Read-Aloud Book List

The little ones have read aloud time every night with Daddy before bedtime.  I thought I would keep track of what we are reading this year, and what we thought about them.  These books are mainly aimed at Miss M, with The Bug tagging along.  We may go back and re-read some of these for him when he is older.

January - May 2012 (Ages 4.5 and 1.5)

1. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.  This was Daddy's favorite book when he was little, and the kids loved it too!  This version had all three of the books of the trilogy included, and we read them back-to-back.
2. Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales.  I selected this book since I really enjoy Beatrix Potter.  Daddy was not a fan of these stories, he doesn't like Peter Rabbit since he is so naughty.  Miss M and Baby B did enjoy them, mainly for the illustrations. 
3. Lady Lollipop by Dick King-Smith.  Miss M loved the story of rude Princess Penelope and her  special pig Lollipop.  She was so disappointed when we finished this story, and so we read the sequel Clever Lollipop.  These books are out-of-print but we were able to find several copies at our local library.  These were a huge hit at our house!
4. Next was James Herriot's Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of All Creatures Great and Small.  I love James Herriot's stories, and these are wonderful tales with fantastic illustrations.  Each of the eight stories is about 30 pages long, so we did one a night.  Even The Boyscout (age 12) and I are enjoyed listening along to this one!
5. Miss M asked for a book with people in it after all the animal stories, so we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.  The kids enjoyed this book, but I think that Miss M needed to be a bit older than she is to truly understand some of the more ridiculous situations that occur.  Pippi is a very misbehaved child, and there were definitely some instances when we needed to reinforce what the proper behavior and consequences should have been.  Pippi's behavior is not idealized in the book, but do keep this in mind if considering it!
6. The next book we picked was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  (You can usually find this used fairly easily.)  This was a big hit with Miss M, and even Baby B seemed to be interested in this one.  We will eventually go back and read some more in this series (Miss M is already asking for book two) but I want to save some of them for her to read to herself and these are good for young readers.

June-July 2012 (Ages 4.5 and 2)

1. The next book we read was The World of Pooh: The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne.  A favorite no matter what your age, and loved by everyone in our house.
2.  Our current read aloud is Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Miss M picked this one off my shelf herself.  (I still have my collection from when I was a child.)