The summer before my son started first grade, I hatched a plan. I scoured book lists and my local library to come up with a list of read alouds that would help my son be able to listen to chapter books read aloud. For years I had attempted to read aloud books to him with limited success. His mind was quick to wander.
I checked out so many books from the library and carefully chose and ranked the list seen below. I started with books with pictures and a little writing since that is where my son had success. I then gradually moved to other books with more and more writing on the page. I used picture books and chapter books together. The first chapter books we used were picture-heavy.
My plan worked. By the end of the school year my son was able to listen to books read aloud without difficulty. As the years passed, his listening skills improved so much that it became one of his strengths!
As I look back on that year, I celebrate his success. But I also celebrate that time we spent together on the couch reading and enjoying many excellent books. In all our years homeschooling, that was my favorite read aloud year.
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash
Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina
Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears
Here are the chapter books we used. We did them along with the picture books. The first ones on the list have the most pictures.
Tomi Ungerer’s Heidi: The Classic Novel
A Collection of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories
