Last week, I posted about 44 Books I Plan to Read in 2018 and talked about my own personal reading plans for 2018. This week, for our weekly book post, I wanted to share about my plans for reading aloud to my kids.
You all know I’m a big fan of reading aloud to my kids! It’s something I’ve done since the time they were newborn and I am so grateful that I have. In fact, just the other day, Kathrynne (almost 13), was talking about how so much of what she knows she’s learned through books I’ve read to her, books she’s read, and audiobooks and audio drama she’s listened to. That made me so happy!
As the kids are older and in school, we have to be more intentional about making reading time happen. Recently, we’ve found that reading at dinner time works well. We usually just read for 10-15 minutes right now. We don’t fly through books at that rate, but my goal is to at least get through 10 books this year as a family. I chose 15 to give us options and also to encourage us to see if we can actually read all 15! 🙂
15 Books I Want to Read Aloud to My Kids This Year
- Carry a Big Stick (This was one of my favorite books as a teen!)
- Paperboy
- The Boy on the Wooden Box
- Created for Work (I’ve read this and it was really good!)
- Evidence Not Seen (I read this as a teen multiple times — so good!)
- Boyhood and Beyond (I’ve read this and it was so good!)
- The Journey Back (We’re in the middle of finishing this right now!)
- Adam of the Road
- Catherine, Called Birdy
- I, Juan de Pareja
- Shadow of the Bull
- A Single Shard
- Endurance (My mom read this aloud to us growing up and I have such fond memories of it!)
- The Hidden Treasure of Glaston
- The Bronze Bow
Caroline says
I love all the suggestions! For those of you with younger children I want to share a great youtube channel I found where a woman reads kids books. I found it through the suggestions at the right side of the page on youtube and thought I’d give one a try. I’m so glad I did! She is fabulous!!! She uses tons of different voices and my kids absolutely love her. It’s so much better than a lot of the mind numbing stuff they offer kids on youtube these days. The channel is called “Awnie’s House” and it’s a winner! It’s a great supplement to the reading we do together as a family.
Dana says
You’ve got some winners on there! I adore both Catherine Called Birdy and The Single Shard!
Karin says
I’ve loved reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. It has a second book being released in March 2018. Such a fun, sweet, curious story!
Julia says
I love reading to my boys (8.5 and 5.5). We used to read every morning (with chocolate milk in hand) and night but now it’s just at night as our morning routine has changed. Now that my youngest will sit for longer than just a kids book we currently really enjoy reading through the box car children books. Even my youngest picked a couple out from the library the other day for us to read. Thanks for sharing your list of books! It’s always fun to see what other families are reading too.
Robin Gibson says
I, too, highly recommend “The Bronze Bow” We LOVED that book! We have also really enjoyed books by Patricia St. John. Beautiful!!!
Crystal Paine says
So good to know! Thanks for the input!
Karla says
The “Endurance” was the last book I read aloud to my son in high school, it was so exciting and informative. There is a special exhibit at a museum, The Bowers, if anyone happens to be in Orange County, CA for vacation this winter.
Amy says
Let us know how your kids enjoy Endurance. I am so thrilled to see that on your list. I never heard of Earnest Shakleton until my husband told me about him and shared several documentaries with me. We have some photobooks about The Endurance, but I have never read that particular book. It must be amazing!!
Everyone today should know about that fascinating, inspiring story. Those men had to have been surrounded by legions of angels!
Crystal Paine says
YES! It’s SUCH a fascinating story!
Sarah@OrthodoxMotherhood says
Have you done many audiobooks in the car? That is the way that we get most of our read alouds done now, and my kids love them! I highly, highly recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society, The One and Only Ivan, and the Little House series on audio. They are all wonderfully done and very engaging! Also, if your kids liked Wonder, another great book to build empathy is Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. (Can you tell I’m a reading teacher?! 🙂 )
Crystal Paine says
My kids LOVE audio… but we aren’t all in the car together much anymore, except on road trips. But they listen to Adventures in Odyssey before bed every single night! 🙂
Sandy B says
I’ve read a few of these to my children. Bronze Bow is one of my favorite books. I read aloud to my children everyday for many years, as I homeschooled them and that was the first thing we did every morning. Little Women, Little Men and Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott are great books and we didn’t live too far from her Orchard House in Concord, MA – a must see if you ever go back. We also read all the LIttle House on the Prairie books – 4 times! Her writing takes you along on her journey. We were also blessed to be able to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum and home in Missouri – another must see!! Pa’s Fiddle, her handsewn wedding dress…so many wonderful artifacts! As much as I lenjoyed the show, it did not compare to her real life!
Darcie says
Love the idea of starting a list like this! My boys are 7 & 9. I saw a recommendation about about Peleg Chronicles. Any other great reads for this age? Have Chronicles of Narnia and doing a ton the Magic Tree House. Read for new ideas….
Cara says
What a great post topic! I’ve heard of several of those titles but the only one I’ve read was Catherine, Called Birdy–LOVE it. We’re huge fans of reader Jim Weiss, who has recorded dozens of albums of novels, short stories, myths, fairy tales, etc. His Jungle Book is fantastic–I like to say that Rudyard Kipling wishes he could have heard Jim Weiss read it :-). We like to all listen together in the car on long trips, in addition to shorter read-alouds at home. My oldest is 5, and she will listen to Jungle Book and Uncle Wiggly’s Storybook read by Weiss, Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan read by the author, and James & the Giant Peach and the BFG (don’t know those readers offhand), again and again and again and again …… We also enjoyed Weiss’s Wind in the Willows and Tales from the Arabian Nights. I look forward to doing more family chapter books as all of my kids get older! I’m especially looking forward to the Chronicles of Narnia.
Debbie says
Gordon Korman’s early books, The MacDonald Hall series, and I Want to Go Home. He has written many other kids’ books since then, but these were the ones I grew up reading and loved them. I read I Want to Go Home to my son when he was recovering from surgery and we laughed so hard.
Allison says
A great, clean, and positive book that’s perfect for middle schoolers is Savvy by Ingrid Law 🙂
Rachel says
I cannot recommend Peleg Chronicles by Matthew Christian Harding enough! There are three books, the first is called Foundlings. I read them to my 7 and 9 year old boys and we all loved them. They are historical fiction from a Biblical worldview, set a few hundred years after the tower of Babel.
Crystal Paine says
Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Betsy says
I will never forget reading Little children’s progress with my kids. Impacted us all!!
Jennifer says
We loved I, Juan de Pareja!
But our absolute favorite family read aloud is Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy. Your children are at the perfect age to enjoy these awesome books!
Anna says
agree! I learned about this book series from Jessica at Life As Mom. The audio version is wonderful. Love how kind and supportive the children are to each other and how resourceful they are. I recommend this series highly!
Simone says
Yes to “The Mysterious Benedict Society”!!!! We also love everything Brandon Mull, but especially the series that start with “A World Without Heroes.” That series was great on audio book and hood for 4th(???) grade and up.
Brandy @ The Prudent Homemaker says
The Bronze Bow is fantastic. It’s one of our favorites!
Bethany says
I’m homeschooling a 1st grader and would also like book suggestions for read alouds? Sometimes I don’t think my kids are paying attention to me till they bring up the book weeks later.
Quinn says
Check out readaloudrevival.com for GREAT read aloud book selections!
Cara says
Don’t you love that? Yesterday’s funny church story was during the reading of the story about the three kings–they ‘entered the house where Mary sat with the child’–and my 2.5-year-old, who was coloring and didn’t appear to be paying attention at all, turns to me and asks, “Where was the donkey?!” –because this year for Advent and Christmas we did Mary’s Little Donkey as a read-aloud (recommended!) and she recognized the scene from the book (where clearly the donkey was present 😉 ). Anyway, totally made me laugh because it wasn’t clear how much she was paying attention to the read-aloud and then it didn’t seem like she was paying attention in church, and then–actually, paying good attention both times!
LeaDawn says
I have a7 year old and 5 year old boys. Some of our favorite read aloud so far are Charlet’s Web, Summer of the Monkeys, and My Father’s Dragon. We will also be reading the Indian in the cupboard and box car children this year.