Some Excellent Short Books for Reading Aloud 

 

Cork & Fuzz (Dori Chaconas)  Cork is a muskrat.  Fuzz is a possum.  Cork only eats veggie stuff.  Fuzz eats beetles and worms.  Can they be friends? Yes! 

 

Zen Shorts (Jon J Muth)  Giant panda Stillwater tells 3 traditional Zen stories (framed as stories about his relatives) to 3 kids in the neighborhood.  Gorgeous pictures, good retellings.

  

Toot & Puddle: Wish you were here (Holly Hobbie)  Toot catches the violet virus in Wildest Borneo.

  

He Came With the Couch (Slonim)  Title says it all.

  

If You Decide to Go to the Moon (McNulty/Kellogg)  Reminiscent of Asimov’s moon book, only with a subtle “take care of Earth’s air and water, because they are what make us special” message. Very nice.  

 

Let’s Eat! What Children Eat Around the World (Beatrice Hollyer) “Explores what five children living in South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, France, and India eat at mealtime with their families, how their families obtain and prepare food, what kinds of food may be eaten at celebrations, and what their favorite food is.  Includes recipes.”  Fascinating! And great pictures.    

                                         

Wonderful Houses Around the World (Yoshio Komatsu)  Totally cool (if too brief) book featuring external photos and illustrations of the insides of fascinating human domiciles of all sorts.  

 

Doodler Doodling (Rita Golden Gelman) Wonderful plays on words and pictures.  

 

Emily and Albert (Jan Ormerod)  Sweet book about friendship between a bossy ostrich and a mellow elephant.  Several short chapters.

  

Squirrel and John Muir (Emily Arnold McCully) beautiful illus. of Yosemite and the nature-loving John Muir’s friendship with a little tomboy

  

Sense Pass King: a story from Cameroon (retold by Katrin Tchana; illus. Trina S. Hyman) gorgeous pix of course; tale with spunky heroine; girl power! 

 

Actual Size (Steve Jenkins) Discusses and gives examples of the size and weight of various animals and parts of animals.  Totally cool pictures for comparison—gorilla’s hand, squid’s eyeball, tiny rodent—all their actual size.  

 

My Penguin Osbert (Elizabeth Cody Kimmel) A great story about a boy who asks for –and gets—a penguin for Xmas.  (Probably a distant relation to Alexander of the terrible etc. day.) 

 

Mr. Putter and Tabby series (Cynthia Rylant)

  

Poppleton series (Cynthia Rylant) 

 

The Mud Flat series (Cynthia Rylant)

  

The Iguana Brothers  (Johnston/Teague) Three stories of understated hilarity about two iguanas who are brothers and friends (and perhaps distant cousins of Frog and Toad). 

  

How to Catch an Elephant (AmySchwartz) 

 

 

Some Great Longer (Chapter) Books for Reading Aloud

 

 

Kitchen Science

A great new book of really simple, but interesting, experiments one can do using regular, mostly non-dangerous kitchen stuff (like vinegar).

  

The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron

Relates episodes in seven-year-old Julian's life which include getting into trouble with his younger brother Huey, planting a garden, what he did to grow taller, losing a tooth, and finding a new friend.

  

Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson.

A hilarious series about Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security.  Kind of a send-up of hard-boiled detective fiction, yet very kid-accessible.   In this first one Hank is framed for the murder of a chicken and becomes an outlaw with the coyotes. (In book 2, Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdog, Hank almost loses his job as Head of Ranch Security when he develops a case of Eye-Crosserosis.) 

 

Books by Dick King-Smith (he wrote Babe: the Gallant Pig), including Dick King-Smith's animal friends : thirty-one true life stories / Dick King-Smith

A collection of anecdotes about the author's encounters with animals beginning with his first elephant ride at the zoo and continuing through his years as a dairy farmer.  King-Smith offers readers a tender "recall" of his pets and encounters with wild creatures, ranging from tree frogs to crows. In 31 personal short stories (none longer than 6 pages), he shares the joys, fears, and lessons he has learned from his animal friends. Watercolor illustrations are playful…

  

Bartlett and the ice voyage /by Odo Hirsch

When an impatient queen longs to taste the delicious but fragile melidrop fruit, two explorers use "Inventiveness, Desperation, and Perseverance" to try to bring it to her.

  

Half Magic /by Edward Eager

Four children looking forward to an ordinary summer enjoy a series of fantastic adventures by double-wishing on an ancient coin.

  

The Tarantula in my Purse and 172 other wild pets by Jean Craighead George

A collection of autobiographical stories about raising a houseful of children and wild pets including crows, skunks, and raccoons.  (George is a naturalist and they release everything back into the wild after healing broken wings, etc.)  Funny, touching, fascinating. 

  

Dinosaurs before dark / by Mary Pope Osborne

With an entertaining blend of fact, farce, and fantasy, Osborne tells the story of Jack (8) and his sister, Annie (6?), who take a trip in a magic tree house and land in a time 65 million years ago. They find dinosaurs and volcanoes and adventure. She leads most of the time; he worries a lot and takes notes, but he saves her when she's chased by a duckbilled anatosaurus. Later, Annie saves Jack with the help of a flying pteranodon. And they get home before dark. First of a very popular series. 

 

The  Elevator Family (Douglas Evans)

The four members of the Wilson family decide to spend their holiday in one of the elevators  (“a mobile room with extras!”) at the San Francisco Hotel.

The Doll People (Ann Martin et al.)

A family of porcelain dolls that has lived in the same house for one hundred years is taken aback when a new family of plastic dolls arrives and doesn't follow The Doll Code of Honor.

  

Babe : the gallant pig / written by Dick King-Smith

A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.

  

Charlotte's web / by E. B. White 

 

Junie B. Jones and a little monkey business / by Barbara Park

Through a misunderstanding, Junie B. thinks that her new baby brother is really a baby monkey, and her report of this news creates excitement and trouble in her kindergarten class. 

 

Journeys with Elijah : eight tales of the Prophet/ retold by Barbara Diamond Goldin ; paintings by Jerry Pinkney.

This is from our read-aloud brochure (I haven’t read it).  Presents eight stories about the Old Testament prophet Elijah, set in a variety of time periods and in places all over the world where Jews have lived.  The Life of Elijah -- A Journey with Elijah -- Seven good years -- A Disorderly table -- The Weaver of Yzad -- Elijah and the three brothers -- The Fragrance of Paradise -- The Blessing -- Meeting Elijah.