Read-Aloud Books: Suggestions for April '08

*In 2007, the average American teenager spent nearly 26 hours a week watching TV, playing video games, and/or using the computer - and 2 hours reading.*

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April is National Poetry Month. Poetry is meant to be read aloud! Many poems are fun to hear, even if the listener may not entirely "understand" them. Quite a few picture books are written in verse, and some "story poems" are available in beautiful illustrated editions. Here are some books and poems to share with your children:

Picture books:

• A House is a House for Me, by Hoberman: I always loved reading this to my children - a playful romp through different kinds of "houses", both for animals and for people, with fun illustrations, and all told in rhythmic verse.

• Each Peach Pear Plum, by Ahlberg: Another fun picture book in rhyme, this one plays with characters from different nursery rhymes or fairy tales.

• Mother Goose - available in various editions, but get at least one! Lots of other books refer to nursery rhymes, and it's surprising how many kids these days don't know them.

• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, edited by Prelutsky, illustrated by Lobel - a good anthology with pictures, with selections for reading to children three or four and up, a mix of traditional and more recent poems, arranged by topic.

• The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury, edited by Prelutsky, illustrated by So - another anthology, this one containing more modern, lesser-known poems, mostly playful. It includes a CD of the poems read aloud.

• The Golden Treasury of Poetry, edited by Untermeyer - many old classics not included in newer anthologies. This book is out of print, but check your library or bookfinder.com - it includes one of my favorite of the lesser-known poems for children, which begins something like this:

"Zoon, zoon, cuddle and croon, over the crinkling sea,
the moon-man flings him a silvered net fashioned of moonbeams three,
And the waves roll in, and the waves roll out, and the nodding night wind blows,
But why the moon-man fishes the sea, only the moon-man knows..."

• A Child's Garden of Verses, by Stevenson - Robert Louis Stevenson's classic children's poems are available in a variety of illustrated editions.

• When We Were Very Young, and Now We Are Six, by A.A. Milne - These two are collections of poems by the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, and one of them includes another of my old favorites, "The Doctor and the Dormouse", which children will enjoy for the sounds of the words, and adults will enjoy for the sly pokes at the pompous doctor. It begins like this:

"There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And all the day long he'd a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

• Hiawatha, by Longfellow, illustrated by Jeffers, or Hiawatha's Childhood, by Longfellow, illustrated by LeCain - either of these are beautifully illustrated editions of the melodic old story-poem.

• Paul Revere's Ride, by Longfellow, illustrated by Rand, or The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, illustrated by Bing - again, illustrated versions of the poem - enough pictures for pre-K, enough story for older kids. You might want to discuss with older kids the fact that it isn't intended to be an exact historical account.

For elementary age and up:

• A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry, edited by Driscoll & Hamilton - this one is not just an anthology, but includes explanations of different forms of poetry along with examples, and a CD of the poems. For upper elementary to middle school.

• The Poetry for Young People series has illustrated volumes on individual poets (Carl Sandburg, Maya Angelou, William Blake, and many more) and on topics (The Seasons), with poems chosen as appropriate for children.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Silverstein - funny poems well-loved by many elementary-age kids.

• Time for Poetry, by Arbuthnot - a thicker, longer anthology with fewer illustrations, this is another older, out-of-print book, but easily available quite inexpensively on-line. It has lots and lots of poems arranged by topic - all older poems, since it was published in 1959.

• "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" by Service

For Teen Listeners

• "The Raven" by Poe, "The Highwayman" by Noyes, and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge are longer narrative poems that often appeal to teenagers.

• April is the tragic anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. Read Walt Whitman's poems "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" and "O Captain, My Captain" to begin to glimpse the country's grief.

• Poem a Day, edited by McCosker & Albery, is an anthology of mostly older, mostly short poems that the editors suggest would be good poems to memorize (though anyone who can memorize one a day has a better memory than I!). It might make sense to read one a day, and then choose one each week or month to try to memorize.

• A Book of Luminous Things, edited by Milosz, is an anthology of mostly modern, mostly short, poems from all over the world, many translated from other languages, that are likely not to be familiar to most readers.

If you want to tackle a classic -

• Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, by Seamus Heaney , or The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation, by Robert Pinsky- neither of these are easy, but they are more accessible that some of the earlier translations.

Read-aloud Books: Suggestions: for March '08

Turn off the television and read to your kids!
Quote from "What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?" by Ellen Gamerman, Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008 : " ... by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world's C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and reading -- on track to keeping Finns among the world's most productive workers.... One explanation for the Finns' success is their love of reading. Parents of newborns receive a government-paid gift pack that includes a picture book. Some libraries are attached to shopping malls, and a book bus travels to more remote neighborhoods like a Good Humor truck."

Picture books:

• Max's First Word, by Rosemary Wells - one of my favorite very simple stories for toddlers - Max's sister is trying to teach him to say something besides "bang".

• The Year at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen - a book of months and seasons, this picture book focuses on what is happening with the animals on an old-fashioned farm. It looks like it could be set in the northeast US. (Pre-school through first grade)

• Ox-Cart Man, by Hall, illustrated by Cooney - a simple story about life in early New Hampshire, with lovely, spare text and simple, folk-style illustrations (Pre-school through first grade)(Caldecott book)

• Bedtime for Frances, by Hoban, illustrated by Williams - a charming story about Frances making excuses not to go to bed (or stay in bed) - every parent will recognize some of these ploys! I suppose some modern parents might not like the reference to a possible spanking, but I can't think of any other reason not to love this classic!

• The Mousehole Cat, by Barber, illustrated by Bayley - this book is by a British author, so it was not eligible for a Caldecott, but it must be one of the most beautiful picture books of all time. The story is of an old fisherman and his cat who brave terrible, stormy weather to bring back fish for the starving villagers, written in beautiful prose and illustrated with gorgeous, detailed pictures and decorative borders. It is a little long for younger preschoolers, but good for pre-K through second or third grade.

• Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Holling - a longer picture book, to be read over several days, with lots of information about the Great Lakes, the story follows a hand-carved canoe from where the boy who made it sets it into a melting snowbank in a stream that feeds into Lake Superior, through the lakes and eventually to the ocean. (Grades 1-3)

• A World of Faith, by Stack, illustrated by Peterson - a brief introduction to 28 different religions, listed alphabetically. There is a page of text about basic beliefs, and a full-color illustration of people in historical dress for each faith. Again, this is not a book you would probably read straight through at one sitting, but maybe do one, or a few, each day, and then use as a reference book. (middle elementary to middle school)

• Dogs and Dragons, Trees and Dreams, by Karla Kuskin - whimsical short poems (Pre-K and up)

Longer books for reading to third graders and up:

• Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie Tolan - realistic fiction, funny, this book is a romp with various outrageously stereotyped (but mostly lovable) characters. The two main characters are Jake, a middle school boy who has been expelled from school for bad behavior and is sent to the Applewhite family's "home school", and the middle-school-aged Applewhite girl who feels like the only ordinary member in her brilliant, artsy family. Jake starts out smoking and swearing, but gives up both along the way. Great literature? Probably not, but a lot of fun to read. (Newbery Honor book)

• The Secret Garden, by Frances Burnett - the old-fashioned classic about friendship between a lonely, spoiled orphan girl, her invalid cousin, and a local farmer's son who share a hidden, walled-off garden, and how working in the garden heals bodies and spirits.

• An Edge of the Forest, by Agnes Smith - a book I remember my mother reading to us, and that I read to my children, this one can't be classified into the usual categories, but it is a wonderful story to read aloud. An orphan black lamb wanders away from her flock and is befriended by a young black leopardess, a doe and fawn, and an owl. Yes, it does have "talking animals" and sounds entirely unlikely, but the way it is written makes it work. It can be hard to find - try interlibrary loan or bookfinder.com. I found an old copy in our local library in the late 80's, considered stealing it (no one else had checked it out in years), and instead asked to buy it from them. They wouldn't sell it to me, but not long after, they weeded the stacks and threw it away. I searched through boxes of discards, but I was too late. It was one of the first books I bought, a few years later, when the internet made it possible to find rare books.

• The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Reid Banks - fantasy set in our modern world - a boy finds that he can turn a plastic toy Indian into a "real" (though still miniature) live man - the ultimate toy. Of course, when a "toy" is a live person, soon many practical and ethical dilemmas crop up, some funny and some serious. Avoid the movie, but read the book. It also has sequels your children are likely to be inspired to read themselves after you read them the first one.

• Flipped, by Wendelin Van Draanen - realistic fiction - this story is told in alternate chapters by the two main characters, starting when they are in early elementary school, and the girl has a huge crush on the boy, who is constantly coming up with schemes to avoid her. When they get to middle school, though, he begins to notice that he likes her, right about the time she decides maybe she isn't interested after all. A light story with some humor, but also some serious undertones (about social class, stereotyping, and how we look at the mentally handicapped). The "romance" is handled in age-appropriate ways.

For reading to teens:

• Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand - nonfiction - although this is about horses, it is also about the Depression, and the lives of Seabiscuit's owner and trainer and jockey, who were all amazing people. The interwoven stories of their personal struggles to overcome injuries and adversity create suspense even if you know the outcome of most of the races.

• A Story Like the Wind, by Laurens Van Der Post - historical fiction, set in southern Africa; the main character is a white boy who has grown up, home-schooled, on a remote farm in southern Africa (first half of 1900's). This is a quiet story about his experiences as a boy, with his hunting dog, building very gradually to a dramatic ending that will probably leave readers wanting to go immediately on to the sequel, A Far-Off Place, which is more of a survival story, as the boy, a teen-age girl with only a few weeks experience in the area, and a Bushman couple must make their way across the Kalahari desert. (The movie A Far-Off Place bears very little resemblance to the book - even less than most movies bear to the books they are based on.)

Read-aloud Books: Suggestions for February '08

Give your children the gifts of literacy and time - read to them every day!

Picture books:

• Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months, by Sendak - a fun, silly set of rhymes that go through each month of the year with refrains like "Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice".
• Flamingos on the Roof, by Calef Brown - a new favorite - nonsense rhymes full of word play, with colorful, interesting illustrations, for preschool through middle elementary.
• Tikkatoo's Journey, by Amanda Loverseed - an Eskimo folktale about a little boy who makes a hero's journey to bring his sick grandfather a piece of the sun. Wonderful, stylized illustrations.
• Owl Moon, by Yolen, illustrated by Schoenherr - a quiet story about a little girl who goes with her pa for a walk in the winter woods hoping to see an owl. (Caldecott winner)
• Louhi, Witch of North Farm, by Barbara Cooney - a folktale from Finland about how Louhi steals the sun, and is then persuaded to bring it back. I love nearly all Barbara Cooney's illustrations, but the pictures in this book may be my favorites!
• Eleanor, by Barbara Cooney - about how Eleanor Roosevelt grew up; too long for pre-schoolers, but good for elementary, maybe first grade and up.
• Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, by Winters, illustrated by Carpenter - a picture book biography of Abraham Lincoln for elementary-age listeners.
• Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers, by Karen B. Winnick - the true story of how a little girl wrote a letter to Lincoln suggesting that he grow a beard, and how she later got to meet him - elementary.
• Abraham Lincoln, by Ingri & Edgar D'Aulaire - a somewhat longer illustrated biography of Lincoln - read aloud to first or second graders and up (1940 Caldecott medal winner).
• George Washington, by Ingri & Edgar D'Aulaire - folk-style illustrations with a straight-forward biography of the first president. The fact that he had slaves is mentioned, but without comment on the problematical ethics.
• George Washington's Breakfast, by Jean Fritz - a little boy who was named after George Washington, and shares his birthday, goes looking for information about Washington; early to middle elementary.
  
• ...If You Grew Up With George Washington, by Gross, illustrated by McCully - information and pictures about life in colonial Virginia; elementary
• So You Want to Be President? by St. George, illustrated by Small - a light-hearted approach to the message that our presidents were/are very human, with their individual quirks and different backgrounds, and that anyone can aspire to our highest office. Appropriate for fairly young children, although some of the humor will go right over their heads. (Caldecott medal book)

Longer books for elementary to middle school listeners
Historical fiction set in the US:

• Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder - first book of the classic series, this one is set in Wisconsin in the 1800's, and written from the author's memories of life in a log cabin with her older sister, Mary, and their parents. Short chapters and the simple story make this suitable for quite young listeners, maybe as young as first grade.
• By the Great Horned Spoon, by Sid Fleischman - full of humor and adventure, this is a story set in the California gold rush days, as young Jack and his aunt's butler Praiseworthy set out to strike gold and save Jack's aunt from poverty. It is a bit of a tall tale, but lots of fun. (middle elementary and up)
• Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan - another pioneer story, this one is about two children whose mother has died, and whose father has a "mail order bride" coming to join them on the prairie. Short and sweet, for second grade or above listeners.
• All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor - a classic family story, set in the early 1900's in New York City, about five sisters growing up in a poor Jewish immigrant family. (middle elementary)
  

• Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt - Set in rural southern Illinois in the 1860's, this is a classic coming-of-age story. The main character, Jethro, is a young boy when Lincoln is elected president. Two of the older boys in the family(along with his school teacher) fight in the Union army, and one fights for the Confederate army, while Jethro must take on more and more of the work of running the family farm. It would be good to have a map of Civil War battles handy as you read, so you can see where the different battles (described in letters and newspaper articles) were fought. (Fourth or fifth grade and up listeners)
  
• The River Between Us, by Richard Peck - another Civil War era story, with a mystery blended in, the main story is framed by a 15-year-old boy's 1916 trip to visit his grandparents' home, but most of the narrative is in the voice of his grandmother as a teenage girl during the Civil War, and revolves around two "young ladies", one light-complected and the other dark, who arrive on a boat from New Orleans and board with the family, and may not be exactly what they seem. (Third or fourth grade and up)
• Sarah's Ground, by Ann Rinaldi - based on actual people and events, this is the story of a "Yankee" young woman, and a "Southern" gentleman who are working together to manage Mt. Vernon during the Civil War - a quieter story that will probably appeal more to girls (upper elementary to middle school)
• Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes - set in the decisive time leading up to the Revolutionary War, Johnny is a talented apprentice silversmith in Boston. Paints a picture of colonial life, and weaves Johnny's personal story in with historical events and appearances by several of the founding fathers. (fifth or sixth grade and up) (Newbery medal)
  
• Bull Run, by Paul Fleischman - looks at events in the Civil War from various viewpoints; does contain some realistic violence, so use your judgement about what your children are ready to hear, but probably fifth grade and up. (Newbery medal)
  
• The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by John Fox - an old-fashioned classic, set in Civil War Kentucky, not something your kids would be likely to pick up and read on their own, but a good, long read-aloud for middle elementary and above.

For teen listeners:

• 1776, by David McCullough - historical (nonfiction) account of the difficult war for independence - a fresh look at George Washington
• A Free Man of Color, by Barbara Hambly - historical fiction and a mystery, set in New Orleans in the early 1800's, this book sheds light on the little-known culture of the free blacks at a time when "Americans" were regarded as outsiders and the "civilized" population of New Orleans still spoke French. It is the first book in a series of mysteries featuring the same main character.
  

Introduction: Why Read to Children?

It's fun for everyone involved.
It helps get them settled down.
It makes the children more likely to read to themselves, too.
It's a great excuse to sit down when you're tired in the evening.
Multiple research studies show that the time parents spend reading to children has the greatest influence on how well the children read, which in turn is one of the strongest predictors of success in school and in life.
It's family time.
It can help establish a routine.
It increases the child's attention span, vocabulary, and general background knowledge.
The time you spend reading to your children establishes the ideas that reading is important, and that the children are so important you take time from the dozens of other things you would otherwise be doing to read to them.

When should you start?
Today. Well, if you don't have kids yet, you can put it off.
There are people who say you should start while the baby is still in utero. I have my doubts about that, although it won't hurt.
There are people who say you should start as soon as the baby is born. That's getting a little more plausible. Recent studies show that children can tell the difference between the language(s) spoken in their home, and "foreign" languages by the time they are six months old. Again, it certainly can't hurt. The young baby won't understand the story line, and might or might not look at the pictures, but s/he will enjoy the sound of your voice and the time you spend paying attention to him.
I think a reasonable goal is to start a regular daily reading time when your child is about a year old - or immediately, if your child is already older than that.

When should you stop?
Not until the child (or the youngest child, if you have more than one) is at least fourteen. No, I'm not kidding. Of course the child will be able to read to herself before that, but that is no reason for you to stop reading aloud to her.

When?
With very young children who have not yet gotten used to being read to, you may need to pick your times carefully at first - choose times when your baby/toddler is willing to sit still for a few minutes.
As soon as you can, establish a routine that fits your schedule. For many families, that means reading just before bedtime, and that can work well. The reading can help the children wind down, relax, and be ready to sleep. It makes a peaceful, cozy ending for the day, but it is not the only option. If there are two parents around, maybe one parent could read to the children while the other one puts the finishing touches on dinner, or washes dishes after dinner. If your family is in the unusual position of not needing to rush around in the morning, right after breakfast might be a good story time. Look at your schedule and see where it can fit.

How much?
A good rule of thumb is that you should read aloud at least 5 minutes a day for every year the child is old, and for older children, at least a half hour a day (the children over seven should also be reading to themselves at least a half hour a day, but that's another topic).

Where?
Find a quiet, comfortable spot where you can have a baby or toddler on your lap, and older children sitting right next to you - a roomy chair, a loveseat, or couch. On a bed will work if you have a good back-support pillow to lean against. You need good light on the book, though the rest of the room doesn't need to be light.
If possible, turn off all other noise in the house - television, radio, stereo, computer, video games, everything (well, you could experiment with a little soft music in the background if you want). Anyone in the house who isn't listening to the reading should be quiet. If you can't get rid of all the noise, at least have a closed door between the reading area and the other noises.

A few other miscellaneous issues...
When you first begin reading with your child, he may not want to sit still very long. This problem will usually gradually diminish as he gets older and gets used to the routine (and gets interested in the stories). For very wiggly children, you could try breaking the reading time into two or three sessions instead of one long one. You could try giving the child a "stress ball" or some silly putty to squeeze and play with while you read. It is preferable to have the child completely focused on the book and the reading, but some children do listen well while doodling or drawing - or riding a stationary bike, or walking on a treadmill.
Some people really get into dramatic storytelling, doing different "voices" for different characters. If you like doing that, go for it. Younger children, especially, will enjoy it. However, don't feel that you must be a great storyteller.