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Bookshelf

Listening Lesson

Books Perfect for Reading Aloud

     Every September, I find myself missing summer days and yet loving the return to a stable schedule with school, soccer and friends. As you and your family settle into your fall schedule, remember the importance of reading aloud to your children. Even with older children, it’s so important to carve out that time together. Although my fourth-grader can zoom through books on her own, she loves it when we read aloud to her. She’s able to fall into the complex world of books she wouldn’t have the patience to read on her own. And the bonding time is priceless. I have found that my kids enjoy listening to stories that are for kids two grades above their reading level. So my fourth-grader likes listening to stories that sixth-graders typically read. Here are some of my favorites to read aloud with children.

Little Kids Enjoying Picture Books (Ages 3–5)
    Birthday for Bear by Bonny Becker (Candlewick; 56 p.; $15.99; ages 3–6). In the classic tradition of Frog and Toad, Bear and Mouse are two friends who are opposites in many ways. But it is Bear’s birthday, and what’s a friend to do? Bear doesn’t like parties or balloons; Bear HATES birthdays. But all Mouse wants to do is help his friend celebrate his birthday.  Mouse shows up waving a party invitation, but Bear can tell that Mouse wrote the card. Mouse keeps finding sillier and sillier ways to get back into Bear’s house and Bear keeps finding ways to kick him out. Eventually Mouse realizes that no one had ever given Bear a birthday present before, and Bear warms to his friend’s good intentions. Children love Mouse’s silly antics, and the message on friendship is heartfelt. Another book in this series, Bedtime for Bear, will be released later this month.

    Wild About Books by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown (Random House; 40 p.;  $10.54; ages 3–6). In this lively, funny story, an adventurous librarian, Molly McGrew, brings books to the zoo for the animals to read. This is a delight to read aloud and always makes children (and adults!) smile and laugh as they see the crazy hijinks of the animals. The rhythm and the rhyming bring the story alive in the great tradition of Dr. Seuss (to whose memory this book is dedicated).  Many of the animals decide they like reading so much that they want to try creating their own books: “Tasmanian devils found books so exciting / That soon they had given up fighting for writing”. This is the winner of the 2005 E.B. White Read Aloud Award and a perennial favorite of ours.

Chapter Books for Early Elementary Students (Kindergarten and First Grade)
     Bad to the Bone by Lucy Nolan, illustrated by Mike Reed (Marshall Cavendish; 64 p.; $14.99; ages 6–9). This is truly a story for the dogs, or should I say from the dogs? Down Girl explains about her days protecting her home from the evil cat next door, Here Kitty Kitty. She shares tales of training her master, along with the help of her neighbor Sit. You see, their masters are continually yelling, “Down Girl” or “Sit” to these two hopelessly clueless dogs. And so they are convinced that their names are Down Girl and Sit. I loved the humor in this short chapter book. It made me laugh out loud on several occasions. Nolan has created a distinctive humorous voice as you hear Down Girl telling her silly story. Nolan also does a wonderful job of combining action, dialogue and character development — all of which are important qualities for new readers to understand. The illustrations throughout help develop the humor and silly situations. Bad to the Bone won the 2010 Cybils Award for short chapter books.

Ready for Longer Stories (Second and Third Grades)
     The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Angela Barret (Candlewick; 128 p.; $16.99; ages 6–9). This is a truly wonderful, magical book. It stirs your imagination, celebrates a character with feisty independence, and makes you look at the natural world around you in a whole new way. Flory is a brand-new night fairy, just born and getting used to her beautiful wings. Fairies, you see, aren’t raised by mothers, but must make their own way in the world.  Suddenly, a bat clamps down on Flory, eating her wings before spitting her out and letting her fall to a tree below. Unable to fly, Flory is forced to make her way in this new environment, becoming a day fairy and making friends with the animals in the garden. Flory is feisty, temperamental and manipulative in the beginning of the story — not what you’d call a good friend at all. Through hard challenges of surviving in a realistic world where predators must find prey to eat, Flory discovers that compassion and generosity help you gain friends, trust and happiness.

     Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan (Katherine Tegen Books; 128 p.; $14.99; ages 7–10).  Fourth-graders Lucy, Henry, Evie, Russell and May meet every day under Henry’s huge lilac bush to talk about things. School’s boring, until Ms. Mirabel, a visiting poet, starts coming to their class to talk with them about writing. The children are curious about why she writes and how she goes about writing, whether what she writes is real, and how much she gets paid. “I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to,” Ms. Mirabel tells them. Lucy’s mom has cancer, and Lucy feels that all her stories are filled with sadness. Evie’s parents are separated, and she’s struggling with how to cope. Each of the friends has his own problems, and yet they share these feelings under the lilac bush and explore how to write about them. At its heart, this book is about the ways that writing and friendships can connect us to our own stories — word after word after word. It is a beautiful, authentic, grounded novel that you won’t want to put down, much less your children.

Sinking Into Longer, More Complex Stories (Fourth and Fifth Grades)
     Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic; 192 p.; $16.99; ages 9–12). Eleven-year-old Tess Brooks believes that you can help bring luck your way if you do a few simple things. “Why take chances?” says Tess. “Especially when it’s so easy to let the universe know what you want by touching blue or turning around three times or crossing your fingers.” Tess and her family have lived on Bethsaida Island, off the coast of Maine, for as long as she can remember. Her father is a lobsterman, and her mother is the island’s schoolteacher. But the state is saying that the school has too few students to keep open. Tess’s family and other island families decide to take in foster children to help keep the school open. Aaron is a brooding, quiet 13-year-old who misses his mother terribly, and wishes he were anywhere else but in this new home. Tess worries that if Aaron really hates living with them, he will run away, the state will close their school, and she will have to move away from the home she loves. As Tess and Aaron adjust to the changes in their lives, they each come to know themselves a little better, know what’s important and how to make their own luck. This is a wonderfully quiet novel, one that seeps under your skin and stays with you. The characters’ emotions ring true in this quiet novel. They are neither simplistic nor blown out of proportion, but rather feel honest as the reader comes to know Tess and Aaron.

     Heart of the Shepherd by Rosanne Parry (Random House; 176 p.; $6.99; ages 9–12). Twelve-year-old “Brother” is the youngest of five boys growing up on a ranch in Eastern Oregon. His older brothers are now off at boarding school, college or the army, and he’s now alone helping his dad and grandparents manage their cattle ranch. Brother feels that he’s never been the rancher that his older brothers are — it’s difficult trying to fill their shoes when they’re away. But his dad and grandpa help him learn how to do things. Then, Brother’s dad is called up to fight with his reserve unit in Iraq. With all of his brothers away, Brother promises his dad that he will help keep the ranch running smoothly. His dad believes in him, and Brother has to keep faith that his father will return safely. Here is one of my favorite quotes from his dad: “ ‘You don’t have to be brave,’ he says, real quiet. ‘Neither of us does. A man’s life is not so much about courage. You just have to keep going. You have to do what you’ve promised, brave or not’ ”.  This is a moving story, one that shows a slice of life far away from the Bay Area, and yet readers can connect to this family’s struggles.

Mary Ann Scheuer is the librarian at Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley. She is the mother of three kids and a former eighth-grade English teacher. She writes the blog Great Kid Books (http://greatkidbooks.blogspot.com) as a site to help parents find great books for their children, ages 4–14.