Reading Aloud
By Carol Otis Hurst

It's fun. It strengthens vocabulary, grammar and writing. A great deal of research shows it to be the most effective part of any reading program.

I'm talking about reading aloud, of course. I seldom have trouble convincing primary teachers that it should be an integral part of the curriculum, but upper elementary and middle school teachers are a tougher audience. There's so much "serious" work to do, they say, and reading aloud is just a frill they don't have time for. Wrong!

Follow-up literature. Name a topic in almost any area of study and there's a good literary work that can take you and your students there, filled with motivation and ready to delve into the research and activities.

However, not just any book will do for your read-aloud program. The program must be as carefully thought out as any other part of your curriculum. A whole year's choices will very much depend on your curriculum. For me to outline it here would be presumptuous and lengthy. I can, however, suggest some start-up read-aloud choices for each grade level and maybe insert a caution or two about your future choices.

So, it's September again and you've got a bunch of eager, slightly frightened kids in front of you. They're not sure what you expect of them and you're not sure what they expect of you. What do you do? You pick up a book and begin to read aloud....

Kindergarten
Picture Book: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (Dial, 1975, ISBN 0-8037-6089-2).

Why this particular book for kindergartners? Well, for one thing, the plot is cumulative so that children who are not used to books and reading will get a recap of the action on each page. For another, the plot is dramatic. It starts out funny with a mosquito saying something silly and an iguana going around with sticks in its ears. There's a lot to see because the vivid illustrations show two plots simultaneously: what really happened and what was rumored to have happened.

We can go from our picture book to other cumulative stories, or other folktales from Africa or a theme on animals. Notice that I didn't say that we can go to a novel or chapter book. Don't be too quick to introduce longer books to kindergartners or first graders. While some kids may be ready to remember a plot, largely unaided by illustrations, many others are not. Stick with the picture books for a very long time.

First Grade
Picture Book: Chicken Man by Michelle Edwards (Lothrop, 1991, ISBN 0-688-09708-1).

This book introduces another community, an Israeli kibbutz, and the jobs that make the community work. We first meet Rody in the chickenhouse, where he is so cheerful about the work that others begin to demand that job. Rody is transferred from job to job, but he makes the best of each – and each seems enviable, although both he and the chickens wish he were back with them. We know that he'll get back there and he does, eventually.

We can go from the book to a study of our own classroom community and the various small jobs that must be done to make it work, or we can study a larger community and get into the economics of goods and services. We can also use the farm idea for a theme.

From here on up, I'm still going to start with a picture book for the first book on the first day of school, but I'll use it to lead to a longer literary work.

Second Grade
Picture Book: Chestnut Cove by Tim Egan (Houghton Mifflin, 1997, ISBN 0-395-85076-2).

The village is a wonderful place in which community spirit abounds until the king announces a contest: He will give his kingdom to whoever grows the biggest watermelon. Greed takes over and the peaceful village is gone until cooler heads prevail.

Chapter Book: The Mud Flat Olympics by James Stevenson (Greenwillow, 1994, ISBN 0-688-12923-4). Competition also takes center stage in this short book, but it doesn't destroy the community. The animal's Olympic games are hilarious: "The All-Snail High Hurdle" and "The Smelliest Skunk Contest," for instance, but the animals respect each other and the community remains strong. There are several easy-to-read books about the community, and the kids may want to read them on their own.

Third Grade
Picture Book: Amelia's Road by Linda Jacobs Altman, with illustrations by Enrique O. Sanchez (Lee & Low, 1995, ISBN 1-880-0002-7-X).

Amelia's family are migrant workers and she hates not having a place where she belongs. This time she's particularly anxious to stay because a teacher has bothered to learn her name and has given her a star for a drawing she did of a house she'd like to live in.

The story is respectful and honest about migrant life. After reading it aloud, we can go on to a study of migrant workers, to a unit on map study (Amelia hates maps because they lead to another place) or to a theme on home.

Novel: Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (HarperCollins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-027471-9).

This is about a community, home and hope. It starts with a little girl planting a seed in a trash-filled lot in a run-down, urban neighborhood. At first, her actions are viewed with suspicion – she may be hiding drugs, thinks one neighbor. But soon, others get involved and the garden that grows there transforms the neighborhood.

Fourth Grade
Picture Book: Dandelions by Eve Bunting, with illustrations by Greg Shed (Harcourt, 1995, ISBN 0-15-200050-X).

Since many fourth graders study the westward movement in the United States, this book about a little girl who plants a clump of dandelions on the roof of her sod house on the prairie will surely lead us there.

Novel: Grasshopper Summer by Ann Turner (Troll, 1991, ISBN 0-816-72262-5).

Sam White's father decides to leave Kentucky and head for the plains in Dakota territory. For Sam, his father and younger brother, the sod house they build soon becomes home. His mother has a harder adjustment. When the land is cleared and the crops are planted, however, everybody's spirits are up – until the grasshoppers come.

The book is fairly short, reads aloud well and the description of the grasshopper plague is suitably gross. It should lead to independent reading of many novels and picture books set in this time and place.

Fifth Grade
Picture Book: The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton Mifflin, 1992, ISBN 0-395-64051-2).

The illustrations are wonderful and the story is reminiscent of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," but it's the superstition and prejudice I want to get at. The Spivey's determination to rid the neighborhood of the witch's broom and all its marvelous accomplishments is equalled by the widow's determination to keep her newfound friend and worker.

Novel: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth G. Speare (Dell, 1978, ISBN 0-395-07114-3).

The book takes up the witchcraft theme and introduces our early settlers. A high-spirited female character pitted against the superstition of Puritan Connecticut is a good lead into that study or to a search for other strong characters who fight convention.

Sixth Grade
Picture Book: Rebel by Allan Baillie, illustrated by Di Wu (Ticknor & Fields, ISBN 0-395-69250-4).

Based on a true story, it tells how a general marches his army into a village and rounds up the villagers. "You are my people now!" he shouts and a single, small sandal is thrown at him from the crowd. Enraged, he orders his army to find the child wearing one sandal, but the villagers thwart him by putting all their sandals in a big pile and standing barefooted.

Novel: Wringer by Jerry Spinelli (HarperCollins, 1997, ISBN 0-06 024913 7).

Here's a frightening story about a kid who dares to rebel against a brutal custom in which the whole town is involved. Every year, pigeons are captured and released on the green, where the men shoot them. Ten-year-old boys have a coming-of-age rite at that time – they wring the necks of any surviving pigeons. To refuse is to bring down scorn. Every sixth grader has felt peer pressure to do something he or she knows is wrong. This book brings it out.

Seventh Grade
Picture Book: The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor (Atheneum, 1994, ISBN 0-684-19653-0).

A young narrator thinks her family does not have enough money. Her parents, however, describe their riches – wildlife, sunsets and the beauty they see all around them. The book will get students thinking about the things they value.

Novel: The Giver by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 1993, ISBN 0 395 64566 2).

In case you've missed all the discussion about this book, I'll tell you that it's about a seemingly ideal society that has eliminated all that they find inconvenient or unpleasant. You should get into some good discussions as a result of this novel.

Eighth Grade
Picture Book: Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China, translated and illustrated by Ed Young (Putnam, 1989, ISBN 0-399-21619-7).

From China, we can go to fairy tale variants around the world, but it's more fun to go to the wolves. Young's images of the wolf dominate the book in both obvious and subtle ways. We can talk about our images of wolves – the atavistic fear and awe that most of us hold for those fascinating creatures.

Novel: The Cry of the Wolf by Melvin Burgess (Beech Tree, 1994, ISBN 0-688-13625-7).

What if there was one surviving wolf in England and what if a man's obsession was to kill that wolf? What if the tables were turned and the hunter became the hunted? You'd have a thriller on your hands and an audience of eighth graders sitting on the edge of their seats. We can go from there to other books about obsession, about wolves and about the pros and cons of hunting.

You won't stop here, of course. You can't. No matter where you go, though, read-aloud choices should open doors and help the kids reach for the best. Good luck.

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Carol Otis Hurst is a master storyteller, a children's literature consultant and a Teaching Editor of Teaching K-8.

September, 1998, Vol.29, No.1