Suggestions please!
January 13, 2008 - 6:52 am 17 Comments
Truevyne has family reading time with her kids, where she reads a book aloud and gives her children a cookie sheet with their choice of playdough or legos, paper and pens, etc. to play with while she reads. This is something I definitely want to start with my kids. I do read to them, but I’d like to read from a chapter book.
As a kid, I loved “Little house on the prarie,” and “Nancy Drew” series.
~What are some that you suggest?
January 13th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Little House was my very series as a child. I still love books about the pioneer days of our nation. (The Love Comes Softly series (for women) you would love if you liked Little House). We traveled to South Dakota on vacation this summer and I picked up a couple of non-fiction books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was an incredible writer! I would suggest the “Chronicles of Narnia” series. I never read them as a kid, but I read them with my girls after the movie came out. I know Brody’s not a Narnia fan, but they are awesome books. Your kids might be a bit young for them yet though. “The Boxcar Children” series is also a wonderful kids series. All of my kids grew up on those and they are timeless.
Beth
January 13th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
1) “Charlotte’s Web.” My son (almost 5) loved the recent live-action movie so much, he wanted me to read the actual E.B. White book.
2) “The Secret Garden.”
3) “The Tale of Despereaux” by Kate DiCamillo
There are others, but I suggest starting with those. I started reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my son once, but he never quite got in to it. We’ll go back to it in a year or two.
January 13th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
my mom read out loud to me and my sisters when we were little…in a recent post, I wrote about those experiences:
“To you the credit lies for our love for literature. Yes, indeed, you walked us through Grandma’s Attic, opened the door to a magic wardrobe, traveled through the Mountains of Spices and introduced us to an assembly of Live Dolls. As a mother of three girls, you have placed a seed in our hearts that is nourished by the written word.”
My personal favorite book of all our adventures…
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard [an allegorical sketch of the journey to intimacy with the Shepherd...it's still my #1 favorite book]
January 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Excellent idea Kristin!!
By the way, thanks for stopping by and for your words of encouragement which were well taken into consideration and not for granted at all…Thank you, sister!
Ditto to Beth’s comments! I am also thinking about the Left Behind series perhaps when they are older? I read the Narnia series as a kid, but not much of a fan now that I’m older. Hmmm, will keep thinking, but Bible by far is obviously #1, I also enjoy Zondervan books. I also have books by these authors on my shelf and often re-read them: Chuck Smith, Ken Graves, Ron Mehl, John C. Maxwell, David Jeremiah,…how about the Veggie tales…not very familiar with it but have heard great things about it. Oh, another one came to mind and it is often featured in California on Saturday mornings for kids and (clears throat) adult kids, such as myself who are always children at heart, on kwve 107.9…Adventures in Odyssey (http://www.whitsend.org/)…
January 13th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Those are all really good suggestions, I am going to put together a list. I have “The secret garden” already, so maybe I’ll start with that. Just mom, did your son enjoy that one? My son was talking about wanting to try the Narnia series, so I may give those a try and see how it goes too!
January 13th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
My mom read out loud to us all the time. I also recommend the Roald Dahl books, especially since you’ve got boys. We loved the BFG. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My mom also read The Chronicles of Narnia to us.
I just want to encourage you to read out loud to them, it’s so very critical in their reading development for understanding what reading should sound like. I think many parents don’t realize this. (my job is helping adults improve their reading and so many times their problems could have been prevented) So good for you!
January 14th, 2008 at 8:44 am
hmm. I might be the only guy recommending late reading. oh well.
Tales of the Kingdom. It’s out of print but you can get used copies on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Kingdom-David-R-Mains/dp/078143288X
my mom read them to me when I was a kid.
Also The Princess and the Goblin is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Goblin-Puffin-Classics-Collection/dp/0140367462/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200325444&sr=1-2
But then again, pretty much anything from George MacDonald is a winner.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
“Where the Red Fern Grows”
“Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing.”
Boys always like those.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Oh Kristin, some of my best memories of childhood is reading with my mom. When she would read we would go places I could never go. It was wonderful! We read Little House on the Prarie books, and so many others. The one that sticks out the clearest was James and the Giant Peach. I think that is Roald Dahl too. One of Ragan’s favorite books is The BFG, I think Bluey would really love it too. I have lists of books we love let me know if you run out of ideas!
January 14th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I think about this a lot too. My oldest will be four in a few days. You think he is too young? He loves to sit still and loves for me to read books to him, but I’m ready for chapter books and not sure if he is yet.
I could give it a try at least and love the idea of giving them something to play with quietly while you read.
Thanks.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
~I took my son to the library today and he was SET on the Narnia series. We looked through a bunch, and I’m excited to read more and more. We started book number one tonight, and he loved it, and can’t wait to read the next chapter tomorrow. It was cute too, he carried around the book all day with him. I think this is a great thing to be doing!
Amy~ I looked at the Roald Dahl books today, and they looked like ones we’ll definitely be reading.
Daniel~ No late comments here! I am gathering a list of good book suggestions, so those sound good, I especially need help for a boy’s perspective.
Seth~ I know I read “Where the red fern grows,” but can’t remember anything about it?
Kristin D. ~ I definitely will be in touch with you for ideas! Those all sound great too.
Jamie~I think that is a perfect age, my two year old sat and listened tonight. I think if they are drawing along it helps. It might help if they are geared toward younger children too, maybe something like Charlotte’s web?
January 14th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
That’s fantastic that he likes the Narnia series so far.
As far as “The Secret Garden” goes, we didn’t get very far in to it because my son would rather hear me read “Peter Pan” (yes, the Disney version). I mostly wanted to try “The Secret Garden” because that’s one of my favorites.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Just mom~ He did like the first chapter, and it got exciting at the end of it. We’ll see how it goes!
I think he’s missing the “pictures” in the books, but he’s drawing himself while listening.
Secret Garden is one of my favorites too, I even loved the movie.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:42 am
you know, my mom would stop in the middle of the chapter a lot. It kept the excitement going. She would stop right when it got really exciting, then I would be begging for more. Don’t think you have to get all the way through the chapter if your little ones can’t do it. Where the red fern grows is wonderful. Not a lot of action at first, but a very boy story. We just watched the movie not to long ago. I think it was the 2004 version. Very good for a family movie night. Warren even liked it.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
My 5 year old doesn’t like to be awakened for school, so I thought I’d start reading some books and recording them to a CD. I could set her CD alarm clock to wake up to a story and that would help her wake up peacefully.
I was just trying to come up with a list of books when I came across your post. Thanks.
By the way, a few that I had thought of were The Anne of Green Gables series (although, I don’t know that your boys would like that) and Stewart Little.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Kricket~ I really do want to read Where the Red fern grows, I know I read that and think I liked it, but can’t remember anything about it. I feel like it’s about a boy and his dog, but I could be thinking about something else?
Kat~I love the idea of books on CD I was thinking about those for the car, and looking at them at the library.
I also read anne of green gables and loved it. I don’t know if my boys would, but they might you never know!
January 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Where The Red Fern Grows is about a boy and his dogs. It is wonderful and a tear jerker.
My children enjoyed Dr. Dolittle and The Railway Children and of course, Narnia. E.B. White’s books are good. Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe. My husband has kept a list of all the novels he has read aloud to the kids. I will ask him to dig it up for me.