reading list

I love the quote "Children become readers on the laps of their parents."

At our house, in addition to the regular picture books that the kids chose each night for us to read to them, we love a good chapter book.  Bee is now 6 and Lou is 4.  We started including a chapter book, I guess a year and a half or two years ago.  Some books will need to be re-read when they are older, but they are getting a lot out of them now too.  Often, the kids will call 'extra___' instead of choosing a picture book for us to read. Of course, I love that they are enjoying our story so much that they just want more of it.  We can get through a good sized chapter book this way in a week or two.

If there is a movie based on the book, we like to watch it when we are done.  If there is a special food or craft or something from the books, we like to work on that.  There have been so many teachable moments and good discussion points that have come up while reading these larger works.  I asked the kids to help me make a list of what we've read recently.  Here's what we remembered:

Laura Ingals series:  (Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy-we skipped this one, but have it),  Little House on the Prairie,  On the Banks of Plum Creek,  By the Shores of Silver Lake,  The Long Winter,  These Happy Golden Years,  Little Town on the Prairie,  The First Four Years    These put Lou to sleep, but Bee loved them. 

The Littles (as many as we could get our hands on:  The Littles, The Littles take a trip, The littles to the rescue,  The littles have a wedding, The littles give a party, The littles and the great halloween scare, The littles and the trash tinies,  The littles go exploring, The littles go to school, The littles and the terrible tiny kid)

Pipi Longstockings (as many as we have gotten our hands on, although I think there are many more: so far- Pippi Longstocking and Pippi goes on board)

Ramona series:  (Beezus and Ramona,  Ramona the Pest,  Ramona the Brave,  Ramona and Her Father,  Ramona and Her Mother,  Ramona Quimby, Age 8,  Ramona Forever,  Ramona's World -I don't think we read this last one) 

Ralph books:  Ralph S. Mouse, Runaway Mouse, Ralph and the motorcycle)  Lou enjoyed these!

Charoletts Web   A classic that everybody loves.

Stuart Little    Many parts of this story seemed to bother Bee and Lou was always worried about Stuart.  I think reading it was stressful for them in a weird way. 

Dr. Doolittle-  Really really good, I didn't even know it was going to be so good!  We all loved it!

Captain Underpants and the attack of the talking toilets-  actually the kids asked not to read others and to get back to 'real stories'.  Not exactly good literature but they are a fast read.

Matilda-  a favorite!  We could hardly put it down. 

James and the Giant Peach- a favorite for the kids, one of my childhood favorites too.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-  a favorite.  The kids even asked for early baths a few nights so we had more time to read it.   Charlie and the great glass elevator-  not a favorite-  almost didn't finish, but we stuck through it!

Mr. Poppers Penguins- The kids loved how different it was from the movie.  They usually agree that the book is better than the movie.  They are good kids.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-  The book was fine.  The kids were afraid of the robbers.  The movie was a little dated for me.  The kids surprisingly enjoyed it a lot.


 Indian in the cupboard  The kids LOVE it.  I have a special cupboard put up that I plan to get out soon, but I know there will be fights!

 EDITED TO ADD:  We finished this last night and everyone agreed it has been the favorite read so far!  I even let everyone stay up an extra half hour to finish it!  I couldn't put it down either!

Adding to the list of books read:

Sarah Plain and Tall- we read it in just three days.  We were waiting for a book to come in (the next in the series of Indian in the cupboard) at the library.  We had to find a quick read to fill the gap.  Everybody liked it.  I know there are others in this series, but we will wait until our other series is over. Also read Caleb's Story and Skylark.

 3/23/2012
Indian in the cupboard, The Return of the Indian,  The secret of the Indian,  The secret of the Cupboard, and The secret of the Key.  I had read the first two before, but the others were also really good reads.  I think the kids would vote these the top of the list of favorites. 

April

Trumpet and the Swan-  We liked it.  Lou followed the plot line so closely and still talks about it. He would like a trumpet now.

May

Miss Piggle-wiggle books. We thought the first one was good, didn't care for the others as much. 

June2012

Where the Red Fern Grows-  My favorite book of all times.  Favorite. I cried, Bee cried. We were a mess!  You can't go wrong with a story about two coon hounds and a boy who loves them. 

Holes-  This was a favorite read aloud when I taught elementary school.  I was thinking the plot was a little too intertwined and thick for the kids to get, but they loved it.  We watched the movie too, and I had forgotten that it's probably the closest book/video set out there. 

July 2012

Chocolate Fever-  After reading Holes, this was a basic plot.  Too basic.  It was short and funny and easily understood, but afterwards, even Luke said something about it being a simple book. 

Cricket in Times Square-   This is one of those books that I've had in my classroom library forever, but hadn't read myself.  What a sweet story it was.  Animals who are friends- one with an undiscovered talent.  We all liked it.  It would make a great read aloud in a classroom and I'll remember that.

August 2012
Half Magic-  We didn't care for it.  Bee insisted we finish it or we would have cut our losses.  I know this is a celebrated author, but we just didn't get into it. \

September 2012
Louis and the Spitting Image-  Another one that wasn't really great.  It was alright, but just kept going and going.  Maybe an older kid might have enjoyed it, it just wasn't stellar literature.

October 2012
Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh-  Finally!  Back to a really really good book.  I can't believe I have never read this.  We all couldn't wait for the next chapter.  We even got baths early several nights so that we could read extra.  This is a great one for boys and girls both, even daddies!  It's starts with the story of a mother mouse trying to save her children and ends with an exciting adventure of super smart rats setting up their own self sufficient habitat.

November/Demember 2012 
 

Bud, Not Buddy  Many themes in this book were for a bit older kid, but it's a good story.  I had to explain many parts of the story and some parts I just let go.  Bee is confused already how our neighbor's girlfriend has a baby when she isn't married. This might of added to some confusion.

Spring 2013
 

Adventures of Mohan and Mohan in the Jungle both by Ella Grove.  They were lent to us by a homeschooling friend and are by the folks at Rod and Staff.  Both were good reads. 

 Also from Rod and Staff, we read Bread for the Winter by Harvey Yoder.  All three books have strong Christian messages and were books we enjoyed.  I may read Bread for the Winter as a read-aloud next year to my 3rd graders. 

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.  It's one of the novels we will read in 3rd grade next year.  I hated to ruin it for Bee, but I need to read all our novels this summer so I'm ready.  WOW,  surprise ending to that book!  It was so good that we read it in two days.  The kids couldn't wait for me to read more.  They even asked me to read during dinner, which I did one day.  Major surprise at the end.  I'm glad that I pre-read it though.  If I was reading it with the kids at school, I would have been caught off guard for sure!

Currently reading:  

One Hundred Dresses