Favorite read aloud books for large age span

[Molly in SC]

Could you all give me your favorite read alouds from MP (or not?) My kids read a lot independently, but we have not done much at all in the way of family read alouds. Thanks!

[jen1134]

Little House Series
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Chronicles of Narnia
Nancy Drew (the original ones)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (MP)
D'Aulaire's books
My Book House series (1931 edition) -- has everything from folk tales to Dante!

[pickandgrin]

Funny books for the whole family:

-Cheaper by the Dozen
-Tom Sawyer
-Melendy Quartet (The Saturdays, etc.)
-The Penderwicks (5 book series)
-Trumpet of the Swan
-Understood Betsy

[Katie]

The Willoughbys
The Moffats (used to be part of third core)
Wolves of Willoughby Chase & The Black Hearts in Battersea
Tales from the Perilous Realm
The Island of Two Trees
Hatchet and other Gary Paulsen books
Julie of the Wolves
All of the Fairy Books (Lilac, Orange, etc..)
Hittite Warrior
God King

We also love the Penderwicks, Cheaper by the Dozen (especially the audio book), Grace Lin trilogy, and Little House series. These are all repeated frequently in our house (or car!)

[Molly in SC]

Thank you all! I needed a place to start. Just found that we will be tagging along with my husband's business trip to St. Louis so I'll definitely work in Tom Sawyer. We are loving Greek myths and plan to do Norse afterwards!

[ShaunaN]

We love Winnie-the-Pooh! For audiobooks, the Focus on the Family radio drama of The Secret Garden is wonderful and much loved in our car! Some other favorites have been The Trumpeter Swan and all the D'Aulaires. My kids have a 3 - 4 year spread between each, so it's not always easy to find books that appeal to everyone.

We really enjoyed The Winged Watchman last year (though be aware that there is a part about Santa Claus not being real which I heavily edited on the fly because we have a house full of believers), as well as Island of the Blue Dolphins and Black Beauty. These are from the fifth-grade read-aloud list.

[jen1134]

I’m 100% sure Katie edited it out while reading, but be aware that Julie of the Wolves contains a disturbing scene about marital r***.

[KikaMarie]

I fell in love with The Wind in the Willows years ago when we first listened to the audio read by Ralph Cosham.

[smithamykat]

Lots of favorites already mentioned. My husband reads aloud for enjoyment (not "school") to everyone in the family in the evenings. Here are a few we've enjoyed recently:

Little Britches (Ralph Moody) series
Number the Stars (Lois Lowry)
By the Great Horn Spoon (can't remember author)
Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome) series
anything by James Herriot, use your discretion with a few adult themes sprinkled throughout
The Prince and the Pauper (Mark Twain)
The Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum)

[Mom2mthj]

I love many listed above...this list came from a dinner table discussion tonight as favorites
Year of Miss Agnes
Swift Rivers
Great Turkey Walk
My Side of the Mountain
Red Sails to Capri
Carry on Mr. Bowditch
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Best Christmas Pagent Ever
The Saturdays
Detectives in Togas
Ginger Pye
Paddle to the Sea and Tree in the Trail
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Gooney Bird Green
Family Under the Bridge
Sign of the Beaver
Kitchen Madonna

[Katie]

I’m 100% sure Katie edited it out while reading, but be aware that Julie of the Wolves contains a disturbing scene about marital r***.

Sheesh, thanks for catching that. You are right. It’s at the very beginning of the book. It’s been a while since I’ve read it. I remember it being easy to edit out, though. Thought of it because my three younger girls were playing “wolves” the other day and used the wolves names from the book. Its one of my girls favorites but I am glad I didn’t just hand it to them.

[DiannaKennedy]

How did y'all forget Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby? I've decided that I'm raising Ramona and Beezus here, for sure. That series makes me laugh, and then turn around and cry.

[MamaHill]

Freddy the Detective (I totally attribute my children's marvelous vocabularies to this series)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
The Secret Garden (the beautiful illustrated version)
Treasure Island
Little Britches
Little House, of course
The Hallelujah Lass
Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter - the anthology version
Bound for Oregon
Strawberry Girl

I'm currently reading Tom Sawyer with my 8th grader in 8M. It's a hoot!