# What are you reading aloud to your kid(s)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315 "2004-02-15T06:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/21 "2004-02-16T09:17:03Z")
Miranda Rights ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/22 "2004-02-16T11:41:39Z")
My son loves Calvin and Hobbes, so we’ve been reading those every night. He’s doing very well with the big words too _smiles proudly_ He also loves Shel Silverstein and Ogden Nash. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/23 "2004-02-16T11:51:57Z")
Years ago when I was a psychiatric nurse I was the activities director on the disturbed adolescents ward. These were kids from terrible backgrounds who the courts considered needed more than just incarceration. I was reading Bram Stoker’s _Dracula_ and began reading it to some of them one night. I ended up with the whole ward full of junior psychopaths hanging out for the next nightly adventure - and it wasn’t that exciting. Now my biys don’t need reading to. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/24 "2004-02-16T12:56:56Z")
I have read _Where the Wild Things Are_ a few times recently to my two-year-old. There are four or five pages in the middle with no text, just pictures of dancing monsters. I deal with this by singing [Olatunji’s Akiwowo](http://www.after-science.com/olatunji/review1.html), which seems to fit the mood. I often try to engage him by deviating from the story or asking him to point out things he recognises in the illustrations, but this one is a bit more fun than most. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/25 "2004-02-16T12:59:38Z")
Technically, I’m not reading to the kids…I keep audiobooks in the car and we listen everywhere we go. (Cuts way down on the fighting in the backseat!) We just finished Edward Eager’s _Half Magic_ and are moving on to _A Series of Unfortunate Events._ We’ve had so many great books I can’t remember them all, and some have already been mentioned in this thread, but a recent hit was Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s _The Headless Cupid._ The little beetles are 12 and 7, (girl and boy respectively), so it can be hard to find something both of them really like, but I think the greatest hit so far was _The Witches_ by Roald Dahl. Any of his stuff goes over well. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/26 "2004-02-16T13:29:16Z")
I love **Chinaberry** and I use the library as a sounding board for any possible purchases. ( I do make at least one purchase from them a year to fulfill my moral obligation.) I just found a place on line ( still waiting for the print catalog) that seems to have a pretty similiar selection of kids books: [Rosiehippo](http://www.rosiehippo.com/home.asp) Loads of waldorf style and old fashion toys. Butt loads of books. [Trees](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0970190719/qid=1076936987/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books) It is the story about what an 800 year old tree has seen and if the bulldozers come, what will happen to all the life underneath it since it’s shade and protection will be gone. Poetic and sweet. [Valley of Mist](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0863153127/qid=1076936909//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) About people that live in a valley shrouded in mist who have been told by the elders, who have been told by the elders (etc) that there is nothing outside the valley. One crazy old man who lives outside the village has _seen_ there is something outere, but he and his family (a nephew or grandson) are shunned. The boy asks the elders and he is told ‘nothing is out there’ and he decides to investigate for himself, causing quite an uproar in their little kingdom. \*\*Magic School Bus \*\* any of them. We have them all. My son adores these books. **Edward and the Pirates** is one of my favorite kids stories. It’s not so much about blood thirsty raping and pillaging their hearts out kinda pirates, its about a boy who loooves to read and the stories come alive for him ( ‘once when Edward read about dinosaur’s he saw a tyrannesaurus right outside his window’) that kinda thing. Or how he becomes apart of the grand adventure with Robin Hood. And then the pirates show up one night ( while he was reading about them) and demand the book he is reading. But Edward firmly says “No” because it is a library book. WHAT will happen? Will Edward and his faithful teddy bear have to walk the plank? Look for the other Edward books: [Edward in the Jungle](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316563919/qid=1076937913/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books) where he meets Tarzan!, And another book where Edward has a part, but he isn’t named yet…my son picked this one out by shouting…" Hey, it’s Edward…and damn if he wasn’t right. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/27 "2004-02-16T13:34:59Z")
[QUOTE] I love \*\* will be gone. Poetic and sweet. One crazy old man who lives outside the village has _seen_ there is something **outere** , [QUOTE] I mean \*out there \*. Outere, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/28 "2004-02-16T13:36:23Z")
Must have more coffee! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/29 "2004-02-16T13:40:34Z")
[Fairy Houses](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0970810458/qid=1076938614/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books) is rapidly becoming a favorite at our house.We borrowed it from the library in the fall and spent every day for three weeks building fairy houses in our end-end-end of the season garden. Since the fairies are sleeping or in Florida for the winter, I will take it out again in the spring. From Amazon: > [@](#): > > Kristen’s parents take her on a vacation to Maine and show her a village of little houses made from natural materials in the woods that humans have made for fairies. The child builds her own miniature home and returns each morning to find only animals enjoying it. However, on the last day, after seeing only a deer licking the salt off seashells placed at the entrance to her little building, Kristen falls into a light slumber. It is then that she is rewarded with the fairies appearing to her as thanks for respecting the woods and its animals. The fairies glow so brightly that she must close her eyes, and when she reopens them they have changed into beautiful monarch butterflies. Children will be eager to build a fairy house with the inspiring suggestions provided by the author at the end of the book Chinaberry just started offering this book(s), too. I was actually ahead of them 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/30 "2004-02-16T13:40:40Z")
My daughter just turned 6 and we are on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Fifth book of the Narnia series. One chapter a night if she gets her pjs on and in bed on time. My 3 year old goes between all the Dr. Seuss books, with Green Eggs and Ham as his fav. He must end with a reading of [Goodnight Moon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0694003611) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/31 "2004-02-16T13:52:26Z")
**MilliCal** , six, loves the “Junie B. Jones” books. I introduced her to the French “Asterix” books, and she loves them – a good way to introduce her to Classical cultuyre and European history. Ever since she got the Disney Alice in Wonderland DVD, I’ve been reading to her from **the Complete Annotated Alice**. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/32 "2004-02-16T14:00:36Z")
Ooooh, this **Asterix** series looks very interesting. Any in particular do you recommend? ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/33 "2004-02-16T14:08:25Z")
I just finished reading James and the Giant Peach to the kids a couple of nights ago. I’m thinking of starting The Phantom Tolbooth next. **Tark** tried to start them out on The Lord of the Rings, but the 5-year-old just doesn’t have the attention span for that, and I don’t blame her. After Tollbooth I’ll probably start on Charlotte’s Web or something like it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/34 "2004-02-16T14:52:48Z")
[Asterix on Ebay](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3587146672&category=1103) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/35 "2004-02-16T14:54:58Z")
We read a lot of the 10-pager board books to our 28 months-old Sophie (she really likes word books, and Dr. Seuss’s (sp?) “Many Colored Days”), but what is really sweet is how, if she’s not ready for her nap, she will grab about 3-5 books, take them to bed with her, and read herself to sleep. One day we found her propped up on her pillows, with an open book face down on her stomach. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/36 "2004-02-16T19:34:17Z")
Just a note from a dad with older kids (11 & 14): KEEP READING! My kids’ll still race to get pj’s on if it means we’ll have extra time to read. And it’s a great bribe/threat: “Okay, take all the time in the bathroom you want, but we’ll only have a couple of minutes to read…” “Oh, NOOOO! Dad! I’m hurrying! Honest!” * * * ## from a “best books from childhood” thread: Anyone else here who started reading kids’ books as a “grownup”? I missed a lot of classic “children’s” books as a kid, so made up for it in college (when I SHOULD have been reading textbooks), and ever since. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle, and the sequels (skip A Wind in the Door if you must to get to A Swiftly Tilting Planet – I’m re-reading it right now, and it’s beautifully written. The Wicked Enchantment, Berney-Isbert. The Narnia books. No need to elaborate. Pooh. Ditto. Otis Spofford. Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books. The Animorph series – less classy than my others, but fun sci-fi with likable, quirky teens learning to be (and think like) animals. I’ve read all of them, and the last two are worth getting to (or skipping to, if you like). I’m reading classics to my son (11 yr old skate/snow board ‘bad attitude dude’) every night before bed: Kidnapped Journey to the Center of the Earth Huck Finn Treasure Island Sherlock Holmes and oddly enough, he loves: Boy and Going Solo, Raoul Dahl’s autobiographies. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/37 "2004-02-16T19:53:39Z")
> [@](#): > > The Wicked Enchantment, Berney-Isbert. **digs** , was it you who recommended this one in the other thread? All I remember is that someone referred to it as “a splinter of the One True Cross”, which seemed to me like some pretty strong praise, so I was delighted to be able to find it at my library. It’s still quite a ways down in the To Read pile, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/38 "2004-02-16T19:56:24Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Just a note from a dad with older kids (11 & 14): > KEEP READING! > > My kids’ll still race to get pj’s on if it means we’ll have extra time to read. > > And it’s a great bribe/threat: “Okay, take all the time in the bathroom you want, but we’ll only have a couple of minutes to read…” > “Oh, NOOOO! Dad! I’m hurrying! Honest!” > > * * * > > ## from a “best books from childhood” thread: > > Anyone else here who started reading kids’ books as a “grownup”? > > I missed a lot of classic “children’s” books as a kid, so made up for it in college (when I SHOULD have been reading textbooks), and ever since. > > A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle, and the sequels (skip A Wind in the Door if you must to get to A Swiftly Tilting Planet – I’m re-reading it right now, and it’s beautifully written. > > The Wicked Enchantment, Berney-Isbert. > > The Narnia books. No need to elaborate. > > Pooh. Ditto. > > Otis Spofford. > > Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books. > > The Animorph series – less classy than my others, but fun sci-fi with likable, quirky teens learning to be (and think like) animals. I’ve read all of them, and the last two are worth getting to (or skipping to, if you like). > > I’m reading classics to my son (11 yr old skate/snow board ‘bad attitude dude’) every night before bed: > > Kidnapped > Journey to the Center of the Earth > Huck Finn > Treasure Island > Sherlock Holmes > > and oddly enough, he loves: > Boy and Going Solo, Raoul Dahl’s autobiographies. I like children’s books better now than when I was a kid. 🙂 And I have always loved Dahl’s autobiographies - very quirky and funny. The part that made me laugh out loud is when he shares a berth on a steamship with “U.N Savory”, and learns his terrible secret! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/39 "2004-02-16T20:04:31Z")
Asterix is the greatest. I grew up on him and Tintin. **digs** , I didn’t discover Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books till college (thank you DangerDad). And _Going solo_ is one of my very favorite books, I just gave it to my teenaged SIL for Christmas. I love the first chapter especially. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315/40 "2004-02-16T20:22:04Z")
Just to follow up, I should note the books I’ve read to my kids (now 11 and 14) … not just my favorites. The kids’ all-time top faves (when aged 5-13): the Harry Potter books. We started those when we were sure they weren’t old enough … and we were sure that it was only the bad Brit accents (from years of listening to Beyond The Fringe and M. Python) that kept them interested. But they’d explain characters and quote passages back to us years later. (BTW, my wife took plenty of vacation pictures of… Dad reading HP to kids on train, Dad reading HP to kids in hunting lodge, Dad reading HP to kids on monorail, Dad reading HP to kids in fish n chips joint…) They also loved Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins books, esp. Henry and Ribsy, and the hilarious Otis Spofford… And they loved rolling their eyes at the Happy Hollisters – wife kept her adventures of this squeaky-clean family from the 50’s. ("‘Jeepers!’ blurted out freckle-faced Ricky.") They grew up on Suess and Pooh and Cleary and I was surprised – after all those classics they got hooked on a “teen series”. The Animorph books turned out to be suspenseful hard sci-fi as well as tongue-in-cheek cultural critique (one alien race sneaks onto earth and “morphs” into humans so they can eat Cinnabons). I got hooked and read all of them, even though the kids skipped books 35-49 (I got them excited to hear the last few, which are a lot of fun). There are some of my favorites (Wrinkle in Time, Narnia books) that the kids have been bored by… broke my heart. But I’m so glad that my son is at least open to the “classics”. I’ve had to make deals with him (“Okay, we try two chapters…”), but he’s LOVED Jules Verne and Stevenson and Dahl and Poe. So keep reading, parents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-aloud-to-your-kid-s/229315.md?page=3)