Your latest literature read aloud favorite

My children loved The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat – here is a link for a free copy from Project Gutenberg for ages 9-12 approx.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6471

An engaging adventure story set in England during the time of the Civil War when King Charles was deposed and the Roundheads were vying with the Cavaliers. The central characters are the four children of staunch Royalist Colonel Beverley killed in battle while fighting for King Charles. Through the efforts of aged forester Jacob Armitage, the children escape the burning of their ancestral home and take up residence with him in his cottage in the New Forest. As his “grandchildren” they take eagerly to the peasant life and learn to provide for themselves by using their wits. The pitfall they build to trap cattle catches more than they bargain for, leading to one adventure after another. Against all odds they deftly maneuver through the treacherous landscape of the times, eventually recovering their family estate. (from Amazon)

They also loved Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, also for ages 9-12 approx.  We like for that age The Basket of Flowers by Christoph von Schmid, The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit, which is huge favourite of ours for grades 3-7 approx.  We also enjoyed all the Lamplighter Publishing books found at this link:

http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/products.asp?dept=49

Hope that helps with some ideas.  Linda

making connections sounds like it to me, lol…..some of the books we love are available free on the kindle or other readers if you have one.  Linda

We are enjoying The Wheel on the School.

We loved, absolutely loved “Rascal” by Sterling North.  All of the kids–12yo dd, 11yo ds, 10yo dd–couldn’t wait to hear the next chapter each day.  It’s a memoir of Mr. North’s childhood during the start of World War I, and he actually “rescued” a baby raccoon and raised it for about a year & a half before releasing it back into the wild.

We did watch the Disney movie that was made in the 60’s (I think), and it was pretty good.  Too much went on in the course of the book to include in the movie, but we enjoyed it, and it was interesting to hear the kids’ comments about what was changed or left out.

We also found a website that gives a virtual tour of the actual house Sterling North grew up in (now a museum) and another website that details how the story of Rascal was turned into an animated series in Japan that became huge in popularity.  So, after we finished the book, we had a lunchtime “Rascal” party where we colored cute pictures of the cartoon “Rascal” and talked about our favorite parts of the book.  It was so funny because all three of the kids insisted we have soup so we could all demonstrate “washing” our crackers in the soup just like raccoons do with the food they eat!

We read the book in September, but the kids still recall it as a favorite read-aloud.

I am reading aloud Peter Pan to my 8yo, Trumpet of the Swan to all three boys, and my oldest is addicted to the Sugar Creek Gang right now.

In the van we have Shiloh playing when dad’s with us.  We finished Sugar Creek Gang ‘Swamp Robbers’ recently.

Rascal or Wheel on the School may be our next family read aloud, but haven’t decided yet.

By the Great Horn Spoon was very funny – set in the California Gold Rush – and we learned a good bit about traveling by sea and panning for gold along the way.

We’ve also loved the Narnia books and several Childhood of Famous Americans (my children are 9 and under).  Another great read was The Secret Garden.  Heidi was good, but wordy.  We got the Librovox audios (Free) and I would read some days and we would all listen on other days. 

Oh Rachel I second that about Pinocchio!  So far my kids’ favorite book!