What are yours? What are your absolute favorite stories to read aloud to your kiddos? Do you use them just for pleasure or for teaching points? I'll start... My favorite (so far) author for my 1st graders is Tomie dePaola - any of the Strega Nona stories. Oh, and Patricia Palacco, too!
I adore Molly Lou Melon and Stella Queen of the Snow (any in that series really). For chapter books my kids really got into The Tale of Despereaux and the Mouse and the Motorcycle (guess they had a thing for mice). I usually use them with a lesson in mind, but I guess we read the chapter books just for pleasure. My kids make fun of me because I usually start by saying "This is one of my favorite books" - they always say "you sure have a lot of favorites!"
I didn't even think about chapter books - mine loved The Mouse and the Motorcycle, too! I also started out reading the Magic Treehouse series aloud (a chapter or two a day), and by Christmas, my mid and upper level readers were reading them for themselves! I just bought a number of Junie B. Jones books, and I plan to read them this year as well. Oh, and one of the first things I tell my kids is that my favorite thing in the entire world (aside from my grandson) is a book! That way, they aren't surprised by all my "favorites," lol.
I will have do some more research, but I did have my two nephews over recently. One is doing into first grade. They read Bark, George! and were rolling on the floor because they thought it was so funny! The first grader also loved Kitten Moon by Kevin Henkes.
My kids LOVED the Black Lagoon books from this last year. They would laugh so hard during each story, and would never cease to be amazed that all the stories ended the same (that the new teacher/person being described throughout the whole book turns out to be nice). I actually went out at Christmas and purchased a bunch of new Black Lagoon stories, as they were so popular with my class. We also loved Leo Leonni as well.
In the beginning of the year when I let them know what my book interests are, I tell them about Bad Dog, Marley! They loooovvvee it when I read it... (I read it to show that readers have favorite books that they read over and over.. and later in the year we read the other Marley books and they make connections, comparisons, and critique the texts). I like Miss Nelson is missing when teaching inferring. (Then later we compare stories and talk about the characters in all those Nelson books.)
I love reading the Patricia Polacco books, too! They really get to know those character and we learn about the author.
KInder... you took mine Molly Lou Melon... I love all the discussions you can have with it. The Very Lonely Firefly. The students loved this when you open the back & the fireflies are lighting up!!!
My first graders in residency LOVED silly stuff, and we would read the classics, but every once in a while we would read something newer that they enjoyed. There was one book called "Arnie the Donut" that they REALLY enjoyed. They also love "Don't Let the Pidgeon Stay Up Late" because they get to interact. Happy Reading! -Ali
