Our Top 10 Read-Alouds

There are some books that as a family, you just go back to over and over and they become  part of your family’s culture and vocabulary. For us, those books have become worn and tattered over the years, but they still hold such a special place in our hearts.

It was hard to narrow it down to just 10 books. In fact, I had to come back and update the list to add more than just 10 because I didn’t want some of the other ones that are so dear to me to feel left out (!).

Our favourite read-alouds for kids:

I Promise I’ll Find YouClick, Clack, Moo: Cows That TypeLeah’s PonyI Love You, Stinky FaceI Don’t Have Your EyesA Bad Case of StripesI Love You More Than RainbowsBig Red BarnOh, the Places You’ll Go!I Feel Orange Today17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do AnymoreAnimalia

I Promise I’ll Find You – Oh, how I love this heartwarming book about how a mother would search to the ends of the Earth to find her child. The kids love not only the message of the book, but finding the child on each page. Also, a portion of the proceeds of the book goes to fund finding missing children, so what’s not to like about that?!

Click, Clack Moo…Cows That Type – How can you not love a book that features typing cows?! We’ve been reading this one for years and the kids still ask for it, though they pretty much have it memorized. We did a mini unit on it and you can check out the corresponding activities we did here.

Leah’s Pony – Some of you who’ve followed my blog for awhile may be sick of hearing about how much we love this book! I love a book that makes me cry every time I read it and that teaches good values and provides opportunity for discussion. This one about a girl growing up during the Depression provides opportunities to discuss history, family, and the goodness of people.

I Love You Stinky Face – Any book that has the word “stinky” in the same sentence as the word “love” has to be a classic! This book reassures kids that we love them no matter what!

I Don’t Have Your Eyes – We own an awful lot of adoption related books for the kids, but this seems to be the one that they like the best. It’s especially good for transracial adoption.

A Bad Case of Stripes – This is another book that we loved so much, we turned it into a mini unit! This book is just awesome…if you have never read it, you are missing out! You can see the crafts and activities we used to go along with this book here.

I Love You More Than Rainbows – When I look over this list, I’m suddenly aware of what a sap I am! Apparently, if it’s a book about how much I love my kids, I love to read it to them! This one is one of those that has really seeped its way into everyday conversation.  I say things to the kids like, “I love you more than Slurpees” or “I love you more than my special chocolate”. It’s fairly common to hear the kids say something like, “I love you more than my special blankie” or “I love you more than riding my bike”. Any book that can create conversation like that in our house is a winner in my books! We also expanded the book into learning about rainbows.

Big Red Barn – This book is usually for younger kids, but my kids still love it! I have had it memorized for years and the kids like it when I add in some animal sounds and they sometimes create a competition after we read it to see who can do the best animal sounds. This is just a simple, yet great book!

Oh, the Places You’ll Go – I couldn’t have a read-aloud list that didn’t include at least one Dr. Seuss and this is our favourite Dr. Seuss of all time! It has a great message. It helps the kids to talk about feelings and the future and it is a great gift for celebrating occasions such as graduation or baptism. It’s a keeper! We are huge Dr. Seuss fans and even held a party to celebrate his birthday.

I Feel Orange Today – When you have a child with Aspergers and some kids who have traumatic histories and are/have been in therapy, your bookshelf tends to collect titles about FEELINGS. We have many. Other favourites in this category are Today I Feel Silly, The Way I Feel and I Talk to God About How I Feel.

I know that’s 10 already, plus 3 more mentioned (what can I say…I really love books!), but I just have to mention 2 more because they are awesome and no library is complete without them.

17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore – I like a read-aloud that makes me laugh and this one does. If you have an active or strong willed child, this book will have you laughing or at the very least, nodding your head in agreement.

Animalia – This book is one of the first ones I ever bought with kids in mind. It was purchased before I had my kids and it still gets pulled out a lot. It has great illustrations, is cool and is a great alphabet reinforcement tool.

What are your family’s favourite read-alouds?