—No matter what grade level you teach, be assured your students adore being read to. Middle school teachers report eighth graders loving to have early childhood picture books such as Ferdinand or Frederick read aloud to them. These teachers also report children at this age listening in rapt attention to the riveting moral dilemmas in age-appropriate books such as Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Good literature is a good friend of a just society. But more profoundly, it is the statement the teacher makes by choosing certain books and choosing to take the time to read and discuss them with her whole class that sticks with children. They remember the teacher, the class, the book, the feel of what was talked about and learned in the being together during certain read-alouds, and these memories stay with them for a lifetime. And, we can hope, they’ll pass on the essence of these happy experiences in their parenting.

And parents, too, remember certain books, not only from school experiences, but from their own bedtime rituals of childhood that they now share with their own children or grandchildren. They may treasure and share with their own children Goodnight Moon or a favorite chapter book.

InYardsticks, you’ll find an appendix with favorite children’s books categorized according to developmental clusters. But in upcoming blog entries, I thought I’d offer up something slightly different to help us adults make warm “book memories” for children: A Starter List of Favorite Read-Alouds for Teachers and Parents. I’ve grouped these books into the age categories I would use to decide which books to read to a class of children in a school setting. I know many teachers and parents may find they love to read a certain book on the list to a child or a class of children at a different age with great success. That should lead to some fun and lively discussion on the blog!

Also, please send in your additions to this list! If it grows substantially, maybe I can compile a really useful bigger list for us all. Since I’m not in the classroom anymore as a full-time teacher, I ‘m sure many of you have brand-new books captivating your classes that we all would love to know about. I can speak for the timeless treasuring of the books on my list by children for many years right up to today’s classrooms and grandchildren. It was hard for me to cull and stop with a short list in each category, but this will get us started.

READ-ALOUDS FOR FOURS, FIVES, AND SIXES
Miss Rumphius–Barbara Cooney
Bread and Jam for Frances–Russell Hoban
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day–Judith Viorst
Jamaica’s Find–Juanita Havill
Moon Sandwich Mom–Jennifer Richard Jacobson

READ-ALOUDS FOR SEVENS AND EIGHTS
Miss Nelson Is Missing–Harry Allard
Charlotte’s Web–E.B. White
My Father’s Dragon–Ruth S. Gannett
James and the Giant Peach–Roald Dahl
Clementine–Sara Pennypacker
The Thirteen Clocks–James Thurber

COMING ATTRACTIONS: Read-Alouds for Nines & Tens, Elevens & Twelves, Thirteens & Fourteens

SEND IN YOUR OWN FAVORITE READ-ALOUDS!