N is for Nineteen Books to Read Aloud (Day#15 of AtoZ Blog Challenge)

Nineteen Books to Read Aloud (To kids, to adults, to yourself just for the fun of it!)

This list is in the order of my personal opinion and experience . . . also, this list does not include "picture" books (such as Goodnight Moon and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) - they are "chapter" books or poetry. In no particular order:

1) Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein ~ My first grade teacher read this poetry to us all the time. I fell in love, and the next Christmas, my aunt gave me my very own copy. It is a well-loved book.

2)Charlotte's Web by E.B. White ~ My mom read this aloud to me brothers and I when I was around age five, and my brothers were younger. We loved it.

3) Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume ~ Introduced to Judy Blume books in third grade by my teacher. She read this book aloud to the class. Over the next few months, I read just about every Judy Blume book available, whether I was ready for the subject matter or not.

4) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl ~ My mom didn't read this one aloud to us, although she did James and the Giant Peach. However, I did read this one aloud for the enjoyment of my husband and myself. It is a fun read aloud, and I plan to read to to my toddler as soon as he can tolerate sitting longer. (Maybe in the evening when he's more tired?)

5) Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman - THE best tornado story for kids and tweens! It is based off of a real tornado outbreak in Nebraska in 1980. (There was a movie made of this book. It was just a travesty, meteorology-wise and also just messing with the plot of the book. Ick.)

6) House at Pooh Corner by A A Milne - My son N seems to like this, but at age 2, he rarely sits still.

7) On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder - My mom read Farmer Boy to my brothers and I, but in some ways, I think I would have enjoyed this one more. However, it is perhaps a little "scarier". In Farmer Boy, Almanzo's family is relatively well-to-do and they are always talking about the food! However, OTBOPC was quite fun for me to read on my own even though the Ingalls seem poor-ish at times, and struggle with the grasshoppers. The sections when Laura and Mary play on the haystack and then when Laura tricks Nellie are fun!

8) Arabel's Raven by Joan Aiken - A friend just made me read this last year! It would be so much fun to read aloud! I need to acquire my own copy to read to N in another year or two.

9) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - A favorite of mine. . . and I can try to read in a Yorkshire accent. I do have some Yorkshire ancestry . . . I could try to channel them, maybe. . .

10) Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism - Another fun book about an orphan. It come out about ten years ago. A little bit of magic and the "good guys" winning in the end.

11) The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiMillo - I listened to this on audio cd several years ago. It is a good read-aloud

12) Betsy and Billy by Carolyn Haywood - I loved the Betsy (NOT the Betsy-Tacy books, which I didn't read until I was in grad school, for my children's lit class) books very much when I was seven years old. They were a series (albeit a little aged, but my small library branch actually owned all of them)that I really got into right before I really got into the Little House books. They are kind of old fashioned, but one of the books allowed me to learn what a May Pole is - I'd never heard of one!

13) The Giver by Lois Lowery - When N is a little older, we are SO reading this one together.

14) When the Dikes Broke ~ A fictional story of a family in the flooding disaster in the Netherlands in the 1950s!

15) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling - I read this one aloud chapter by chapter (and then had craft projects) for ages 7 to 13 one summer at the library I worked at. It was a very popular program. It is also one of my favorite Harry Potter books.

16) The Heavenly Village by Cynthia Rylant - I read this many years ago. I loved it. I have not re-read it, but plan to do so shortly. If I remember correctly, it should make a good read-aloud but not certain.

17) The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket - Just a fun one to read aloud, too. I also did library Unfortunate Events program several years ago.

18) The Pool Party by Gary Soto - I read this as a part of a project for my Multi-Cultural Lit class in "library school." It was a laugh-out-loud story. It is a "chapter book", but fairly short. I would like to read it N someday.

19) The Mysterious Benedict Society - Honestly, this might be fun to read aloud to my children some day. We'll see!