Favorite Children's Books to Read Aloud

Our library is busy building a list of 100 of the top children's books.  As a storyteller, I have just a handful of my most favorite books to read to children.  By far the story I love to tell the most is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams.  There are several ways of reading the story.  First is to read the story without the children's involvement.  The story builds and as the little old lady is nearing her home, the pace builds quickly and the words should be read faster and faster until she is safely in her cottage.  Then the pace can quiet down as she rocks.  The line that reads, "Should she answer it?" can be asked of the children.  Some will say "yes" and some will say "no."  Remind the children that she is not afraid of anything!
 

A second way to read to a group of older children is to have the children act out the parts of the scarecrow as the little old lady meets them.  The children will shake for the shirt, clap for the gloves, tap their feet for the shoes, as so forth.  The children will need to be standing for the story.  If you do not want the children standing, they can help repeat the repetitive lines in the story.  

Another favorite book is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.  This story involves three little owls waiting for their mother to come home.  The children can relate to their having to wait for their mother at different points in their lives.  The three owls each have a distinctive voice inflection.  The oldest (I feel Sarah is the oldest) has a normal tone, Percy is a bit higher inflection and Bill, the baby, has the highest pitch, very baby-like tone.  At the point where the owls feel like their mother will never come back and they close their eyes, I ask the children if the mother will come back.  Some of the children say "yes" and some say "no."  In your best "mother" voice say "What's all the fuss..."  If the children at the story time with their mother, I ask after the story is over to give their moms' a hug.  

A favorite fairy tale to tell is Three Billy Goats Gruff.  This is a traditional story that works well with a flannel board.  There are several flannel kits and a variety of books that tell this story.  The best part of the story is to modulate your voice to the size of the goat.  The wee or little billy goat gets a high pitched voice, middle-sized voice for the middle brother and booming, loud voice for biggest goat.  The ogre gets a version of the biggest goat, but I like to add a bit of a comical inflection.  When the biggest goat says, "I am the biggest..." the ogre gets a "Hummm?" that is somewhat of a Simpson's character's voice.  I try not to make the ogre's death a big deal, he just floats down the river never to be seem again.

Later blogs with include other favorites.

At the library we have two children's book clubs.  One is for children ages seven to nine, and the other is for ages nine to 12.  The book clubs are very popular, we usually have 12-16 children at each month's meeting.  At registration for the next month, the children get a copy of the book to keep (which helps with the popularity of the book clubs). My co-youth librarian applied for a Grant through a popular store and we were awarded the money to purchase the books.  Our Friends of the Library has in the past supported the book club purchases.  We shop traditional library sources and order un-processed books.  A great source has been the twice yearly Scholastic book fair held in our area for teachers and librarians, we have found good prices for current titles. 

Each program runs for approximately an hour.  A typical program may include:

1. Optional Ice Breaker game
2. Book discussion
3. Game
4. Craft
5. Snack

The beginning of the hour is the book discussion.  The children vote thumbs up or down on the book.  The librarian has a few key questions developed to promote discussion.  Once a while, an ice breaker game is played to prompt the children into a more relaxed mood and helps open the group to a discussion.  Ice breakers include games such as the Candy Game.  The children receive a small cup of colored candies.  Going in turns around the room each color the children pulls a candy out of the cup without looking and then must tell something about themselves.  Red = something about their school, Blue = something about their family, Green = what is their favorite food, etc.

The children enjoy crafts and usually there is a themed craft to go with the book.  A felt mouse bookmark for Stuart Little.  A bottle cap necklace with a photo of a pet inside for books on dogs/pets.  Clothespin mummies for a non-fiction book on archeology.  Masks for a book that had a masked ball.  In a pinch we will use purchased craft kits or kits that are left from other programs.  The craft is simple and easy to make in about ten minutes. 

Games include popular group board games as well as games popular in school.  For a book on the Titanic each child received a sealed envelope as a boarding pass.  Inside was a description of a person who was on the ship.  The children read their bio to the group.  Before opening the inside envelope that told if their passenger survived, the children guessed on the answer.  Not one child was upset with the outcome.  This activity is similar to the Titanic exhibit that travels the country.  The games are tailored to the age of the children in the book club.

Snacks are very popular.  We try to match the snack to the book if we have time.  A book had ice cream sodas, and the children had sodas.  "Champagne" of  sparkling juice for Titanic passengers.  Chocolate dipped fortune cookies for a book with an Asian theme.  Cupcakes for a book with a birthday theme. If the book does not mention a food item, or we are pressed for time, bagged snacks such as chips or fruit snacks will be used along with drink box. 

At the end of the meeting, the children receive a copy of next month's book.  In the book is a bookmark with the date and time of the next meeting as a reminder.