH different from Doomsday for sure. I had not read Three Men in a Boat or anything it referenced so probably missed stuff.

 

So, now you might want to try her books Blackout and All Clear.  It is really just one long book in two. All Clear is not a sequel, just the rest of the book. 

To Say Nothing of the Dog is definitely lighter emotionally and very different and we found it very humorous. I'd say Blackout and All Clear are closer to Doomsday in that regard. 

 

[vonfirmath]

44 minutes ago, Kendall said:

So, now you might want to try her books Blackout and All Clear.  It is really just one long book in two. All Clear is not a sequel, just the rest of the book. 

To Say Nothing of the Dog is definitely lighter emotionally and very different and we found it very humorous. I'd say Blackout and All Clear are closer to Doomsday in that regard. 

 

I have both of those on my wish list yes. But because of the nature of it waiting to get both at once.

I'm glad to hear they are closer to Doomsday because the Dog book, while funny -- I did not think was near the same