The Treasury of Read-Alouds

NOVELS (full) page 3 of 4

These books represent a brief portion of the hundreds
cited in the print edition of The-Read-Aloud Handbook.

James and the Giant Peach

by Roald Dahl      Gr. K–6      120 pages      Knopf, 1961

Four-year-old James, newly orphaned, is sent to live with his abusive aunts and appears resigned to spending his life as their humble servant. Then a giant peach begins growing in the backyard. Waiting inside that peach is a collection of characters that will captivate your audience as they did James. Few books hold up over six grade levels as well as this one does, and few authors for children understand their world as well as Dahl did. Also by the author: The BFG; Danny, Champion of the World; Fantastic Mr. Fox; Matilda; The Minpins; The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; and The Roald Dahl Treasury, which contains the best collection of his work.

Journey to the River Sea

by Eva Ibbotson      Gr. 4-7      299 pages      Viking, Penguin, 2001

In 1910, we find Maia, a wealthy orphan girl, residing at The Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies, a setting very reminiscent of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Sara Crewe or A Little Princess. When Maia's legal guardian informs her that a world-wide search has produced her only living relatives (her father's second cousin and his family, including twin daughters her age) who live on a rubber plantation in the Amazon, her imagination takes flight. The opportunity to see the world's largest river, to explore the exotic jungles of Brazil, to spend her childhood hours and dreams with twin-cousins—it's a young girl's dream come true.

Wrong, of course. The plantationed Carters are deeply in debt, the father is a leach looking for Maia's inheritance, the wife is a shrew, and the twins are nothing short of vipers. Sounds like poor Sara Crewe, right? How Maia extricates herself from this predicament, with the aid of a mysterious Indian boy with a large British inheritance, a homesick child-actor, along with a host of savvy natives, makes for an old-fashioned melodrama that has you rooting out loud for Maia and hissing her relatives all the way down the Amazon. Also by the author: The Star of Kazan. Related books—everything by Frances Hodgson Burnett; Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan; and Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Kensuke's Kingdom

by Michael Morpurgo      Gr. 3-5      164 pages      Scholastic, 2003 

Because childhood can sometimes be a case of survival, preteens and teens often gravitate to survival books, as proven by Paulsen's success with the Hatchet series. This volume ranks with the best of that genre, with nod to The Cay by Theodore Taylor and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Like The Cay, it has a World War II connection and there is a tiny island with two survivors, a boy and an old man who eventually form a powerful bond. But there the similarity ends, for Morpurgo has carved a unique tale that stands on its own eight feet (if you count the dog with the two people).

The boy, Michael, is 12 years old when he and his dog are washed overboard from the family's yacht and into the Coral Sea off Australia. Clinging to the dog and a soccer ball (a touch of Tom Hanks there), the boy is washed up on a tropical island. This island, while appearing uninhabited, has a host of animals, plants, and fish that might keep him alive. It also contains one old man—a very old and very angry Japanese man named Kensuke Ogawa, a navy doctor who has been on the island since the end of WW II. Initially, Kensuke was marooned there when his ship sank but eventually he was there by choice, more than 55 years after his home in Nagasaki was bombed with one of the first atomic bombs. The rest is his story and Michael's. To say the tale is inspiring is a great understatement. Entwined with the modern survival story are the issues of war and peace, brotherhood, family ties, art, nature, and hope. Related books: Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuk (a story from the Japanese internment camps); Robinson Crusoe by Danel Defoe (one of the Scribner Illustrated Classics series [abridged, thank you] and illustrated by N. C. Wyeth); and three books by Gary Paulsen: The Foxman; Hatchet; and The Voyage of the Frog. Also by the author: The Amaz ing Story of Adolphus Tips; Private Peaceful; War Horse; and The War of Jenkins' Ear.

Morpurgo is the author of more than 90 books; in 2003 he was named "Children's Laureate" of Britain. BBC School Radio offers interviews with prominent British authors, with children asking the questions. The questions are available online and the authors' responses can be heard via RealAudio online at: www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/english/meettheauthors_prog03_michael_morpurgo.shtml. More information can be found in Dear Mr Morpingo: Inside the World of Michael Morpurgo (Wizard Books, UK) available by ordering through www.amazon.co.uk/.

The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle (nonfiction)

by Dan L. Wulffson      Gr. 1-5      128 pages      Puffin paperback, 1999

Here are the true but little-known stories behind the invention of 100 everyday items like: animal crackers, aspirin balloons, band-aids, barbed wire, baseball caps, blue jeans, doughnuts frisbee, miniature golf, marshmallows, phonograph, ice cream sundae, supermarkets, and yo-yos. Since none of these items takes more than a page to describe, this is the kind of book you keep in the car to bring into restaurants to read while the family is waiting for the meal; it's also perfect for brief classroom fill-ins. Sequel: The Kid Who Invented the Trampoline (50 more items). Related books: In Girls Think of Everything, Catherine Thimmeah tells the story of 59 inventions by women, from canning, dishwashers, and diapers to fire escapes and windshield wipers; Hooray for Inventors! by Marcia Williams; Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully (she invented the flat-bottom paper grocery bag); and Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein by Don Brown; and So You Want to Be an Inventor? by Judith St. George.

Lily’s Crossing

by Patricia Reilly Giff      Gr. 3–6      180 pages      Delacorte/Dell, 1997

This coming-of-age novel focuses on the summer of 1944 and one feisty yet frightened young girl in a Long Island beach community. With her beloved father shipped overseas and her best friend moved away, Lily befriends a Hungarian refugee (Albert). They experience together the great fears and small triumphs that keep children afloat during war years. Lily, reader and future writer, learns the hard way that tall tales, spun out of control, can become dangerous lies. And Albert finds in Lily a friend who will change his life forever. This is a multiple award-winner, including Newbery Honor. Related books: Alan and Naomi by Myron Levoy; and Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo;

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia series)

by C. S. Lewis      Gr. 3–6      186 pages     HarperCollins, 1950

Four children discover that the old wardrobe closet in an empty room leads to the magical kingdom of Narnia—a kingdom filled with heroes, witches, princes, and intrigue. This is the most famous (but second) of seven enchanting books called the Chronicles of Narnia, which can be read as adventures or as Christian allegory. The series in order: The Magician’s Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle. The Land of Narnia by Brian Sibley is an excellent guide to Narnia. Many reasonable comparisons have been made between the dual world of Narnia and the Harry Potter series as well as Brian Jacques' Redwall series beginning with Martin the Warrior.

Listening for Lions

by Gloria Whelan      Gr. 3-8      194 pages      Harper, 2005

From an outstanding writer of historical fiction comes this tale set in 1919 in British East Africa where thirteen-year-old Rachel had been living an idyllic life with her medical-missionary parents until the Great Flu Epidemic struck. Suddenly orphaned, Rachel ends up in the hands of two wealthy, plotting neighbors who have lost their daughter to the flu. Their intention had been to send their daughter back to England in hopes her visit would move the heart of her grandfather—and then loosen his purse strings (he’d disowned the girl’s ne’er do-well father years ago). Now they’re manipulating the grieving Rachel into posing as their deceased daughter and sending her off to grandfather’s estate with the warning that any bad news could send the old man to his grave. Once in England, a wonderful relationship grows between the man and child, making it all the harder for her to tell him the truth. Reminiscent of The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy (both by Frances Hodgeson Burnett), this tale of a plucky young lady is a delightful page-turner and character study. Related title: The Star of Kazan.

Loser

by Jerry Spinelli      Gr. 4 and up       218 pages      HarperCollins, 2002

There are Donald Zinkoffs in every neighborhood, in every classroom, and in many if not most families. They go by a variety of names: bumbler, dope, klutz, loser. As Jerry Spinelli points out in the first chapter of Loser, these people are largely ignored by the outside world until one day somebody notices them and labels them. Not since The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes' timeless novel (1944) of a poor girl's trial by classroom prejudice, has anyone grabbed this subject of the odd-child-out with such force. Zinkoff is not retarded, nor is he ADHD. He's just a little out of focus, not enough to send him to special education classes but enough to leave him without a best friend.

Donald also has a giant sense of humor. His appreciative laughter and choice of clothing send early warning signals to his first grade teacher. Just as importantly for this story, he is the son of loving but not overbearing parents. Indeed, it is their abiding, unconditional love (along with the affection of two master teachers) that allows the boy to grow a heart that abounds in exuberant love for everything and everyone around him. Spinelli has injected a large dollop of irreverent humor that will have middle-grade readers doubled over (to say nothing of the adult who tries to read it aloud. It is the humor that pulls the reader through the first half of the book, each chapter provoking you to wonder what will he pull next. It is this humor that also prevents the story from becoming a tale of despair.

Spinelli writes that around fourth grade, children develop their "big kid eyes," eyes that notice things they missed with "little kid eyes." Twenty-seven classmates now turn their new big-kid eyes to Zinkoff, and suddenly they see things they haven't seen before. Zinkoff had always been messy and giggly and slow. But now they notice. In light of efforts to make the school climate less hate-filled and more human-friendly (in the wake of Columbine-like events), this is a novel that will succeed on more than it's formidable story and character. Related book: A Corner of the Universe by Anne Martin. Also by the author: Maniac Magee; Milkweed; Star Girl; and Crash.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

by Richard & Florence Atwater      Gr. 2–4      140 pages      Little, 1938

When you add twelve penguins to the family of Mr. Popper, the house painter, you’ve got immense food bills, impossible situations, and a freezer full of laughs. The short chapters will keep your audience hungry for more. Related books: Capyboppy by Bill Peet; Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat; Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson; and The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith.

Mr. Tucket (series)

by Gary Paulsen      Gr. 2-8      166 pages      Dell, 1997

We meet fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket just after he's been captured by an Indian raiding party as his family was heading to Oregon via wagon train. In typical Paulsen fashion, Francis is not going to remain captive for long but it'll take him five books to reach his destination by way of war, starvation, and every imaginable threat on the American frontier. The series includes (in order): Mr. Tucket; Call Me Francis Tucket; Tucket's Ride; Tucket’s Gold ; and Tucket’s Home. All five books have been compiled into a single large paperback, Tucket's Travels. These are a little more accessible for a younger age than Paulsen's Hatchet. For more on Paulsen, see Hatchet, as well as www.trelease-on-reading.com/paulsen.html

Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry      Gr. 4–7      137 pages      Houghton, 1989

In 1943, as the occupying Nazi army attempted to extricate and then exterminate the 7,000 Jews residing in Norway, the Danish people rose up as one in a determined and remarkably successful resistance. Against that backdrop, this Newbery winner describes a ten-year-old Danish girl joining forces with her relatives to save the lives of her best friend and her family. Related books: Darkness Over Denmark by Ellen Levine, an excellent nonfiction companion to this book, with photos of Denmark and the resistance fighters; the popular novel Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan, about Danish children smuggling gold past the Nazis; and The Little Ships and The Greatest Skating Race, both by Louise Borden. Also by the author: Gooney Bird Greene. Author profile online at: www.loislowry.com/. If you have the free RealAudio plugin, you can hear a one-hour online interview with the author on the Diane Rehm Show, May 22, 2003: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/03/05/22.php.

Poppy (series)

by Avi      K–4      160 pages      Orchard, 1995

A great horned owl keeps the growing deer mice population in Dimwood Forest under his fierce control like an evil dictator, eating those who dare to disobey his orders. When he kills her boyfriend, little Poppy dares to go where no mouse has gone before—to the world beyond Dimwood. Indeed, she uncovers the hoax the evil owl has perpetrated through the years and leads her frightened family to the promised land. Told with wit and high drama, this is an excellent start to the “Tales from Dimwood Forest” that have followed: Poppy and Rye; Ragweed; Ereth’s Birthday; and Poppy's Return. Older fans of this series will enjoy: Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques; younger fans: Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (series)

by Mildred Taylor      Gr. 5 and up      276 pages      Dial, 1976

Filled with the life blood of a black Mississippi family during the Depression, this Newbery winner depicts the pride of people who refuse to give in to threats and harassments from white neighbors. The story is told through daughter Cassie, age nine, who experiences her first taste of social injustice and refuses to swallow it. She, along with her family, her classmates and neighbors, will stir listeners’ hearts and awaken many children to the tragedy of prejudice and discrimination. For experienced listeners. Caution: There are several racial epithets used in the dialogue. Other books in the series: The Land (a prequel to Roll of Thunder); Let the Circle Be Unbroken; The Road to Memphis; and four short novels, The Friendship; Mississippi Bridge; Song of the Trees; and The Well. Also by the author: The Gold Cadillac. Related picture books: Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack; and Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins by Carole Boston Weatherford.

Related nonfiction titles: Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack; Mary Banneky by Alice McGill; Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe; More Than Anything Else (Booker T. Washington learns to read) by Marie Bradby; Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks; and The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles.

• The Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry series is an extraordinary introduction to the American Civil Rights movement, something that now, more than ever before, can be turned into a multi-media experience. Consider the array of options available for Roll of Thunder tie-ins:
  
  NEWSPAPER:
• New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote three columns in February 2007 on Gary Tyler, a black inmate incarcerated since 1974 for the shotgun-death of a Louisiana white 13-year-old when Tyler was 16 years old. In the intervening years, a wave of evidence has accumulated to completely exonerate the black man but in some corners the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow. The case is one of the classic instances of American injustice. The three columns can be found here at Herbert-Tyler.
  
  FILM RECOMMENDATIONS:
• “Once Upon a Time . . . When We Were Colored,” an affectionate look back at life in a black Mississippi neighborhood from the mid-1940s to the dawn of the civil rights movement, based on the autobiographical novel by Clifton Taubert; and “4 Little Girls,” Spike Lee’s acclaimed 1997 documentary of the turning point in the civil rights movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church; and "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," Keith A. Beauchamp's documentary film about one of the most horrific murders in the civil rights era (for grades 7 and up).

• In the wake of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, a third-grade teacher of an all-white class in an all-white community in Iowa taught an extraordinary lesson: She divided her classroom by eye-color, telling her students that blue-eyed students were smarter and better than brown-eyed students. Furthermore, she put identifying collars on the brown-eyed children, decreeing that blue-eyes could not play on the playground with brown-eyes. The reaction was immediate. PBS' Frontline filmed one of her classes three years later and again when that class returned for a reunion 17 years later. The entire program is available online and remains one of the most extraordinary lessons on the lasting impact of racism and discrimination. The first eight minutes of the program are entirely appropriate for grades 3 and up. The rest of "A Class Divided" is geared toward middle- and senior high students, as well as adults. If there's a better example on film of how to teach, I'm unaware of it.  Class Divided at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
  
  AUDIO:
• Duke University's oral history project composed of the memories of those who lived in the segregated South: "Behind the Veil." Different portions of that collection can be heard (using RealAudio's free plugin) on the Internet at American RadioWorks' "Remembering Jim Crow." The RadioWorks site also includes excellent slide shows of images taken during the period: www.americanradioworks.org/features/remembering/index.html.
• On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in Greensboro, NC, handsomely dressed in jackets and ties, sat down for lunch at a Woolworth store (the equivalent of Wal-Mart today). At a time when segregation ruled the south, such an action was more than daring — it bordered on suicidal in some places. Denied service, they returned the next day with 15 friends who, in succeeding days, were joined by 300, and then 1000. A revolution had been started by four young people. Listen as one of those men, Franklin McCain, eloquently looks back to those events and the role it played in his own life and American history. (NPR's "All Things Considered," Feb. 1, 2008, 7 mins.) at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18615556.

In the midst of prime television viewing hours one night in 1974, a young black woman leaned into a microphone at the Watergate hearings and declared in a husky voice that had been honed on debating teams at an all-black high school and an all-black college, uttered words that resonated across Washington and into the White House, while riveting the nation: “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.” Those words by Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas were, among other things, the single loudest clarion in what soon became a full-throated chorus for the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. No black woman in American history had ever been heard by so many Americans in one day, and with such historical effect. Her life story is heard in a special one-hour audio from KUT radio in Houston. The entire script for the show is available at http://kut.org/items/show/5525. The audio button for the broadcast can be found at the bottom of the page at: http://kut.org/items/show/5524.

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