Fantastic School-age Read Alouds

Throughout the school year, parents are often given the opportunity to read aloud to their child's class. With so many wonderful books to choose from it may be difficult to decide on which one to share.  This decision can be made in a variety ways - sharing your child's favorite story, choosing a title that fits into an upcoming holiday or event, or a recommendation from a teacher or librarian.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Picture Books:

A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech - When a principal loves his school so much that he wants the children to attend classes every day of the year, it's up to his students to show him free time is a good thing, too.

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka - When the teacher tells her class that they can think of almost everything as a math problem, one student acquires a math anxiety which becomes a real curse.

Science Verse by Jon Scieszka - When the teacher tells his class that they can hear the poetry of science in everything, a student is struck with a curse and begins hearing nothing but science verses that sound very much like some well-known poems.

The CuriousGarden by Peter Brown - Liam discovers a hidden garden and with careful tending spreads color throughout the gray city.

Cloudy With aChance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett - Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Tacky ThePenguin by Helen Lester - Tacky the penguin does not fit in with his sleek and graceful companions, but his odd behavior comes in handy when hunters come with maps and traps.

Eggbert theSlightly Cracked Egg by Tom Ross - A cracked egg with a talent for painting goes through some painful experiences before realizing that being cracked can be something to be proud of.

When PigassoMet Mootisse by Nina Laden - Pigasso, a talented pig, and Mootisse, an artistic bull, live across the road from one another, but when conflicts arise they build fences that ultimately become modern art masterpieces. Includes biographies of the real-life artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Short Stories:

SidewaysStories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (and other titles in this series) - Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

Tripping Overthe Lunch Lady: And Other School Stories by Nancy E. Mercado - An anthology of ten humorous short stories about life in school, written by well-known authors of children's books.

- Michelle C.