What do you read to your kids?

[mommyatty]

Today feels grim and sad. Let’s talk about something fun.

I just started reading the first Harry Potter to my 6 year old. She is loving it! I wasn’t sure she was ready, but several of her friends are having it read to them, so she wanted to try. We will hold off on others down the line, because the series gets pretty dark pretty fast!

Some other goodies we have found recently for early elementary:
The Chicken Squad series (omg hilarious)
The Rescue Princesses (girls who love ninja moves and jewels they make into magical tools to protect animals)

A couple of goodies for my pre-k kid:
Neck and Neck (about a giraffe who faces off with a giraffe balloon)
Moon (a sweet cutout book)
Pout Pout Fish (we love! The newest one about PPF trying to find how to go to sleep is great)

[covergirl82]

DD asks me to read Magic Treehouse or Rainbow Fairies books, however, we're reading Wonder right now.

DS asks me to read I Survived books. I need to go the library soon to try and find some other series or books he might like.

I really love reading to the kids. Thankfully, they enjoy too.

[twinmomma]

We read together every night before bed. Usually, it's just whatever picture books the kids choose on a whim that night. So the range is pretty broad!
But, we also do some chapter books together. We found some Amelia Badelia chapter books, Magic Treehouse is a big hit, and the Narwhal and Jelly books are hilarious!

I need to find these Rescue Princess books. They sound perfect for my girls!

[2chatter]

I suck - DS reads to me (random early readers or things like Narwhal and Jelly). And the girls and I do reading time in my bed. I read my own book. I’ve never been good about reading chapter books aloud.

[mae0111]

DH started reading Harry Potter to DD1 when she was 6 as well. 2+ years later, they are still making their way through the series, and DD1 is re-reading by herself. She's on the 3rd book I think. DD1 also likes the Whatever After series. I'm trying to encourage her to get into the Narnia series, Little House, and Nancy Drew, and Lemonade Wars. She likes A to Z mysteries and Calendar Mysteries, as well as the My Weird School series, but they're too easy for her. I have to hide them or she will keep re-reading. She likes to have 4-5 books going at a time, which makes me nuts.

DD2 is in K. We've finished the Ramona series, and we're almost done with the Clementine series. I really like Clementine, and DD2 is really engaged. Clementine gets into some mischief, but it's all with good intentions. DD1 used to like Junie B. Jones, and I always thought she was kind of a jerk. Clementine is all about helping, but it goes wrong sometimes. Highly recommend. Also likes Cam Jansen and Nate the Great. Both are good for comprehension and recall to solve the mysteries.

DD2 is on the verge of reading, so we read a lot of Mo Willems books together. The Elephant and Piggie series, the Pigeon series (Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus), and Knufflebunny are all hits.

[akafred]

We’re SLOWLY listening to the HP audiobook. But it is slow.

I just started Tuck Everlasting with her. It’s coming to the children’s theater next month. I can’t wait!!!

[waverly]

Princess in Black, random level 1 readers, Fancy Nancy. DS reads to himself- I survived, Ranger in time, we just picked up a few on the children librarian's recommendation but I can't remember which ones they are.

Audiobooks- Magic Tree House, Half Magic, James and the Giant Peach, Ramona series. I need to figure out how to make audible work in my car now that my new car does not have a CD player.

[callmekd]

mommyatty I'll have to check out the rescue princesses. that sounds right up DD1's alley.

[callmekd]

DD1 and I are reading the Disney Descendants book 3. she also saw the Boxcar Children movie at summer camp and loved it so I want to read that to her (it was my favorite book as a kid).

DD2 and DS1 love Little Blue Truck right now.

[rere]

Middle and high school here, so I am just trying to get them to read. They both need to read for class, and I am trying to get somebody, anybody, to read To Kill A Mockingbird, the best book ever written. So far, I think they are rebelling against my enthusiasm. I even made them go to school and ask their English teachers if it was the best book ever written. They agreed it was one of the best.

DS compromised on my other book recommendation for his class, which was John Grisham's A Painted House, but that was much lower on my list. He liked it, so I am working my way in.

[186momx]

I read the 1st Harry Potter to DD in K, she loved it but we had already watched the movie on a whim. She then wanted to watch the movie again and proceeded to point out all the differences between the movie and book. Plus she had a running Harry Potter discussion with one of the staff at school. We made it half way through the 2nd before we both got tired of it. She now wants to read it on her own but the small print is making her nervous.

DD reads by herself now. Her favorites are Pony Pals, Ivy & Bean, Magic Tree House, Cam Jensen, Big Apple Barn, Magic School Bus chapter books. She loved Mr. Putter & Tabby and Nate the Great but those are super easy now. She also loves to read her Bernstein Bear books as her bedtime books.


mae0111, DD also likes to read multiple books which drives me crazy.

[mustardseed2007]

On chapter books with DS, he likes to read things like Captain Underpants and a new series about a dog who is a detective...I can't remember the name. These chapter books have pictures, which he likes. We tried to read Super Fudge and while he was really engaged by the story, he eventually was over not seeing any pictures at all.

We do that combined with an easy reader of some kind that he can read himself.

With DD we read just different books. Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Suess is a favorite right now. As well as some library books we got about dinosaurs. Good Night moon is always a favorite that we revisit. And The Day Dinosaurs Came with Everything.

[traveltheworld]

DS is into The Bad Guys series, and a whole "100 Things to Know About..." series of non-fiction books. I'm trying to get him to read some easy readers himself, and he does a few every day, but the story lines are too easy for him. I tried starting the Dragon Masters series but he found it too scary (??). Am going to try Magic Treehouse next.

DD loves the Piggie and Gerald series. She and DS has taken to acting out the books, it's unbelievably cute.

[186momx]

traveltheworld, Have him try reading Henry & Mudge it's about a boy and his oversized dog and their grand adventures. Also Mr Putter and Tabby an old guy and his cat and all the mischief they get into. DD laughed her way through reading both these series.

[ilovelucyvv]

Too much Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious for my K. I should switch to chapter books as that would probably be more fun but they want her to read/have someone read to her 20 books a month and write it down and that lends itself to shorter books

[mustardseed2007]

Sept 11, 2018 11:53:46 GMT -5 186momx said:

traveltheworld , Have him try reading Henry & Mudge it's about a boy and his oversized dog and their grand adventures. Also Mr Putter and Tabby an old guy and his cat and all the mischief they get into. DD laughed her way through reading both these series.

I second this. These are the sweetest books! They were recommended summer reading for 1st grade. DS can't read them himself yet but we read them to him and he loves them. 

[2chatter]

Looking for Henry and Mudge this weekend. DS read to me for 40 minutes last night. He found Mr Monkey and loved it. I just can’t go to the library and let him choose books for 20 minutes and read aloud for 40 every night! Also, tried to read a chapter book and we both got bored four pages in.....I don’t know how you guys do it.

[mustardseed2007]

2chatter, I found a series of Henry and Mudge books in a pack for 10-14 dollars on Amazon. Mr. Putter and Tabby was not sold as a set, it was only individual books so I only bought a few and DS got one out of the library the other day.

I actually enjoyed reading Super Fudge b/c it was a good book. The ones he likes though - The Rider Woofson detective books and Captain Underpants...are not as good.

[186momx]

2chatter, can you reserve books from your library online and then just pick up when you go? We can and they also ship to our branch which is just a couple blocks from aftercare so I will reserve books for DD. I get an email saying they are in and I have 3 days to pick up and we stop by grab the books, do self check out and leave the library within 5 minutes. No wandering around or wanting to play with the games/toys/computers instead of book browsing/reading.

I've had awesome luck at our local St Vincent De Paul for used books for both me and DD. You spend more time looking but they do have them somewhat organized. Like all the early readers are together, all the animal books are together, all the early chapter books etc.

[waverly]

2chatter, I typically pick up books without the kids from the library very quickly. I do take them because I think that is important too, but it is more like once a month on a random Sunday.

I try to limit my reading time to them to 20 minutes. DS pretty much reads all on his own now- I haven't continued reading to him, so it is just DD. For chapter books we do the audiobooks in the car. DS reads the chapter books to himself. I don't typically read them to the kids. I wish I could, but they are just too long for me. If I did read one it would be 1-2 chapters at a time.

What chapter book did you use? It could be that one was just a boring one...

[2chatter]

They are all boring - I think it’s partly a third kid thing. I’m over Magic Treehouse and Ramona and books I liked as a kid — and DS hasn’t found series he loves (except some monster series and we read those this summer - Library of Doom).

DS looooves the library and stays on task for hours so it’s hard not to take him with me - and when I don’t I choose badly and he doesn’t like the books. I FaceTime DD and she sets me straight so when he’s older at least that will get easier!

We also have four full bookshelves. There’s no shortage here. I think it’s partly time and partly effort lacking. On my part. Ugh.

[mustardseed2007]

The library near us closed due to flooding during Harvey and has not reopened yet, so we go to a county library that is really lovely but not totally convenient. So although we do go to the library, we're more likely to go to Barnes N Noble or Half Price and buy rather than rent. Which makes us book hoarders.

[abs]

Sept 13, 2018 9:50:56 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

The library near us closed due to flooding during Harvey and has not reopened yet, so we go to a county library that is really lovely but not totally convenient. So although we do go to the library, we're more likely to go to Barnes N Noble or Half Price and buy rather than rent. Which makes us book hoarders.

Our library just reopened two months ago.  It's so nice to have a closer option again but now that I am out of the habit of going it's hard to get back into it.

DD is in 2nd grade and is a very good but reluctant reader.  She gets overwhelmed by too much text.  Books she has read that she has really enjoyed:  The Press Start series, Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea series, Bad Guys series, Princess Pink and the Land of Fake Believe Series, and now Dog Man.  A friend of hers in school introduced her to it a few weeks ago and she is obsessed!  I think they are pretty funny, too.  Great literature?  Not at all but I just want her to like reading.  She still really likes reading Piggy and Elephant and Frog and Toad, too.

We've had a harder time finding books to read to her.  She likes pictures so we still read a bunch of picture books to her.  We have read the entire Bad Kitty series and she loves that.  She also liked The Notebook of Doom series but she started to get nightmares so we stopped.  Gooney  Bird Greene is one of the few non picture books she liked.  We have tried Ramona and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but she got bored quickly.  I will be following this thread for more ideas!

[mae0111]

Sept 15, 2018 8:24:16 GMT -5 abs said:

Sept 13, 2018 9:50:56 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

The library near us closed due to flooding during Harvey and has not reopened yet, so we go to a county library that is really lovely but not totally convenient. So although we do go to the library, we're more likely to go to Barnes N Noble or Half Price and buy rather than rent. Which makes us book hoarders.

Our library just reopened two months ago.  It's so nice to have a closer option again but now that I am out of the habit of going it's hard to get back into it.

DD is in 2nd grade and is a very good but reluctant reader.  She gets overwhelmed by too much text.  Books she has read that she has really enjoyed:  The Press Start series, Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea series, Bad Guys series, Princess Pink and the Land of Fake Believe Series, and now Dog Man.  A friend of hers in school introduced her to it a few weeks ago and she is obsessed!  I think they are pretty funny, too.  Great literature?  Not at all but I just want her to like reading.  She still really likes reading Piggy and Elephant and Frog and Toad, too.

We've had a harder time finding books to read to her.  She likes pictures so we still read a bunch of picture books to her.  We have read the entire Bad Kitty series and she loves that.  She also liked The Notebook of Doom series but she started to get nightmares so we stopped.  Gooney  Bird Greene is one of the few non picture books she liked.  We have tried Ramona and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but she got bored quickly.  I will be following this thread for more ideas!

When DD1 was worried about chapters, she started on the Calendar Mysteries. Short chapters with lots of pictures. The stories go quickly and she loved trying to figure them out.

Nate the Great and Cam Jansen were also good Mysteries for the kids. Again, chapters, but lots of pictures.

[sandandsea]

Dh is reading Star Wars to Ds. He’s editing as needed along the way. I read a million short books to Ds and we’ve read Charlottes web and magic treehouse books. Right now we are reading the financial peace jr books to Ds and he’s liking them a lot. He’s 6.