For awhile I've wanted to compile a list of all the chapter books I've read to my girls. It has seemed too daunting. We've read and listened to too much.
Gabby was only 4 when I started. We'd always read, of course. I remember her lovingly chewing on board books in our little apartment when we lived in Utah. One summer we read over a hundred different picture books as part of our library's summer reading goals. The chapter books started at age four. It was kind of an experiment. We'd been living in Pennsylvania for 2 or 3 years, far from our Boston family. My mother-in-law offered to read bedtime stories to Gabby over the phone. It was an intriguing idea. They tried and Gabby really enjoyed it. She understood the stories and could answer questions about them. She didn't get bored either. So I thought, if she didn't need pictures I would try book without them. I picked A.A. Miln's Winnie the Pooh. There are little sketches in there that I cold show her and the stories are pretty brief. That was our first mostly picture-less book. We were hooked.
Usually, we had to read during Bri's naps since she was only 2. But when Bri was 3 and stopped napping, she kind of just went with it and has been a great listener since. A great reader herself. Both girls are. William and Fielding have been a little slower to catch on. Fielding still has no interest in stories without pictures. In fact, we tend to read the same picture books over and over again. It is often dull for me, but I do enjoy hearing him "read" -- stories he's heard so much he's memorized. The Knuffle Bunny books are his favorite. And Pete's a Pizza by William Steig. William and Fielding act it out every time we have pizza for dinner. Just the two of them, running between the kitchen table and the family room, between bites. It's adorable.
William enjoys some chapter books now. James and the Giant Peach was our first read-aloud. Then Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We were reading Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, but it has been lost for about a month and I can't say I'm sorry.
But back to the girls. I can't remember what we read after Pooh -- maybe an abridged version of Peter Pan. I do remember throwing a Little House on the Prairie birthday party for Gabby when she turned 5 and, with very high hopes, gave her the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Unabridged, few pictures, kind of advanced listening for a 5 year-old. I had never read them, so I didn't know what we were getting into. Gabby snuggled up next to me while Bonnie slept each afternoon. She listened and listened. We'd read for maybe an hour. We felt sad when Jack was lost in the river and scared and surprised when he returned in the night like a wolf out of the bushes. We worried when Pa was lost in the snow. We laughed at Mr. Edwards. Gabby listened to all the technical details.
In the summer we started the Chronicles of Narnia. I read several and we listened together to others on tape. She's read them all again herself now.
What else have we read? It is so hard to remember the titles. Although the whines and cries stand out: "just one more page!"
What I can remember...
Every Junie B. Jones book, by Barbara Park, read aloud and then listened on cd
Many American Girl books, including the Kit, Samantha, Kirsten, Kaya, Molly, Felicity, and Josephina series
The Betsy-Tacey books
A few Magic Treehouse books, by Mary Pope Osbourne
The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
Many books in the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Raoul Daul
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
The Little Gymnast
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
The Birds' Christmas Carol by
Many we've listened to in the car:
The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (several times. First the girls had to read them, then they were allowed to listen to them, then they were allowed to watch the movies)
Mary Poppins
Hatchet by Gary Paulson
28 Fairmont Avenue by Tomie dePaola
The Penderwicks, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, and The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jean Birdsall (treasures, every one of them!)
Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Clearly
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
A number of Magic Treehouse books, by Mary Pope Osbourne
Some Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories
I think I'll add to this list over time -- books that we've read that I left off. Future stories (we just started Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson), I talk about in future posts.
Have a wonderful new year! And happy reading!
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