There is no better time than now to sit down and spend some quality time with your children. And there is no better time than right now to read out loud with them. Through all that we, as a country, are dealing with, this is an excellent time to just pull back, escape for a little while, and go on an adventure through books with your child.  It makes no difference what age they are, except that time constraints with older children and their homework will limit what you can read. But all kids like to be read to and I have compiled a list of what I consider to be some of the best books to read out loud.

It’s interesting to note that some of the classics were made into movies, but with few exceptions, the book still remains much better than the film version [of the story]. Some of these books are forgotten stories, some are shorter and some are longer; some you may have never heard of, but all have wonderful stories that are just waiting to take you and your child on a wonderful adventure. Depending on the age and interest of your child, this list offers excitement, humor, mystery and fantasy.

I have found that the best time to read to family members is to pick the best time according to your schedule and then stick to it. I remember when four of my five children were all very young and I would read from "The Chronicles of Narnia". They would all be lying in bed in their bedrooms and I would just sit in the hallway between the rooms and read to them. Now three of those kids are in their early twenties and those reading sessions are some of their fondest memories.

There are books in this list that your child will never forget once you read the story to them! And I would be willing to bet they won’t forget the time you spent reading to them either!

CLASSICS  - TO READ ALOUD

"Charlotte's Web" by White

"The Chronicles of Narnia" by Lewis

"Winnie the Pooh" by Milne

"The Story of Doctor Doolittle" by Lofting

"Homer Price" by McCloskey

"The Adventures of Pinnochio" by Collodi

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Carroll

"Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Atwater

"The Little House in the Big Woods" by Wilder

"The Hobbit" by Tolkien

"The Secret Garden" by Burnett

"Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings" by Silverstein

"The Wind in the Willows"

"Just So Stories" by Kipling

Other great read alouds:

"The Children's Homer:  The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy" by Colum

"All-of-a-Kind Family" by Taylor

"The Enormous Egg" by Butterworth

"Five Children and It" by Nesbit

"Freddy and the Perilous Adventure" by Brooks

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Dahl

"The Borrowers" by Norton

"The Cat Who Went to Heaven" by Coatsworth

"Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Taylor

"A Jar of Dreams" by Uchida

"The Children of Green Knowe" by Boston

"The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" by Tolkein

"Ronia, the Robber's Daughter" by Lindgren

"Boy:  Tales of Childhood" by Dahl

"The Reluctant Dragon" by Grahame

"Wolf Story" by McCleery

"A Wrinkle in Time" by L'Engle

"Sounder" by Armstrong

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