Read Aloud (It's good for everyone)

An enjoyable short essay, at least for those of us who enjoy reading aloud, On Reading Aloud, by Kate Pitrone, from the Ashbrook Center's website. Among her insights:

The patterns of language in everyday speech are incomplete. We make up for this deficiency with gesture, expression, tone and inflection. Written language must be complete to be clear. When a sentence is incomplete as written, the mind complains, demands revision, but regular spoken language may be sketchy.

If all of the language we give our children is of flat things, ("Pick up your toys," "Do not lie to your mother," "We do not bite other people,") then their instruction, while worthy and inclining them to obvious virtue, is yet incomplete. They need more to be fully human. The examples of excellent literature teach them how to be human, even when the purported voice is that of a talking animal.

Comments

[Bill R]

Not only so, but reading aloud to your children gives you all a shared adventure to remember. My children still remind me from time to time of our "voyages" together to Narnia and Middle-Earth.

[Judy Warner]

Thanks for the link. My sentiments exactly. I read to my daughter far into her teens. She had a miserable case of mono at age 16, but she remembers happily lying with me on opposite ends of the couch as I read her Booth Tarkington's Seventeen and we roared with laughter.

I read to my husband frequently in the car. I bring along articles I want to share with him on short trips, and sometimes a book on long trips. No one is too old to be read to.

[Occasus]

I love to read aloud to my wife from articles and postings I've found online. Does my wife love to be read to? It's probably best not to ask her.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>I love to read aloud to my wife from articles and postings I've found online. Does my wife love to be read to? It's probably best not to ask her.<<<

Dinner at my house is interesting, since the four of us are usually reading books while eating. Every now and again, one of us reads something aloud to the others, prompting flurry of discussion, then back to eating and reading until someone else decides to share with the rest of us.

[Annie]

>>>Dinner at my house is interesting, since the four of us are usually reading books while eating.<<<

Jealous! When I was at home I was never allowed to read while eating. I still try to do it whenever I go to a restaurant with my parents, and always am reprimanded....

[Gene Godbold]

I don't let my kids read at the table or that would be all the older ones would do and we'd have a bunch of messy books.

[Annie]

Well, then, let's not argue over whether books should appear thoroughly used or pristine and un-read... ;-)

[Gene Godbold]

When my family shows up at our county library, the librarians immediately put extra people at the desk to help check out. I think we average 200 lbs of books every two weeks. (Fortunately, my four oldest boys are very strong.)

[Brian John Schuettler]

My wife and I read to each other on a regular basis, usually commonly appreciated novels, and I must say that it is an experience that I look forward to...and can't speak for my wife.
Also, when our son was much younger he had severely hurt his back and was laid up for a while. I took the opportunity to read the entire Lord of the Rings triogy a ibt each night after supper and to this day he has a fond and permanent association with the brilliance and charm of Tolkien.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Also, when our son was much younger he had severely hurt his back and was laid up for a while. I took the opportunity to read the entire Lord of the Rings triogy a ibt each night after supper and to this day he has a fond and permanent association with the brilliance and charm of Tolkien.<<<

Read first the Hobbit then LOTR to my older daughter. At about a half an hour a night, it only took me about six months to finish. Then a year later, my younger daughter wanted me to read for her. I cried both times when Sam gets back to Bag End and tells Rosie, "Well, I'm back".

After that, I got them the unabridged audiobooks on CD. Much easier on my voice.

Now, even though they're in their teens, when Jo Rowling brings out another Harry Potter book, we line up dutifully at Borders to get our copy precisely at midnight, then go home and begin reading it aloud to everyone. This avoids fights over who gets the book first, while precluding the necessity of buying multiple copies and making Rowling even richer. We read one chapter a night, in the master bedroom, all of us up on our bed. My wife then takes the book from me and locks it up in a drawer (to keep me from cheating) until the next night, when we do the next chapter.

[Judy Warner]

In the last few months I read all the Narnia books to my 9-year-old grandson. He is usually mostly interested in video games and refuses to read on his own for pleasure, although he can read well. But for Narnia he asked me to read every time he came over, once or twice a week, snuggled up with me in a big chair, and wanted to keep reading as long as I was willing. When we were finished he was indignant that it was over. I'm not sure what to read him next. I'm reading all the kids (including two younger girls) an Astrid Lindgren book, and I think I'll do E. Nesbit next, but a boy needs something more, I think. Suggestions?

[Gene Godbold]

I read "The Hobbit" for the first time to my oldest son (now 14) when he had just turned four years old. He sat quietly through most of the book, but I wasn't sure he was getting much out of it. But he began crying after Thorin died, and he much appreciated the crushing of Bolg by Beorn.

He is now much into the Gamers Workshop LotR figures and we stage our own recreations of various battles with the very detailed but extraordinarily expensive miniatures. (Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be hobbyists.)

[Gene Godbold]

Because I'm deeply concerned about the possibility that JK Rowling might slip something really nasty into the heads of my children, I have made it a practice to confiscate the most recent addition on the day my kid buys it. Then, with bags under my eyes, I give it back to him the next morning, satisfied that I've fulfilled my parental duty as censor. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it.

[Gene Godbold]

Over the last 10 years, I've read The Hobbit and the LotR to my kids four times and Narnia about six times. I don't read the Narnia ones anymore, though, because Focus on the Family has an absolutely fabulous audio version that I highly recommend.

We've got a BBC produced dramatic version of the LotR (Ian Holmes as Bilbo) that I'm not that impressed with. They skip bits and I don't like some of the choices they make. The special sound effects are also shoddy (while the Focus ones are excellent). Stuart, what unabridged version have you got. Could you send me a link to it?

[GL]

What is particularly gratifying in my house is that the kids love to be read to. We began doing it before they could understand what we were doing and it is just as much a part of how life is to them as is eating a meal or going to the gym -- something else we do on a regular basis. Almost every night, I read them a Bible story at bedtime. On those occasional nights when I believe it is too late to do so, I get a lot of complaints. I have even on occasion not read to them as a punishment. It is nice when one's children's complaint is that they want to be read to and when they find not being read to a punishment.

[TonyC]

Since you don't like the BBC produced LOTR, you could try the one produced as a radio play by The Mind's Eye. It is very faithful to the literature, and they did both The Hobbit and The LOTR.

[Violet]

Judy Warner,
Have you heard of the Redwall series? My 9-year-old is crazy for them, just as his older brother was at that age. Also, my boys enjoyed E. Nesbit's books so you may be pleasantly surprised by them catching your grandson's fancy.

[Judy Warner]

Thanks, Violet, I'll order one. I've thought of a few more in the meantime -- of course the LOTR. I think we have a good King Arthur book somewhere, and a child's Odyssey, and Johnny Tremaine and several other historical novels. We have a huge children's library in our basement, but we bought them for my daughter so they lean very much toward girl books.

[Susan]

We love the audiobook versions of The Hobbit and LOTR narrated by Rob Inglis, and produced by Recordedbooks.com. I think I found them at Barnes & Noble.

[Gene Godbold]

Hey TonyC
I had the Mind's Eye one on tapes (12, if I remember correctly), but I didn't like that one either for much the same reasons. (Maybe I'm an audio snob?)

[Gene Godbold]

My wife will read books to our kids--that she doesn't particularly like for aesthetic reasons (but aren't otherwise objectionable)--more than once. I, however, will not. The ones for the smaller ones that I find that I can continue to read are:

all Mother Goose books (one by Rosemary Wells is particulary good), most things by Rosemary Wells, Alistair books by Matthew Sadler, the Frances books by Russell & Lillian Hoban; Goodnight Moon (though it's not my favorite, I dig the fact that the back cover has a picture of the nervous-looking illustrator, Clement Hurd, with a cigarette clenched between his fingers and a slightly crazed smile on his face), most things by Dr. Seuss; most things by Patricia Polacco, most things by Tommy DePaolo, most things by Peggy Rathman; Beatrix Potter, a lot by William Steig (though I find his drawings crude), Chris Van Allsburg (though I find some of his drawings deeply disturbing)

[GL]

One thing about reading aloud is how the reader can change the emphasis or even in subtle ways the meaning of a sentence by the way he reads the words. I have a Listener's Audio Bible of the ESV narrated by Max McLean. There are time when I find the way he emphasizes various words and syllabus presents a different meaning of a verse or passage than I had given to it from my own quiet readings. When I read to my children, I put tones and inflections in dialogs in the text which convey the attitudes of the speakers as I imagine them (which I am sure is true of the rest of you as well -- otherwise our reading would be flat and dull). Sometimes I wonder if I am being true to the author's intent. I guess it is somewhat the same problem a translator faces -- am I betraying the author.

[Christopher Hathaway]

Judy, don't forget Lewis's Space Trilogy. A little more mature but if they have fed on the earlier milk they should be ready for meat. Also Charles Williams's spiritual thrillers are excelent. If you want more childlike fantasy, George Macdonald wrote three longs ones, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie and At the back of the North Wind. He also wrote many shorter fairy stories and tow adult fantasies.

While a counselor at a children's camp I read to my boys Jules Verne's A Long Vacation about a ship of boys from a boys school wrecked upon a desert island. They were enraptured by it. A lot of early Science Fiction is good, No Asimov or Clarke, but early Heinlein (pre 1960) is safe

[Brian John Schuettler]

"Also Charles Williams's spiritual thrillers are excellent"
Yes, they are...but if you read them aloud to young ones be prepared for some blank stares, nightmares and possilbe future therapy bills.

[Annie]

>>>Now, even though they're in their teens, when Jo Rowling brings out another Harry Potter book, we line up dutifully at Borders to get our copy precisely at midnight, then go home and begin reading it aloud to everyone. This avoids fights over who gets the book first, while precluding the necessity of buying multiple copies and making Rowling even richer. We read one chapter a night, in the master bedroom, all of us up on our bed. My wife then takes the book from me and locks it up in a drawer (to keep me from cheating) until the next night, when we do the next chapter.<<<

I wish I had your family's self-restraint. I buy the book at midnight, then spend the next five hours inhaling it, fall into a deep sleep until noon, and then start again. ;-)

[Joe Long]

One of the benefits of children they don't tell you about ahead of time: you get to read "The Hobbit" for the first time, again. I'm looking forward to reading it for the first time twice more...

Some Louis L'Amour is quite read-aloud-able. And you get to be a Sackett for a while, when you do that. (The first-person narrators are best - particulary Tyrell "folks steered clear of me come fightin' time" Sackett.)

[Judy Warner]

Ah, yes, George MacDonald. And his Sir Gibbie too, besides the fairy tales. And do you know Eleanor Estes, who wrote Rufus M. and many other wonderful books? And Freddy the Pig. It's all coming back now.

[Christopher Hathaway]

"Also Charles Williams's spiritual thrillers are excellent"

Yes, they are...but if you read them aloud to young ones be prepared for some blank stares, nightmares and possilbe future therapy bills.

Well, maybe for under twelves, but if they have been reared on proper fairy tales and Tolkein and Lewis they should handle them fine. It's good to broaden the imagination.

[luthien]

Judy, your grandson might like Swallows and Amazons, and I second the recommendation of the Redwall books; there are about 16 in the series now. The older ones are better than the newer ones. *trying hard to think of what I liked at 8 or 9 that isn't too girly* Robert Louis Stevenson's books would also be good. and how could I forget Scottish Chiefs?? Definitely worth reading aloud! I loved it...and had a hopeless crush on one of the Scottish noblemen, Edwin Ruthven, a knight who took Stirling when he was only 15, and dead in battle before he was 20...ok, enough of that:) The edition with NC Wyeth's illustrations is beautiful. GA Henty's historical fiction might also be worth looking into.

[Judy Warner]

I'm going to need a lot more time with the kids to read all those books to them! Thanks for all the great suggestions. Swallows and Amazons, yes, definitely.

[luthien]

Oh, and I thought of another one! The Phantom Tollbooth is one which I think you'd enjoy as much as he would. My older cousin gave me and each of my sisters a copy of it when we turned 8, and all of us have loved it ever since.

[Geoffrey Deacon]

I am fond of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books (very losely) based on the Welsh Mabinogion: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer & The High King. Of course Evangaline Walton novels based very closely on the Mabinogion are excellent too: The Island on the Mighty, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhianon & The Prince of Annwn.

And I know her theology is iffy, but Madeleine L'engle's A Wrinkle in Time is an old favorite. There is always P L Traver's Mary Poppins.

My father read to us until I was a senior in high school (I am the oldest). The last summer at home he read us all of Robinson Crusoe, an unforgettable experience.

[Fr. Bill]

With four children spaced over a decade, the oldest heard Lewis and Tolkien several times before she departed for university studies. Reading out loud became a standard family entertainment as we dropped television 25 years ago. After 30 years of this, I offer the following observations:

1. It's not THAT difficult. Like anything else, reading out loud improves with the doing of it. I'd encourage every parent to assign out-loud reading to the children, coaching them along the way about elocution, pacing, inflection, and so forth. The Narnia books are very good for this.

2. When the kids get older and you wish to up the ante, get them to reading Chesterton out loud. Oh how lively his prose becomes when you have to inflect it properly to get it from your mouth to their ears accurately! I remember my eldest daughter rereading one sentence from Orthodoxy several times before getting it right. And, when it was read rightly, it was as clear, simple, and sensible as you please.

3. If you want to provide your children the out-loud reading equivalent of the pebbles in Demosthenes mouth, give them an essay by S. M. Hutchens to read out loud. When they can get through one of his paragraphs at the first pass, rendering it accurately, sensibly, and without going back to repeat anything, they will have arrived.

4. Faithfulness is the mother of quantity when reading out loud. I read out loud to my wife most evenings. We read fifteen to twenty books a year like that. This is guaranteed to impress your friends, until they try it; and, then, they'll say, "Oh, I see ..."

[Judy Warner]

As I was clearing brush this afternoon I was pondering how much pleasure we-all get from reading to our families. And I wondered if somewhere there is a blog on which people are posting, "I remember that great time I had taking my kids to that rock concert," or "What joy it was when I entered my 4-year-old daughter in that beauty contest."

[o.h.]

We've loved reading the 1920's "My Bookhouse" series (Olive Beaupre Miller--only the first editions are very good, alas, as the series was quickly dumbed down) to our children.

But the older language has been a challenge. I've had to have a gentle word with my firstborn as she danced about the front lawn at the age of 10 (yes, she's sheltered) chanting, "I'm gay, I'm gay, I'm happy and gay!" But the word only has had one meaning in her world.

And, relating to Gintas' comment on another thread, there is the occasional sentence that one is humanly incapable of reading with a straight face, such as (in Miller's adaptation of The Faerie Queene): "Beside the Red Cross Knight, Una, the lovely Lady, rode, upon her snow white ass."

The Freddy the Pig series had a different challenge: explaining throughout the meanings of the terms "commie," "fifth column," "red," etc. Great stories for introducing the topic of the Cold War, though.

[Jay Q]

We've gone through all the Narnia books with the oldest two, and I'm picking my way through Beatrix Potter with the next younger pair.

At present, the oldest two are hearing Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, and it's a read-aloud challenge for sure - Pyle's version of Olde English can be a fair jaw-cracker sometimes. His King Arthur stories are also great (and I think a bit easier to read).

LoTR is next, but I've been made to swear off using the "Gollum voice". I'm reliably informed that it was a little too creepy.

[James A. Altena]

I'm presently reading LoTR aloud to my wife (who's never read it on her own); we're now in the midst of Book IV, and she finds my Gollum voice decidedly creepy. (No smart remarks from the peanut gallery about a perfect match to my own personality!)

[David Mills]

A few more recommendations:

1) The Asterix books by Rene Goscinny. French comic books set in the Gaul of Julius Caesar's day, in the one village in the empire the Romans haven't conquered, because they have a magic potion giving them great strength. They're often very funny and include much verbal humor in the names (e.g. Getafix for the village Druid, Unhygeneix for the fishmonger, Cacophonix for the bard).

2) The Tintin books by Herge. Belgian comic books, the hero of which is a young Belgian reporter who gets into adventures all over the world. Here is the official Tintin site.

3) The historical novels of Rosemary Sutcliff. Complex and thoughtful stories about the ancient and medieval worlds, which also teach you a lot (the stories set in the modern world seem to me less successful, but that may just mean I find the subject less interesting). My then twelve-year-old daughter and I particularly liked the "Eagle of the Ninth" series and numbers six, eight, ten, eleven, and sixteen in the list "Other children's novels" on Wikipedia. One warning: she was clearly not a Christian and is very sympathetic to the "ancient ways."

4) The Joan Aiken's "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" series, the first five or six of them, anyway. Aiken (daughter of the poet) manages to create a world that is like ours but just slightly off, slightly more fantastical, which I (and our daughter) very much enjoy.

[Rob Grano]

Didn't see anyone mention THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. Or Edward Eager's "Magic" series, which are quite clever and humorous and are good for either boys or girls. HALF MAGIC is the first, I believe.

[Judy Warner]

For kids who like family stories, I mentioned the Moffats by Eleanor Estes, and there is Elizabeth Enright's Melendy family, and various books by Hilda Von Stockum about an American family and an Irish family. For younger children, Marguerite DiAngeli wrote about families of various cultures and periods, not in the vapid multiculturalist manner of today, but good stories of Quakers, blacks (or Negroes in the quaint old locution), Pennsylvania Dutch, colonials and others, all located around Philadelphia where she lived. Then there is Kate Seredy, who wrote about a Hungarian family. The first book, The Good Master, takes place right before WWI, and the second book, The Singing Tree, during that war.

I have hated to see these books gradually disappear from library shelves, although through library sales I came to own quite a few of them. Some have been reissued.

And you're probably familiar with Pippi Longstocking since her adventures were put on film. The author, Astrid Lindgren, wrote a whole slew of other books that are wonderful for reading aloud since they are often very funny. In fact, I found myself laughing far more and louder than the children laughed when I read them Mischievous Meg the other day.

[Jay Q]

Almost forgot - if you've never read the original Pooh stories, you're really missing out. They are truly hilarious. I'll second The Wind in the Willows, and toss in The Jungle Book Stories for more animal fun. Disney's bowdlerizations are crimes against literature.

[Dave]

Luthien, kudos on the Swallows and Amazons suggestions! Those books bring back many fond memories.

[Pam]

Thanks for all the suggestions and stories about family reading here. I have two boys, one almost 4, one 15 months, and the older is getting more interested in reading longer books with real stories and lots of words. My parents have the original My Bookhouse (bought at a library sale when I was a little girl) and I remember loving to read them and have them read to me. I would still rather sit inside and read all day than "go outside and play", but the sacrifices of motherhood are probably good for my overall health. On the Disney note, the original Peter Pan was surprisingly good when I read it as a college student browsing the shelves for something to read instead of my assigned stuff.

[o.h.]

Mr. Mills,

I believe you posted about Rosemary Sutcliff's historical fiction before, and I had meant to comment with a suggestion. Until the early 1960's, there were several series of children's biographies and historical fiction published especially for Catholic children (though they're not so triumphalistic as to be unsuitable, I believe, for other Christian children). These books can generally be found used in hardcover for less money than a new softcover historical fiction book, and are very well written: my children devour them. Series titles to look for:

-American Background Books (Catholics who contributed to U.S. History)
-Vision Books (many of the saints' lives have been reprinted by Ignatius Press, but none of the captivating stories of other great Christian men and women are in print)
-Catholic Treasury Books
-Clarion Books (several of these have been reprinted by Bethlehem Books or Lepanto Press)
-Credo Books

These books weren't meant to be 'educational' (though they are) or to propagandize, but to captivate, and to show American Catholic children that they have a great heritage, including a noble American heritage, at a time when it wasn't clear that Catholics were considered good Americans.

The difficult thing in finding these books is obtaining a list of the titles. The complete list of Vision titles is here: http://www.love2learn.net/vision.htm . I've been working on assembling complete lists of the other titles (and of course obtaining the books themselves). The effort has been worth it, as I would rather put one of these books in my children's hands than a dozen of Sutcliff's, talented as I know her to be.

To note--the authors are not dismissive of "the ancient ways," but are also realistic about what those ways could entail: see for instance the story of the conversion of England in Barbara Willard's "Augustine Came to Kent," or Madeleine Polland's "Fingal's Quest," the story of a young monastic student enslaved in 6th-century Gaul.

[Judy Warner]

The first chapter book I read my daughter, when she was 4, was Through the Looking Glass. As soon as I finished it she asked me to read it again. You know how 4-year-olds are. She never liked Alice in Wonderland, and I didn't either as a child.

[Gene Godbold]

Fr. Reardon once recommended the adventure novels of Rafael Sabatini in Touchstone. We bought them for our oldest two (14 and 11) and they have really enjoyed them. They also like the Asterix and Tintin books that David Mills recommended. (I think I've seen Joan Aiken's books lying around the house as well.) And Swallows and Amazons (which even 8 year olds can read and enjoy).

I'm with Jay Q on Disney's versions of children's literature. Anything by that megashlockcorporation should be used only for kindling. Any author debasing himself by association with them should be publicly tarred and feathered.

[Ethan Cordray]

Gene, you ought to except Disney's version of Robin Hood, I think.

Too late to be known as John the First,
He's sure to be known as John the worst,
A pox on that phony king of England!

I think Disney can be fine when adapting fairy tales and folk tales, as long as they keep away from straight up literature adaptations. Except, again, for "The Lion King," a very fine rendition of "Hamlet."

[Bill R]

You know, I think I want to be a kid again. Childhood is wasted on youngsters!

[Judy Warner]

Nobody's mentioned the Laura Ingalls Wilder little house books. I read the first four to my grandson last year when he was 8 and he liked them, especially Farmer Boy. I didn't think he'd be as interested in the later ones, when the girls get into their teens.

[James A. Altena]

As a chld, I greatly enjoyed the "Henry Huggins" books of Beverly Cleary. I haven't read any of the later "Ramona" books. Are they as good, or did Cleary succumb to the feminist line in them?

[Gene Godbold]

My boys love the "Little House" books, especially Farmer Boy. (I like it, too, and re-read parts when I find it lying around the house.) My wife's empathetic powers can't bear "The Long Winter" though.

[Stuart Buck]

In addition to the many good books mentioned above, check out the Henry Reed books by Keith Robertson. I remember finding them delightful as a kid. They're about the adventures and scrapes of a boy named Henry Reed; very wry and witty.

[Ethan Cordray]

I also recommend Ellis Parker Butler's "Jibby Jones" stories for boys, if you can find them. They're tales of Mississippii adventure, much in the vein of Tom Sawyer (which, come to think of it, I'm very surprised no one's mentioned...), but the eponymous hero is an original: awkward, kind, naive, and often the victim of his friends' pranks, Jibby always seems to come out on top. Apparently, Mr. Butler wrote a great deal else, as well.

[Judy Warner]

All of these old books are so wonderful. If kids read them today they would get such a broader and deeper view of America and life than they have now. Reading about other times and places puts your life in a context, which most children do not get now from anything they learn in school, or anything they are given to read. I don't remember if this was mentioned earlier, but some "educators" get rid of books written before 1970 because they give children the wrong attitudes. I agree there was a break in children's literature around that time, and thus I never read my daughter anything written after 1970, except the American Girl books that came with the dolls. I later read that Michael Medved had the same policy for his children.

[Isamashii Yuubi]

My mother read Narnia as bedtime stories to me when I was four. Apparently I was a very quick learner and would read the next chapter during the day. Mom was quite surprised to learn this, then she threatened to not read to me any more if I kept skipping ahead. So we came to a sort of agreement where I'd sit so I could see the book and read along with her. And I've been reading ever since.

I really look forward to having children of my own and reading to them.

Oh, and just a comment in response to the "messy books" comment, my husband can manage to read a paperback novel without bending the spine. And he does it with every book. So his side of the bookshelf looks like it's never been read while mine looks like it's ready for fireplace kindling.

[Gene Godbold]

Amazon just sent this to my email:

Horcruxes and Hallows and Hogwarts, oh my! We know you can't wait to see your favorite wizards. Lucky for you, J.K. Rowling has just announced the date! "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be released on July 21, 2007. Pre-order your copy today at $18.89, a savings of 46%, and be protected by Amazon.com's Pre-order Price Guarantee*. You'll get your copy faster than you can say "Accio, Book 7!"

[Janet C]

I don't think anyone has mentioned Lois Lenski's series of books about children across America. These are schlock and they aren't all sugar and spice, either. Most of the children in these stories have hard lives. When I was librarian for the fourth grade in my daughter's school, I remember that "Strawberry Girl" never stayed on the shelf any longer than the time it took to put it there.

My favorite Eleanor Estes is "The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode." My daughter and I were laughing hysterically when she read it to me. I think boys would especially like it.

There's a great book called "Landslide" by Veronique Day about 5 children stuck in a house under a landslide. It's very exciting.

The first two "Children of Green Knowe" books by L. M. Boston are great, also.

One thing about reading aloud that hasn't been mentioned is the family vocabulary that develops around the books you have read. Whenever someone asks a question and says, "Tell me, (Becca or Bill or Mom, but originally Anne), I want to know!" our minds immediately remember the time we read the Green Gables books.

And when they are a bit older, say twelve if they're used to being read to, Dickens is superb.

AMDG, Janet

[Ethan Cordray]

Janet, I'm confused. Do you really mean the Lois Lenski books are "schlock"? If so, why mention them?

I'd also want to give a nod to the Frank Peretti "Cooper Kids" adventure series, a sort of Evangelical Indiana Jones-type thing. But good, really! The Door in the Dragon's Throat and The Tombs of Anak are honestly terrifying. The former involves a door to hell discovered in an archaeology dig in the Middle East, and the latter features a present-day descendent of Goliath who enjoys animal sacrifices.

I think this is a thread that some people might want to save for reference.

[Gene Godbold]

I think she meant to put a "not" before "schlock"

[Janet C]

Indeed, indeed. Thank you Gene. AMDG, Janet

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