Read-alouds: a listing of some of the best ...

Read-alouds are a large part of our learning-at-home adventure! We've always got at least two books going -- one I read to the kids during the day and one dh reads to them at night. So we've gone through some great read-alouds ... and some real clunkers, too! Because I have two active boys with a contemplative daughter in-between ... and they're close in age but not interests ... our read-alouds that we recommend have to follow certain criteria:

• can't be too girly or too boyish
• must have an engaging story that will make mom/dad want to read and the kids want to listen
• must have beautiful language, excellent vocabulary and gorgeous word-pictures
• must have an interest for 7 yo boy .... 10 yo girl ... 11 yo boy ... and adults
• must catch our interest, excitement within the first 10-15% of the book ... if not, we stop and get another (too many good books out there to waste our time on twaddle)

I wrote a book a few years ago that lists a dozen great family read-alouds, giving a synopsis of each book (and some author and illustrator information) and tied it to over two dozen original hand-knit designs.  That of course would be a great starting place for family read-alouds -- Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family.  But, here is our list of the best of the best (but not really in order -- I've made comments where warranted and mentioned book-series if those are ALL good) in case you'd like to share the read-aloud adventures with your own family:

• Hilda van Stockum books -- we love just about ANYTHING by her and we've read the Bantry Bay and Mitchell series multiple times ... the memories we've created with these books ... WOW! 
• The Bantry Bay series: The Cottage at Bantry Bay, Pegeen, Francie on the Run
• The Mitchells:  Five for Victory, Canadian Summer, Friendly Gables
•  A Day on Skates -- really a long picture book but WONDERFUL reading during the winter!
• The Winged Watchman -- wonderful for a unit on WW2 or Holland
• Andries -- great for Spring with it's story about tulips and family and love
• From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• books by Eleanor Estes:  The Moffats, Rufus M., Pinky Pye , Ginger Pye
• books by Edward Eager: Half Magic, Knight's Castle , Magic by the Lake, The Time Garden, Magic or Not
• Homer Price and Centerburg Tales -- just silly and wonderful and classic!
• Johnny Tremain -- a good story with a bit of American history; fun to watch the Disney version AFTER reading the book
• Mary Poppins -- the book is so much better than the movie!
• Otto of the Silver Hand (and just about anything else by Howard Pyle especially, The Wonder Clock)
• Owls in the Family
• The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
• Pippi Longstocking (this copy has three of the books in a well-illustrated hard-copy)
• Rascal
• books by Elizabeth George Speare:  The Bronze Bow, Calico Captive, The Sign of the Beaver, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
• Stone Fox
• books by E Nesbit: Five Children and It, The Railway Children, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Enchanted Castle , The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Story of the Amulet
• Wheel on the School -- we've read this one a couple of times it's that good!
• The Adventures of Pinocchio
• The Lost Island
• Swallows and Amazons(we didn't read the others in the series but those are supposed to be pheomenal also)
• Cricket in Times Square
• The 101 Dalmatians and The Starlight Barking -- Disney's version doesn't even compare!  She also wrote I Capture the Castle, which is a really fun read.
• JRR Tolkein's lesser-known books:  Roverandom and Smith of Wooton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham
• The Marvelous Land of Snergs
• Happy Times in Noisy Village and The Children of Noisy Village
• Redwall,  Mossflower, Mattimeo , Mariel of Redwall (these are the first four books in this amazing series)
• The Ruins of Gorlan (book 1 in the Ranger's Apprentice series)
• The Red Pyramid
• Freddy the Detective
• My Side of the Mountain
• Where the Red Fern Grows -- the movie version is an excellent adaptation
• Miracles on Maple Hill
• Nim's Island -- the movie version is great too (not exactly like the book, but a good adaptation)
• Patricia MacLachlan books:  Sarah, Plain and Tall; Skylark; Caleb's Story; Baby; Grandfather's Dance; More Perfect than the Moon -- Hallmark did great film versions of the first three with Glenn Close and Christopher Walken
• Kate DiCamillo -- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Tiger Rising, and
The Tale of Despereaux

These are all read-alouds that we've really enjoyed ... so the listing is random but I can promise you that you could pick any one of these and not be disappointed!  We've also enjoyed the classics like the Little House series or Narnia or Hobbit and Lord of the Rings ... but these are some you might never have heard of and you might just want to give 'em a try.  Many of these come in audio versions -- perfect for car-travel!

Enjoy and don't forget to read, read, read to your kids -- even when they're old enough to read to themselves.  Here are some books that do a great job of explaining the benefits of read-alouds and suggest some titles too:  Valerie and Walter's Best Books for Children, 100 Best Books for Children, The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators, The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children: 3rd Edition Revised and Updated.