Welcome to the April 2015 edition of Read Aloud Thursday! I hope you’ve all had a great month of reading aloud. Our month has been super busy with the ending of most of our weekly commitments at the month’s end (!!!), so I don’t have a lot to share in terms of reveiws. My girls and I have had a two read-alouds going this month, one for fun ane one for history (though they’ve been equally loved): The Hobbit at night and Carry On, Mr. Bowditch at lunchtime.
We finished The Hobbit just last night. It is quite the ambitious read-aloud, and it took us a couple of months. (I remember this because I know we were reading it when I got so sick last month, and we ended it just as I’m recuperating from penumonia.) I am linking here to my original review of The Hobbit from the first time I read it a couple of five years ago. I don’t think I did a particularly good job of reading it aloud, but I do think my girls’ curiosity is piqued about Tolkien, so it was generally a success. We’re about a half dozen chapters away from the end of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch; I plan to share my thoughts on it in the next few days.
As for the boys, I always feel like they get the short end of the stick. The DLM does listen in a good bit to what I’m reading to the girls, though most of it is really over his head. Steady Eddie and I did read a couple of short chapter books to him this month: The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett, and a new Kate DiCamillo book, Leroy Ninker Saddles Up. These short chapter books are the perfect length for him right now. Does anyone know of any more titles that would appeal to a little boy’s taste? My list is fairly little girl friendly. 🙂
Benny still loves being read to, also, and often requests it. One book he has loved this month has been Bedtime in the Jungle by John Butler. Written to the rhythm of the folksong “Over in the Meadow,” this one begs to be sung. This book is a counting book, a song, and a book about animals all rolled into one, and it uses strong verbs and interesting vocabulary. We give this one a Highly Recommended for the preschool and toddler set. (Peachtree Publishers, 2009)
I am anticipating better health and a saner schedule next month, which I hope will combine to mean more time for reading aloud at the House of Hope. I am really looking forward to it!
What have you been reading this month? Please, share in the comments or link to your RAT blog posts!
Happy Read Aloud Thursday!
http://girlsinwhitedressesblog.com/2015/04/28/book-chat-73/
We’re reading “Evidence Not Seen” aloud. Although my girls are now 14, 16 and 18, I’ve never stopped reading aloud. I just love it! The books change as the girls get older, but I always read something aloud after dinner. We’ve read many classics, and most of the Bible (finally got bogged down in the prophets and called it a day on that).
Thank you Amy! I started reading aloud the book “Wise Words: Family Stories that Bring the Proverbs to Life” by Peter J. Leithart. It contains 18 original stories which are each about approximately 6 pages long. Our 8 year old son always begs for me to read just one more. I appreciate the creative, fresh plots/characters written by a pastor along with the opportunity to discuss a Proverb & how it might apply to the story & our lives. One of our priorities as we disciple our children is to train them in the wisdom of Proverbs so this is a welcome resource for us. We also attend Community Bible Study during the school year so I am looking forward to using this over the summer as part of our Bible study.
Congrats on reading aloud The Hobbit. I tried some time back but gave up for some reason. No clue what that reason was!
Leroy Ninker looks like such a fun read!
I think Honk, a Moose would be enjoyable for DLM.
http://burroughstribe.com/2015/04/30/read-aloud-thursday-april-2015/
Sharon,
I think The Hobbit would’ve probably worked better for us as an audiobook. 🙂
I have three newish picture books to share. https://supratentorial.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/read-aloud-thursday-from-the-new-shelf-4/
I read all of the Lord of the Rings series with my oldest a few years ago. It was definitely an undertaking but one of my favorite memories that we have shared.
I have found my boys don’t really care if a book is about girls, especially when they are younger. Their favorite read-alouds have been ones that I think any kid would like. Tumtum and Nutmeg, Toys Come Home, My Father’s Dragon, Henry and Mudge have all been favorites. They also have loved Little House on the Prairie, the Ramona books, Winnie the Pooh, some of the Dick King-Smith books (the Lollipop books and Babe come to mind).
I blogged some of what Ethan and I have read and think I’ll have something to say regarding All of a Kind Family in a few days – Green Ember takes us a month at least and we are now making up for that by FLYING through AoaKF. So delightful. I’m dreadfully afraid I’m going to have to buy the whole series. : )
I’m afraid that we started but didn’t finish “The Hobbit”. An audio book would probably be better for us too.
Your recommendations for shorter chapter books are helpful as I’m looking for that type of book for my youngest.
I’ve written about our read alouds.
http://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/april-read-alouds.html
I’m reading “All of a Kind Family” with my older girls right now. Loved these books so much when I was a kid and they are too (which makes my heart happy).
The younger set seem to be on a perpetual Frances, Harry the Dirty Dog, and Little Critter kick right now. Really need to pick up some new to us picture books at the library soon!
I actually read-aloud four books to my kids, but post today only showcases two of them. http://starrweavings.blogspot.com/2015/04/read-aloud-thursday-penrod-and-penrod.html
I’ve actually read quite a few picture books to Delani, but I didn’t blog about them. One was Miss Fanny’s Hat by Jan Karon which still makes me cry!
Here’s my read-aloud wrap up for this month: http://homeschooldiscoveries.com/2015/04/30/read-aloud-wrap-up-for-april-2015/
We keep trying with the Hobbit. We stalled out three different times. I’ll have to add our family to the list that should have done it with an audio book. Part of the problem is that my hubby started the Hobbit read aloud, so it became “Daddy’s book to read to everyone” — and the times when Daddy is available to read to everyone, and everyone doesn’t want their regular bedtime reading are few. I don’t really like the Hobbit very much myself — I’ve always preferred the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I have had a bit harder time deciding on chapter books to appeal to my boys as well. Since I personally gravitate toward the more “girly” books I have to go out of my way to think about what would be appealing to them. They really liked “Owls in the Family” when it last year — that’s a nice short one. I was doing some classic literature with them in the fall of this year and they liked the Jungle Book and Just So Stories quite a bit (more than I thought they would). Given the choice, my boys would pick chapter books about favorite characters (like, any Lego series in particular — Bioncle, Ninjago, etc and also Pokemon) over anything I might pick out from a list of great books. 🙂 I remember when my daughter went through that phase and wanted to hear every book about fairies I could get my hands on, so I am trying to humor them through this phase and reading a Pokemon book followed by something a bit more meaty. 😉