Great Read-Aloud Recommendations for Kids [UPDATED 9/18]

September 10, 2018 ~ Ruth ~ 2 Comments

My current day job involves reading aloud to kids. Every few months, I like to update this post to reflect where we’ve been spending our reading time. What we read is not purely my choice but is often responsive to what they’re learning/where they’ve been traveling/what we’ve been discussing. Please make note of the caveats below. Happy reading!

How I Choose Books

When the time comes to start a new book with the Podlings, my decision process goes something like this:

1) Have I read it and enjoyed it? I can’t over-stress the importance of this step. I don’t care how lauded or “important” or “valuable” the book is. If you don’t care for it, the kids you’re reading to won’t care either.

2) Will they understand it and like it? I balance toward the older ones in the group. The littles get what they get — which is generally more than I expect.

3) What does the author do well? Humor, drama, storytelling, dialogue, characterization, suspense, research, twists? I require at least one standout category per book but don’t expect perfection in all areas for every read.

4) Does the book match the season? I’m all about reading the right book at the right time, which is why–as you’ll see below–we sometimes take a break in the middle of a series to read something that matches the season.

**How You Should Choose Books**

1) Take the advice of the readers in your life (under advisement). Definitely accept recommendations from your friends who read, but don’t take them blindly. Not every book is for every person.

2) Read the book first yourself. Don’t skip this step. No matter how highly the book has come recommended or how much your friends or their kids may have liked it, that doesn’t mean a) you will like it (which is so important, since your enthusiasm can make or break the enterprise), or b) you will find it appropriate for your bunch. So be responsible about this and only start books with them that you know you’ll have the wherewithal to complete. Stopping halfway through a book and not finishing it breaks a child’s trust.

3) Decide how you’re going to handle questionable elements. I’m not the type to throw the baby out with the bath water, but if I’m going to read children a book with a little language in it (or another brief or mildly questionable element), I definitely take some steps. First, I tell them about it ahead of time (“Jimmy’s grandpa swears a few times.”), and I also tell them how we’re going to handle it (“When that happens, I’m just going to say ‘Grandpa swore.'”) That way they don’t have a false view of the book (or of life, for that matter), but we’re also not normalizing the words themselves. Again, you may decide to take a different approach to this. Bear your approach in mind as you make decisions.

4) Don’t worry too much about whether the book is considered “important” or “educational” or “valuable.” Those categories are so subjective. Just pick a good read and get cracking. Reading aloud to kids has great value in itself.

Books I’ve Read Aloud to the Podlings

The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts, Richard Peck
Derwood, Inc., Jeri Massi
A Dangerous Game, Jeri Massi
The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth George Speare
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (unabridged)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis
A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein
Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls
Summer of Light, Dennis M. Van Wey
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle
The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts, Richard Peck (again by request)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (again)
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (abridged this time; I learned my lesson)
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien
C.S. Lewis: Creator of Narnia, Sam Wellman
Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, William F. Russell
Long Walk to Water, Linda Sue Park
Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck
The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare
A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park
A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom
Flora & Ulysses, Kate DiCamillo
Daddy Long-Legs, Jean Webster
Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne
Peace Child, Don Richardson (Note: Get the updated anniversary edition. Trust me.)
Legends in Sports: Babe Ruth, Matt Christopher
The Velveteen Rabbit and Other Tales, Margery Williams
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, Timothy Keller
The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King, Book 1), T.H. White
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (yes, again)
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (abridged)
The Sugar Creek Gang #1: The Swamp Robber, Paul Hutchens
True Stories of the Second World War, Paul Dowswell
The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel, Michael Kogge
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness, Janet & Geoff Benge
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing
The Kite Fighters, Linda Sue Park
Bound for Oregon, Jean Van Leeuwen
Benjamin Banneker: Astronomer and Mathematician, Laura Baskes Litwin
The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students, Suzanne Jurmain
Heroes in Black History: True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes, Dave & Neta Jackson
Strawberry Girl, Lois Lenski
The War that Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Life with Father, Clarence Day
Sackett, Louis L’Amour
The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963, Christopher Paul Curtis

Possibilities Still on Our Horizon:

Red Scarf Girl, Jiang Ji-li
Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
The Giver, Lois Lowry
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, Wendy Wan-Long Shang
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

Have some great read-aloud suggestions of your own? I’d love to hear them. Share in the comments below!

In other news, I’m happy to announce that in honor of Pain Awareness Month, I’m offering a free 5-day e-mail course designed to encourage both those who suffer chronic pain and those who support them. It is written from a Christian perspective and will run September 17-21, 2018.

Lessons are short, practical, edifying, and designed for discussion and application. Be sure to sign up and refer a friend to take the course with you.

Happy Monday, everyone! May your spirits be high, your pain levels low, and your coffee just the right temperature for sipping.

Say What, Now?

September 3, 2018 ~ Ruth ~ 15 Comments

Please welcome my friend Emily Conrad to the blog. Today she’s sharing a story about a time she misheard her husband. Hilarity and deep thoughts ensued. Bear in mind as you read that the word brat, in addition to being a derogatory term for an ill-behaved child, can also be short for bratwurst. Enjoy!

I stared at my husband, certain I’d misheard him.

“What?” I asked.

He drove on oblivious, like no unusual sequence of words had just tumbled from his mouth. The passing countryside offered no clues to help me decode his statement. He glanced over like my cause for confusion was as much a mystery to him as his declaration had been to me.

“What did you just say?” I prodded. “Because it sounded like, ‘I would hate to live on the same brat as a crumbling world.’”

Wouldn’t we all.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m from Wisconsin, so I like brats, but can you imagine the grease we’d encounter, living on a ballpark sausage? Add a crumbling world, and the situation couldn’t get much worse.

In all seriousness, I do happen to think this world is passing away. 1 John 2:17 says it is.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Thankfully, as believers in Christ, we’re promised a much better, more secure home than any dwelling we have now. In fact, I’d suggest that compared with our eternal homes with Jesus, our current houses will look even less appealing than the idea of a processed meat home sounds as you read this.

Do you ever think about that? How much better an eternity with Jesus will be than anything we experience here?

But back to the question at hand. Had my husband really specified he would hate to live on a brat with a crumbling world?

Sadly, no.

I was so far off that he had to stop and think for a while before he was able to recall his words.

Finally, enunciating carefully, he repeated himself. “I’d hate to live on the same property as a rundown building.”

Oh. Yeah, I guess. Not as much as he’d hate living on a brat, I’d bet, but something tells me he hasn’t put as much thought into that as I have.

In addition to spending time contemplating what it would be like to make her home on a processed German meat product, Emily also does some fiction writing. Check out her author page to learn more about her and her work. If I’m not mistaken, the paperback edition of her book Justice releases this week. I read it a few months ago, and you can find my Goodreads review here. Congratulations, Emily!

I’d like to thank Emily again for being here. Have you read her book? What did you think? Make sure to drop her a greeting and a few words in the comments.

Happy Monday, everyone! May your hearts be light and your coffee effective!

7 Ways to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

August 13, 2018 ~ Ruth ~ 2 Comments

Do you ever feel like an incompetent failure whose successes have been a fluke? Do you fear that your inadequacy will be revealed at any moment?

I do. Whenever the feeling hits, I resort to one of these failsafe methods.

7 Ways to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

Make it stare at my last finished project. (“Take a good look. I SAID LOOK AT IT.”)
Take it for a run. (It often grows tired and lags behind.)
Challenge it to a dance off. (We’re both bad dancers, but Imposter Syndrome’s worse.)
Sign it up for the SpaceX mission to Mars. (Of course I believe the rumors. And as a bonus, I can watch the launch from my front yard.)
Read aloud from Moby Dick. (The chapter on whales puts it to sleep.)
Punch it in the face. (Right hook.)
Banish it with coffee. (Effective and enjoyable.)

This morning I’ve opted for the coffee.

In all honesty, I’m not certain that Imposter Syndrome is the right term for what I’ve been feeling these days. It’s more like a languid torpor brought on by the sneaking suspicion that this project will never actually end.

I know it’s a lie, but at the moment, it feels true; and whenever it’s time to work, I just want to recline on my purple plush chaise lounge with a bottle of smelling salts like a damsel in a Victorian novel. (Also, I want a purple plush chaise lounge. But who doesn’t?)

Have you found helpful ways of dealing with Imposter Syndrome? How do you motivate yourself to keep going when you feel overwhelmed by challenging work? Please share in the comments below.

Happy Monday, everyone! May your coffee be stronger than your uncertainty.

5 BOOKS. 5 CHANCES TO WIN. (+ BONUSES)

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018 ~ Ruth ~ 1 Comment

Surprise! It’s a hot summer GIVEAWAY!

Contest Details:

Duration: Enter by July 31, 2018.

Prizes: 5 winners will take their pick of 1 free book from among Ruth’s currently published books. Winners will be announced on August 1, 2018, via e-mail and will have 5 days to make their selections and claim their prizes.

Bonuses: There will be small, regular bonuses in contest-related e-mails (so watch for those!), but the really exciting news is that two of the top five winners will also receive a bonus hand-stamped aluminum bookmark from Whimsical Words Studio, inscribed with a quote from The Proper Care and Feeding of Singles: “Friends know the patterns of our souls.”

See below for details on how to enter and–most importantly–how to win.

Important note: Our e-mail filters love us and want to keep us safe, but they don’t always know what’s best for us. After you enter, immediately check that contest-related e-mails aren’t being filtered into your spam folders. I’d hate for you to miss out on the prize announcement, bonuses, and special post-contest surprises. There are definitely lots of treats in store for everyone who enters, and I don’t want anyone to miss out.

Click HERE to enter

and reveal your first bonus!

Show Your Favorite Book Some Love – Bingo Edition!

July 9, 2018 ~ Ruth ~ 2 Comments

Last week, my friend Emily Conrad posted a Bingo card titled “Show Your Favorite Authors Some Love” and challenged everyone to claim a row. It’s a good card, but it seemed as if a few things were still missing.

Me: If I did a personalized grid, it would say things like “Take book to church and foist it on an unsuspecting friend” and “Turn favorite dialogue snippets into a musical, which you sing to yourself and others until they ask you to please stop.”

Emily: I would LOVE to see the official Ruth Buchanan version of this card!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I have done some of these but still aspire to complete an entire row. If you win a row, definitely film everything you do and post online so that we can all ~~make fun of you~~ enjoy.

Also so we can learn about the book you love.

Because that’s definitely what this is all about.

~~~

How do you talk up books you love? Have you found any successful techniques that don’t involve skywriting or potential public embarrassment? Spill in the comments below.

In other news, I’m pleased to have become a contributing writer at Faith Beyond Fear. My first post, When I Run from My Fears, went live this morning. Come by, say hello, and check out the site. Thanks to Alynda Long for the work she does and for reaching out.

If you get behind-the-scenes e-mails, you’re already aware that my book The Proper Care and Feeding of Singles is featured this week as an Amazon Kindle Countdown Deal. That means the book is on sale for $.99 from now until June 14, 2018. This is a great time to snap it up! (It’s also a great time to opt in for e-mail alerts. Don’t let the algorithm keep us apart!)

Happy Monday, everyone! May your coffee be as strong as your workload.