Storytime

Here are some books you must read aloud to your children, emphasis on MUST and ALOUD. They are in no particular order and some of them are appropriate for preschoolers and some are not. They are mostly for children of school age since I read them to children in grades K-4 primarly. You may add your own favorites as comments if you like and I will also add more as I remember them. I must confess that it has been at least 8 years since I've read aloud to a group of children on a regular basis, so the new books are not on my list.

* Hester in the Wild by Sandra Boynton - It's funny.
*Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells - It teaches you to not take yourself too seriously by being funny.
*The Talking Eggs by Robert San Souci - you get to say "You got a spirit of "do right in your soul" , "trail train dresses" and "she took her head off to comb her hair." A classic fairy tale set in the deep American South.
* Brave Irene by William Stieg - Irene qualifies for a heroine by any standards and Stieg can make you weep with pathos while he's making you groan at his melodrama.
* Dr. DeSoto by William Steig. The small mouse dentist, out of compasion, treats a fox with a bad toothache. You get to say "mmmmm how good they would be sauted with a dry, white wine" , "permeate the dentine" and "frank u berry mush." Steig's books celebrate the power of the small and powerless to overcome evil by being armed with their innocence and their native wit.
*Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" ditto on the pathos and melodrama. I swear one little boy was near tears over the plight of Sylvester, a donkey who had turned into a rock by wishing on a magic pebble. I had to rush to finish so he would know it had a happy ending. (Stieig's style is simple and eloquent)
*CDB by Willam Steig - read this one as soon as your child learns his/her alphabet so s/he can read a book by him/herself.
*Redwall by Brian Jacques. The first two chapters are a study of style by describing ultimate innocence and ulitmate evil . Also read the chapters about the hero living with the sparras. I can still remember the battle and I haven't read the book for 15 years.
*Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli - Huck Finn channels Ulysses. Afer running away from a loveless foster home, Maniac looks for a home of his own. You get to say " Maniac, Maniac, he's so cool, Maniac Maniac kissed a bull."
*Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman. I have no idea why the kids liked this book. I hated it. They would listen spellbound, I was internally yawning.
*BFG by Roald Dahl. You get to talk funny because the big, friendly giant says things backwards and he drinks fizzy lifting drinks. The bubbles in the drink go from top to bottom, so instead of making you burp, they make you . . . . .
*Witches by Roald Dahl. You get to talk with a Swedish accent as the grandmother and then do some really nasty, evil accent as the Witch. Plus the little boy in the story is brave and clever and a good role model.