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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Sept 09 2005 at 7:22pm | IP Logged
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I'm feeling uninspired, and I think a new series of read alouds might help. I want to find a series set that my oldest hasn't read yet that would hold the attention of a 5 yog, a 8 yog and a 12 yob. He's already gone through the Narnia series and the Little House series and all of the commonly mentioned ones.
I don't want something explicitly religious, but is there some series of books (thats not OOP) where the family just happens to be Catholic? Something cheerful that shows a family enjoying life and each other? I don't care where it takes place or time period or anything like that, but it would be good if it had both some boyish and girlish elements.
Maybe I'm pipedreaming and no such thing exists, but I figure if it does, y'all would definitely know about it. :-)
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juliecinci
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What about The Five Little Peppers (and how they grew)?
Julie
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Elizabeth
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How about The Mitchells Series and The Bantry Bay Series by Hilda Van Stockum?
Also, you've read the original Little House; have you read the prequels, particularly the Charlotte and Martha years? I think they're even richer than the Laura years (and I'm a huge Laura fan!).
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Erin
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Elizabeth wrote:
| How about The Mitchells Series and The Bantry Bay Series by Hilda Van Stockum?). |
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I really second this, particuarly the Mitchells. Nice to have a Catholic family. Also Stockum's book 'Andries' I think is her best.
Swiss Family Robinson, is popular with my son. although may be too hard for your 5 yr old.
Elizabeth Enright's books "Five Story Mistake' The Saturdays and 'Spiderweb for two' are also really nice.
Father Francis Finn's books on Tom Playfair are Catholic, I know they are rather old fashioned and most likely more for just the 12 yr old, but still they pack a message.
I'll ask ds10 when he comes home what he would recommend.
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Karen T
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I know my 12 yo has enjoyed the Redwall series this last year, and probably your 8 yo would too, but it might be over the 5 yo's head. And they don't fit the Catholic criterion, but they are set in an abbey!
Karen T
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Karen T
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Ooh, and I forgot to say our favorite readaloud last year was the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Again, it would be mostly for the older ones. I know you're trying to find something for everyone. I'd like to do that, too, but with a 12 yo, 5.5 and 4 yo it's hard for me.
Karen T
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Bookswithtea
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Thanks everyone. Ds has just about all the Redwall books and has read the Bantry Bay series already. But he's only read the first Mitchell's book, so I asked him if he'd listen in if I read it aloud and then read aloud the other two he hasn't heard yet and he was pretty enthusiastic about it. :-) It never fails to amaze me that he still likes to hear me read aloud!
I'm saving the other suggestions for the next time I'm feeling uninspired. :-) I've never heard of Tom Playfair...never even seen it in a catalogue.
About the other Laura series books...I've wondered before, are they very girly or are there main characters who are boys, too?
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Tina P.
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| It never fails to amaze me that he still likes to hear me read aloud! |
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That's wonderful! Don't ever let that passion die. My 10 yob would *rather* that I read aloud. He tends to read and write completely phonetically. It's painful for him to read aloud. I wish he would sit next to me when I read aloud and I could run along the words with my fingers like we used to do when he was learning to read so that he could learn that there are some words you just *have* to memorize as they are. Does anyone have any ideas on how to encourage smoother reading and spelling?
God bless,
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BrendaPeter
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I've never heard of Tom Playfair...never even seen it in a catalogue. |
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They are by Father Finn and are available from Tan Books. They've been a good read-aloud for dad with our 2 oldest who are boys.
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Meredith
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| About the other Laura series books...I've wondered before, are they very girly or are there main characters who are boys, too? |
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I can vouch for the Martha Years books have wonderful boy characters. All of Martha's brothers figure prominently and are great characters, as well as the dad, he's very entertaining and a great roll model for the boys. We're reading them now and they are such rich literature, I would have to agree with Elizabeth that they may be even BETTER than the Laura years, and we're big Laura fans here too. We're constantly re-reading All of them. We'll be on to the Charlotte years next and I'm sure they will be just as good, my daughter has already read them all and she loves them.
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ALmom
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This is not a series, but all my children loved to have me read and re-read The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum and for a real scream, they liked the Midshipman Quinn collection. The youngest is a toddler and we did usually read aloud when it was close to bedtime so he fell asleep in it before becoming disinterested by the length. We generally start with a read-aloud picture book or two and then move on to the other. The other children ranged in age from around 6 to 17 and mixture of girls and boys so it is a challenge to get something that catches them all. The Winged Watchman really did!
Janet
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Bookswithtea
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I just wanted to say thanks for all the suggestions. I put several of them on my wishlist at Amazon. :-)
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mary
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The Father Finn books are outstanding. Thornton Burgess books aren't Catholic, but they do have wonderful animal stories with morals. My kids (7, 5, and 2) don't want to hear any other read alounds and we've been working our way through the Burgess books since April. They've inspired painted nesting eggs, a birthday party, bird sewing (a la Winky Cherry) etc etc.
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Marybeth
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I have gotten many of our favorite read alouds from the booklists in The Read Aloud Handbook, Honey for a Child's Heart, and Books Children Love. I get them from my library and then just request the books we want.
Marybeth
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guitarnan
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John D. Fitzgerald's Great Brain series is about a Catholic family in late 1880's Utah. The middle son, Tom, is devious and bright and is always trying to get an advantage over his pals and younger brother. In time, you learn that Tom is a good-hearted kid (Mom and Dad are pretty strict, too!) and he uses his intelligence to do many interesting and good things.
While not involving Catholic folks, our most recent favorite read-alouds are:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Homer Price (and sequel, Centerburg Tales)
The Trumpet of the Swan
Pippi Longstocking
The Marvelous Adventures of Alvin Fernald (and sequels)
Kat Finds A Friend (and the other book by the same author about Mother Cabrini; these 2 are definitely Catholic!)
And, believe it or not, my 13 year old son LOVED the American Girls Felicity series. He would never say so in public, but he was riveted by every volume. We read them all and are anxiously awaiting the upcoming TV movie!!! (And we went to Williamsburg to see Felicity's home town!)
HTH!
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Erin
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guitarnan wrote:
| John D. Fitzgerald's Great Brain series is about a Catholic family in late 1880's Utah. HTH! |
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Wow, we love these books but I hadn't picked up that they were Catholic.  In fact I think I had the vague impression they were Morman.
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Bookswithtea
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Thank you! What a great list. I didn't know there was a sequel to Homer Price. Ds loved that book a year or two ago.
I'm knocking around getting my dd the AG series for Christmas. Glad to hear you liked them!
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Bookswithtea
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BTW, we started with the Mitchell's series about 2 weeks ago, and so far, everyone loves it, even me! LOL For some reason, I find it comforting how harried the Mother is at times with her brood of 5.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Read aloud suggestions, please?
