For The L♥ve of Reading discussion

OK, so I just (almost!) finished reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to my kids. Gabe is 7 and in the 1st Grade, Kasia is 4 and in pre-school. Gabriel broke into hysterical tears when Fudge ate Dribble, Peter's turtle. I spent about 45 minutes between calming him down, reading him a different story, and trying to get his mind off of this one. THEN I told him that the Goosebumps book he brought home from the library is PROBABLY not such a good idea.

Any other ideas/thoughts on reading to kids? Crazy tales of unexpected freakouts?

My daughter - the 4 year old - was a bit ticked I stopped reading to go deal with Gabe's hysteria. "Can't you just finish it first, Mom?"

I read aloud to my younger siblings, age eight and eleven. We read the entire Peter and the Starcatchers series...four books. And they always begged me to read longer.

I think reading to kids helps them in the long run. I learned to read at about age three, and my first memories are of sitting on the couch with my parents reading to me. It really did make a difference. Okay, now I sound like an infomercial... :)

But seriously. Reading to kids is good.

I'm all about reading to children! I'm so thankful that our little one's "lovey" is a Dr Seuss book! I'm sorry I can't help on ideas of books to read to take away the "freak out factor" but I hope there are those on here that will be able to help. I'm make sure and make a list for years to come! keep reading to them!

i read to my daughter, who is about to turn five, every day. we visit the library once a week and check out close to forty books. the librarians know us. i was encouraged to read by my oldest brother, paul. i remember books always being a part of my life. i don't know that i was read to as a child, but i always remember reading. my mom would take me to the library when i was young and i've always wanted to go get more books.

almost everyone in my family - there are six siblings - is a reader. my brother, paul, the oldest, saves all of his books and has them categorized by genres! i often trade books with my sister, margaret and my brother, felipe, reads king, barker and koontz - a lot of authors i don't go near cos' the content scares me!

i am hoping by reading every day that my daughter will grow to love reading.

I try to read to my son at night before bed as often a possible.. My job I have shift work and I am not always home to read before bed and my husband will only read the short story books. I think I am going to find a longer chapter book to read with my son. Any suggestions. He is 6 and in the 1st grade.


My son is in french immersion as well and I try to read the books he brings home in french but I don't know french myself and I am always unsure on my sounds and not always sure what I am actually reading. Does any one have any suggestions of at home learnign materials so that I could learn some basics so I can enjoy reading french with my son too. I have done a bit online research at this point but I don't have time to take a class.

chapter books: charlotte's web, the cricket in times square, stuart little, the secret of NIMH, ... i don't know any recent books because i haven't gotten there myself. maybe the tale of despereaux. that's good. or because of win dixie.

french books. look at your library for french titles. tintin used to be a well known cartoon character when i was a kid. i remember my french teacher always mentioning him.

thanks Elizabeth...I forgot about Charlottes Web. I think I will start with that if my library has it. I haven't read it in years!!! And I remember tintin too. thx again!!!

Charlotte's Web made me cry. But it is a good book. The Mouse and The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary is a book that I remember reading when I was little, and I passed it on to my brother when he got old enough. There's a couple of books in the series...

LOVED the Mouse and the Motorcycle. :) I'm moving on to Superfudge tonight - no way does this make me not want to read to my kiddos. I just was not expecting such a reaction. He was THAT into the story, and so clearly identified with Peter that he was as upset as Peter gets in the story. However, Gabe will not be getting a puppy to console him. :P

Poor, fella. I will be starting The Mouse and The Motorcycle, reading to my boys.

I recently finished a few goosebumps books with them and book the first of the Series of Unfortunate Events (which they enjoyed). Right now we are working on a Japanese cultural book. I read on some nights and on others they read sort books to me. They like to switch it up on me.

I've always loved being read to by my parents. I agree that reading aloud is important, since it's a great way to improve children's reading and comprehension skills, and also provides ample opportunities for discussion. My dad started reading to me when I was three and he still reads to me now, thirteen years later (though he pokes fun of it. :D) (Now, though, "story time" is basically relaxation time, where we just reread favorites.) At first, I remember that we read through many children's fairy tales, Arthur, and Dr. Seuss books. When I got older, around third grade, story time introduced me to books I would not normally pick up on my own at that age, such as those by Dickens and Mark Twain. I don't ever remember experiencing a "freak-out," but I do remember getting extremely frustrated when I didn't understand or couldn't keep track of a couple of books we were reading - The Silmarillion comes to mind, but it’s not a great book to read aloud anyway since it is not really a story the same way LotR is. (Not to say I don't love it for the rich detail now, though - it is actually the book my dad is currently rereading to me.)

When I was in 5th grade, I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder series to my grandparents x]

My son just got his book order forms from school and they have Charlotte's Web for $3!!!! I thought that was awesome and kinda ironic cause I was going to see about getting it at the library but I will just order it to have it now and read something else in the mean time.

I figured one of the books I am definately going to read with Daymin.... The BFG!!! I can't remember what grade I was in but one of my teachers read it to the class and I loved it and read it again a few years later. I will Definatley get it to read with him!!!

I've only watched the movies but it certainly seems the BFG is a great book to read to young children. It's nice to see that so many people read to their kids. I actually wasn't read to that much but I loved reading as long as I can remember. I do remember though reading to my younger sibilings which was always really fun:D

Roald Dahl is great for read-aloud. I'm reading my siblings Matilda, and I remember my mom reading Esio Trot when we were younger.

My boys really like the Harry Potter movies so I thought it would be a good idea to read the books out loud to them. Boy was I wrong. They didn't want to sit through the book at all. Jumping all over and and not really paying attention.

So, I changed my strategy. I read smaller books to them so they don't get so distracted when there is so much middle ground to get through.

Have you read any of the Magic Treehouse series to you boys? LOVE those - not only the history, but the fact that it's Morgana from King Arthur's court who is encouraging Jack & Annie in thier adventures - I'm just WAITING for my kids to want more from King Arthur! :)

I read those when I was younger. Loved them. But my mom (who read them out loud) hated them. Cause it was always "Jack said...Annie said"...repeat Ad nauseam.

well, yeah. :) Ad nauseam. But still great for the kids, and enough of a story for me to keep engaged. I'm SOOOOOOO tired of the "story" books - some are fine, some (such as the Baukugon and Pokemon and Scooby Doo and....) books that my son brings home from the school library are way more irritating to read aloud. So, those books HE has to practice reading quietly to himself. Learning to read silently is an important skill, so this is how I choose to deal with that genre of books that I dcn't enjoy.

UGHH - so, just remembered (as I was reading...) that there's a whole chapter on how Santa isn't real in Superfudge. There was some creative narration on Mom's part there!

So My son and I are reading Charlotte's web and he is absolutely loving it...going to the library this weekend to see if they have tha BFG for our next book now.

They didn't really get into the Magic Treehouse but they do like The magic school bus books with Ms. Frizzle. I like that they learn stuff at the same time.