Wednesday 7 January 2009

Our Read Alouds from 2008

Just for posterity, here is a list of the significant books I read aloud to the family last year, with asterisks by the stories we liked particularly:

Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter
The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton
*The Borrowers by Mary Norton
**The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop [Anna's narration is here]
**Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel [Joshua's narratin is here - just scroll down for it]
*The Story of the Amulet by Edith Nesbit
The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit
*Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes and How She Came to Tell Them by Alison Green illus Axel Scheffler [my brief review with some excerpts here]
Mad About Madeline: The Complete Tales by Ludwig Bemelmans
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum
Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel Pedley [Joshua's narration is here]
*Roverandom by JRR Tolkein
Dangerous Journey (selections from Pilgrim's Progress) by John Bunyan
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
*Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection by Christopher Awdry
an adaption of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
*The Frog Who Wouldn't Laugh by Cecilia Egan [Joshua's and Anna's narrations here]
**The Little Black Princess by Mrs Aeneas Gunn [my review is here]
**The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
*Mr Bliss by JRR Tolkein
*Pinquo by Colin Thiele [Joshua's narration and my review are here]
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Selections from the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and ministry
*The Complete Adventures of Curious George by HA and Margaret Rey
**Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev W Audry

And of course a lot of stories from **The Bible.

I'm beginning a new list in my RHS column. Our first family read aloud for this year was The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins by Dr Seuss. Yes, I've joined the local library already!

4 comments:

Mrs. Edwards said...

We're "in" China this week with our humanities curriculum and although it wasn't called for, I threw "Tikki Tikki Tembo" in the library cart. We love that tale! I haven't yet, but I've been meaning to revisit your post about Chinese studies.

I could go on and on about some of these books! Did your kids love the illustrations in Dangerous Journey? I think this summer we'll work on some more E. Nesbit books. We have a pretty full reading load this spring with school. I feel a bit bereft that I haven't read aloud as much to my kids, but hopefully we came out okay with the audiobooks in addition to read-alouds.

You're doing great!

Sharon said...

I think the illustrations in Dangerous Journey freaked them out! Some of them, particularly Joshua, were frightened by them. Even though I loved reading it with them, I think we'll wait a few years before reading it through again. But I do want to make it a regular (possibly annual) read aloud for this family. There is so much to learn from Bunyan's parable.

I read The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit by myself but didn't have time to read it to the kids before it had to be back at the library. I think they'd enjoy that as well, especially Joshua with the trains.

~ Sharon

Mrs. Edwards said...

A few years ago we read "Little Pilgrim's Progress" by Helen Taylor for our family devotions. This does not have illustrations, but the retelling has very short chapters. It is a bit altered from Bunyan, telling about "Little Christian" rather than adult Christian, but it was very well done. I thought it a great entry-level book.

Sharon said...

I think someone mentioned that one when the EQUIP Book Club read Pilgrim's Progress a few months ago. it definitely sounds familiar.

~ Sharon