Read Alouds, part 3

Greetings,

I will continue my previous two posts regarding books to read aloud.

Suzy Kline writes some great stories. She was a third grade teacher and her students were trying to find chapter books that they could read on their own. She started writing a series about Horrible Harry geared for readers in about second grade. But that’s not the series I want to tell you about. Herbie Jones is a third grader and the funniest things happen to him. Kids love to hear about his adventures. Try the one where he is invited to Annabelle’s birthday party and takes a can of salmon as a gift. Then make sure you have others in your library in the series including Herbie Jones and the Class Gift, and Herbie Jones and Hamburger Head.

You probably know Beverly Cleary best for her books about Ramona Quimby. All of Beverly Cleary’s books are great read alouds, but she has other books that are maybe not as well known. Dear Mr. Henshaw is a favorite of mine and I love this gentle story told in letter/diary format. Leigh writes to an author as a second grader and again in third and fourth grades. When Leigh is in sixth grade, his parents divorce, he and his mother move, and Leigh ends up writing a diary and we learn how he adjusts to his new life and how he comes to terms with his absent father. There is a sequel to this story also called Strider.

You may know Robert McCloskey for his famous book, Make Way for Ducklings. This man has a tremendous sense of humor which shows up in his books. Take Homer Price – extra ordinary things just seem to happen to an ordinary boy who has a pet skunk and an uncle who owns the town’s donut machine. After this book, you can read more stories about Homer Price in Centerburg Tales. These two books are a collection of stories. Each story is fairly long and may need two or even three days for reading each story.

If you like Homer Price, you may also like the set of books by Bertrand R. Brinley called The Mad Scientists Club. A group of boys aged 12 – 15 call themselves the Mad Scientists Club. They hatch up some wild plans among themselves and try to hatch a dinosaur egg, build a sea monster on their canoe that fools the people across the lake, find something hidden inside the cannon on the town square, and much more. Granted, the stories were written in the 1960s, and the technology is old fashioned, but the stories are still fun to read. I hope some of you know about these books, but I would guess that most of you have not. There are three other books in the series. The New Adventures of The Mad Scientists Club, The Big Kerplop, and The Big Chunk of Ice. Enjoy.

It looks like this week has a little theme of books that are old fashioned. One of my very favorites is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Elizabeth is being raised by an overprotective aunt who has very specific ideas on child raising. Circumstances arise that send Elizabeth to live on a farm with other relatives who call her Betsy instead of Elizabeth. Betsy learns to be independent and to think for herself and I cheer for her as she begins to grow up. One thing I love about this book is that Elizabeth is first referred to as Elizabeth, and at some point in the story, she is then called Betsy rather than Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the frightened dependant child, and as she becomes more independent, her personality and name changes. This would be a great book to read aloud and ask the children about the name change. The book is in print, but I got it free on my Kindle.

Robert Burch wrote a book called Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain, a story about a woman who cares for the children in a family. The children’s mother had died and a stern aunt is caring for the family. Ida is tall and not very attractive, but the children grow to love her and the fun she brings with her. A sequel to this book is Christmas With Ida Early.

If you like Ida Early, you will probably like The Year of Miss Agnes, too. A small school in Alaska has a hard time keeping teachers. Life is very hard and no one seems to want to stay around. When Miss Agnes comes along, the children expect she will be the same as the others and leave as soon as she can, but Miss Agnes surprises them all. She throws away old textbooks (Yea!) and reads exciting books to them. The children start to enjoy their lessons and are learning, but keep wondering if Miss Agnes will leave or stay.

Ruth Redding Brand loves to write Bible stories for children. Charles Mills loves to write for children. Together they have written a series of books that your children will love. Call them either Amazing Stories from the Bible or the Professor Appleby and Maggie B tapes series; it doesn’t matter. They are fun and the students will beg for more. Other titles are Miracle Stories from the Bible, Heroic Stories from the Bible, Adventure Stories from the Bible, Mysterious Stories from the Bible, and Miracle Stories from the Bible. If you are going to read these aloud, it would be helpful to read them in order.

I hope you have enjoyed these read aloud ideas. Maybe we’ll do some more later in the year.

Have a great week,
Audrey