Our family
benefited tremendously from daily times of reading aloud. Naturally, we read
many, many toddler and early childhood books to the boys, but when our oldest
was around age six, we began reading “real” books to them as a family. It’s
surprising how much even the youngest can apprehend.
Our sons
would huddle together on the couch next to us or lounge on our bed alongside of
us to listen; later, as the boys grew older, they would just range on floor at our
feet or on chairs nearby. The familial closeness fostered and the intellectual
growth were major contributors to the men they are now. (Haha
- One of our sons recently mentioned to me that he still misses those times and
would probably come over every night if we started reading aloud again!)
I can’t
recommend the practice highly enough and would like to share our
recommendations for books that your family might enjoy, so here they are in no
particular order:
Most
loved:
The
Little House on the Prairie (whole series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The
complete Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
Little
Britches; Man
of the Family; The
Fields of Home by Ralph Moody
The
Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
James
and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Walk
Across America; The
Walk West by Peter
Jenkins
Gifted
Hands by Ben Carson
The
Prince and the Pauper;
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Little
Women; Eight
Cousins; Rose
in Bloom by Louisa
May Alcott
Black
Beauty by Anna
Sewell
The
Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
The
Wheel on the School by Meindart Dejong
King
Solomon’s Mines by H. Ryder Haggard
Out of
the Silent Planet; Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
Liked:
Pilgrim’s
Progress by John
Bunyan
Calvin
& Hobbs (all) by Bill Watterson (cartoons)
The
Great Divorce by C.
S. Lewis
The
House of Many Fathers by Meindart Dejong
White
Fang by Jack London
(Jr. High level)
Bobsey
Twins series by Laura Lee Hope (suitable for age five)
O’Henry
stories (any)
Sherlock
Holmes series of stories
