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For the Love of Read-Alouds
By Lisa Von Drasek
Here are some good books with which to become "the reading role model" for your students
Online Extra: Listen Up to Audiobooks April 2006
"Reading aloud in school is not a frill. Go out of your way to make each book a special experience for your students. Allow them to live literature, to become so involved in a story that they become a part of it. It could change their lives." So says my esteemed colleague Judy Freeman (www.judyreadsbooks.com). Judy is a well-known consultant, writer and speaker on all aspects of children's literature, storytelling, booktalking and librarianship. A former school librarian (26 years), she gives seminars, workshops and performances on children's literature throughout the world for teachers, librarians, parents and children.
Read-aloud advocate
Judy's unique ability to spot the outstanding read-aloud is a gift to the teachers and librarians who are often stumped. I trust her recommendations and unbridled enthusiasm for books.
Her new book, just out, is Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3: A Read-Aloud Guide (Libraries Unlimited, 2006, ISBN: 1-591-58164-8). Judy has selected 1,991 titles that will keep children in grades K through 6 enthralled. All published within the last 10 years, these range from picture books, fiction, folklore and poetry to biography and nonfiction. Each annotated entry provides a brief plot summary, related titles and subject designations. In addition, there are curriculum tie-ins and suggested activities including drama, crafts, research and problem-solving.
Best of the out-louds
Judy and I agree that these titles are among the best read-alouds from the last year:
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont (Harcourt, 2005, ISBN: 0-152-02488-3). An enthusiastic boy finds vibrant watercolors irresistible. The exuberant rhyming perfectly matches the explosion of color paint splashed across the pristine white pages. (Grades preK-2)
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems (Hyperion, 2005, ISBN: 0-786-85294-1). With his light brown fur, pink nose and blue tongue, this little monster tries very hard to be scary, but he just isn't. That is, not until he meets Sam, "the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world." (Grades preK-2)
The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster (Hyperion, 2005, ISBN: 0-786-80914-0). This joyous tale of a little girl's relationship with her Nonna and Poppy is rendered in riotous splashes of color. The first-person narrative describes, from the granddaughter's point of view, her various activities from doodling at the kitchen table to saying goodnight to the stars. (Grades preK-1)
Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, 2005, ISBN: 0-439-33911-1). Stillwater, a giant panda, visits three children and tells each a story that reflects the issues in each of their lives. (Grades 1-6)
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan (Miramax, 2005, ISBN: 0-786-85629-7). Percy Jackson has been in six schools in six years. Officially diagnosed with ADHD, his lack of self-control gets him in trouble again and again. This is an atypical humorous quest tale of Greek gods and their offspring surviving in the modern world. (Grades 5-8)
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, 2005, ISBN: 0-152-05445-6). On July 27, 2003, The New York Times reported the story of Alia Muhammad Baker, a librarian who saved almost 30,000 books from her city's library from being destroyed. Alia defied her supervisors and convinced her friends and colleagues to spirit volumes out of the library and hide them in nearby restaurants and homes. (Grades 2-6)
Looking ahead
We already have a front-runner for 2006; Both Judy and I adore Kate DiCamillo's new book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Candlewick, 2006, ISBN: 0-763-62589-2). This is a new classic about a china rabbit and his harrowing adventures, during which he is beloved by a little girl, a fisherman and his wife, a hobo and his dog, an ailing little girl and her brother. As Judy says, "Kate's writing is miraculous – spare and basic, and then you end up thinking about it for hours. Bagram Ibatoulline's paintings made me gasp, they were so pure and still."
Teachers will also enjoy listening with their students to the audiobook version, narrated by award-winning actress Judith Ivey (Listening Library, 2006, ISBN: 0-307-24593-4).
A teacher's guide for Edward Tulane, written by Judy Freeman, is available at www.edwardtulane.com It contains interviews with the author and illustrator, discussion points, art projects, writing prompts and a crossword puzzle.
"You are the reading role model for your children," Judy says. "They hear your voice every time they pick up a book you've read aloud to them. The way you read and the literary choices you make can stay with them forever."
Online Extra: Listen Up to Audiobooks April 2006
Lisa Von Drasek is Children's Librarian at the Bank Street College of Education in New York, NY.
