The Treasury of Read-Alouds

NOVELS (full) page 4 of 4

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

The Ruby in the Smoke (series)

by Philip Pullman      Gr. 5 and up      230 pages      Laurel Leaf paperback, 1988

Not one to take himself too seriously despite his many awards, Pullman will produce a fairy tale parody (I Was a Rat!) one minute and a heart-stopping thriller like this the next. His own description of this Sally Lockhart series goes like this: “Historical thrillers, that's what these books are. Old-fashioned Victorian blood-and-thunder. Actually, I wrote each one with a genuine cliché of melodrama right at the heart of it, on purpose: the priceless jewel with a curse on it—the madman with a weapon that could destroy the world—the situation of being trapped in a cellar with the water rising—the little illiterate servant girl from the slums of London who becomes a princess.”

Ruby in the Smoke contains one of the great read-aloud openings. Set in 1872 on a cold October afternoon in the London financial district, a young girl steps out of a hansom cab and into the second paragraph:

“She was a person of sixteen or so—alone, and uncommonly pretty. She was slender and pale, and dressed in mourning, with a black bonnet under which she tucked back a straying twist of blond hair that the wind had teased loose. she had unusually dark brown eyes for one so fair. Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.”

There is absolutely no chance of your attention wandering after that. Note: It is Sally’s question that will kill the man (heart attack). These books are for experienced listeners. The Sally Lockhart quartet: The Ruby in the Smoke; The Shadow in the North; The Tiger in the Well; and The Tin Princess. Related books: The December Rose by Leon Garfield; and The Case of the Baker Street Irregular by Robert Newman. More on the author online at: www.philip-pullman.com; and Pullman and his teacher.

The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett      Gr. 2–5      240 pages      numerous publishers

Few books spin such a web of magic about their audiences as does this 1911 children’s classic about the sulky orphan who comes to live with her cold, unfeeling uncle on the windswept English moors. Wandering the grounds of his immense manor house one day, she discovers a secret garden, locked and abandoned. This leads her to discover her uncle’s invalid child hidden within the mansion, her first friendship, and her own true self. While this is definitely for experienced listeners, try to avoid the abridged versions, since too much of the flavor is lost in those. Also by the author: Little Lord Fauntleroy; A Little Princess; and The Lost Prince. Two recent books by Eva Ibbotson are so reminiscent of the Burnett's genre, you'd almost think she'd come back from the dead: The Star of Kazan and Journey to the River Sea. Other books: Mandy by Julie Edwards; and Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. For a deeper look at The Secret Garden, consider NPR's essay by Sloane Crosley: 'Darkness and Light in 'The Secret Garden.'

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

by Louis Sachar      Gr. 2–5      124 pages      Random House, 1990

Thirty chapters about the wacky students who inhabit the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, the school that was supposed to be built one story high and thirty classes wide, until the contractor made a mistake and made it thirty stories high! If you think the building is bizarre, wait until you meet the kids who inhabit it. Sequels: Wayside School Is Falling Down; and Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger. Also by the author: Holes; Johnny’s in the Basement; and There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom. Other humorous books: Skinnybones by Barbara Robinson; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson; and Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.

Space Race (series)

by Sylvia Waugh      Gr. 2-5      24 pages      Delacorte/Dell, 2000 

It's a bit sad that some truly worthy books were overlooked in the hullabaloo over Harry Potter and this is a case in point. In its simplest terms, it is the story of a pair of aliens from the planet Ormingat, 11-year-old Thomas Derwent and his father. They are just completing an undercover five-year research visit to Earth where they assumed the appearance and ways of earthlings and spent this idyllic time in a contemporary English village. Their next-door neighbor has informally adopted and cared for them in grandmotherly fashion. Under such circumstances, it's little wonder that Thomas is heartbroken when his father informs him that their mission is complete and its time to return "home." His parting with his best friend Mickey and the neighbor are touching and believable, though neither has any idea of the family's real identity. Yet Thomas has been prepared for their eventual return and is resigned to its inevitability.

It is inevitable because their space ship is timed to leave Earth on exactly Dec. 26th, no sooner, no later. Exactly. If they were to miss it—well, that's never happened in 250 years of exploration. What neither father nor son anticipates is a traffic accident on their way to the ship (and a third of the way into the book). It separates the pair, landing Thomas in the hospital where he fakes trauma and shock symptoms while waiting for some kind of dramatic rescue by his father. His father, meanwhile, has been rendered the size of an insect, and the accident's impact has flattened him atop the roof of a speeding car. Recovering from that, he must find his buried space ship and await instructions from Ormingat as to if, how, and when he should rescue his son. The second volume is about a 12-year-old girl and her alien family, Earthborn, followed by the final volume, Who Goes Home? Related sci-fi series: City of Ember.

One small cautionary note for classroom readers-aloud: On page 66, there is a pair of four-letter words ("damn" and "hell") uttered in desperation by the driver of the truck involved in the accident. Later in the book there are several very reverent references to God, so perhaps they balance each other out — in case you worry about such things.

The Star of Kazan

by Eva Ibbotson      Gr. 2-5      405 pages      Dutton, 2004

If you've been yearning for the good, old -fashioned solid storytelling that made The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables the favorites of devoted readers for a century, look no further than this book. Set near the beginning of the last century in Austria and Germany, we meet a young girl being raised by two maiden Austrian housekeepers who discovered her as an abandoned baby in a church. Young Annika now lives with them in the house where they work for three finicky professors. It's an idyllic life for all, though the child does dream that someday her mother will return to claim the child she misplaced that day.

And then the great upheaval: the woman who had abandoned the child 12 years earlier arrives to claim her. Frau Edeltraut von Tannenberg is as aristocratic and snobby as her name implies but she is, after all, the mother Annika has dreamed of all her life. Simply put, Annika's dream has come true, and her adopted family's worst nightmare has come with it. Heartbroken at her departure, her Austrian family reassures themselves that it is best for the child. After all, in her mother's huge German estate she will be able to enjoy all the luxuries they could never afford to give her. But all is not what it appears and the ensuing chapters are filled with disappointments, deceits, cruel relatives, sheltering servants, buried treasure, scheming lawyers, loyal friends, and perilous last-minute rescues.

One of Ibbotson's favorite tools is foreshadowing and she plants intriguing clues in chapters that usually end with a cliff-hanger. Ibbitson also offers a clear sense of the creeping infection called nationalism that would envelope Germany in the coming years and lead to two world wars. To read an brief excerpt that exemplifies the flavor of the novel, go to Kazan excerpt.

An integral part of both the setting and the plot is the world famous Lipizzaner stallions and their home at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Several Web sites offer colorful views of the animals and their training: www.lipizzaner.com/Intro.asp; and www.lipizzaner.at/index2.html.

To hear a BBC interview with the author, go online to:
           www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/english/meettheauthors_prog02_eva_ibbotson.shtml.

Also by the author: Journey to the River Sea. Related books: anything by Frances Hodgson Burnett; and Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Stormbreaker (series)

by Anthony Horowitz      Gr. 5-8      234 pages      Philomel, 2000

When 14-year-old Alex Rider is informed that his bachelor uncle/guardian has died in an auto accident, he’s understandably distressed. But he’s also perplexed by the news that he wasn't wearing his seatbelt—something he was fanatical about wearing. He’s even more confused when two men show up at the funeral wearing loaded shoulder holsters under their jackets. Why guns at a bank manager’s funeral? Before long his questions bring him into Britain’s top-secret intelligence agency and he may not make it out alive. As someone has noted elsewhere, if James Bond had a kid-relative, it would have been Alex Rider. This first book in a fast-paced, increasingly popular series by Horowitz has, like most thrillers, a certain amount of violence, though none of it gratuitous, and far tamer than you’d find in an Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Books like this don’t produce Newbery or Carnegie awards but they’re very likely to produce a kid who likes to read at least as much as he likes to play video games. For an excellent 5-minute BBC interview with the author (complete with video), online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/4415169.stm. Sequels: Point Blanc; Skeleton Key; Eagle Strike; Scorpia; Ark Angel; and Snakehead. In 2007, Philomel additionally began issuing the Alex Rider series as graphic novels, adapted by Antony Johnston amd Kanako and Yuzuru. Also by Horowitz: Raven’s Gate. Related book: Gordon Korman's series: On the Run.

Tales from the Homeplace

by Harriet Burandt and Shelley Dale      Gr. 3-6      154 pages      Dell, 1999

The most reliable story timber remains the family. It's the one thing we all have in common, though each family is different in its own way (as Tolstoy observed) and makes one great binding agent between reader and book. In that tradition comes this collection of nine true episodes about a family of eight children and their parents, set on the Texas plains in the midst of the Depression. Besides family, though, you must have a story, a conflict or challenge, and this collection has that and more. These are strong people who must withstand the torments of the Texas climate and economy in hard times. The events recounted here come mainly from the stories passed down to Harriet Burandt from her mother and relatives who are the eight children in the book and each tale is self contained and riveting. Take, for instance, the first chapter in which Irene escorts her siblings to the creek for a swim while their parents are away for the day. She always had to be stern with them but on this day she'd need more than strictness when she spies a mountain lion lurking in the bushes while they swim. Related book: No Promises on theWind by Irene Hunt.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

by Avi      Gr. 4 and up      215 pages      Orchard, 1990

Winner of a Newbery Honor medal, this is the exciting tale of an obstinate thirteen-year-old girl who is the lone passenger aboard a merchant ship sailing from England to the U.S. in 1832. The crew is bent on mutiny, the captain is a murderer, and within weeks the girl is accused of murder, tried by captain and crew, and sentenced to hang at sea. Avi is at his finest with this “first-person” adventure, exploring history, racism, feminism, and mob psychology.

Other books by Avi: The Barn; Beyond the Western Sea series: I—The Escape from Home; II—Lord Kirkle’s Money; Crispin: Cross of Lead; Good Dog; Nothing But the Truth; Poppy; The Secret School; and Wolf Rider.

Avi’s Web site: www.avi-writer.com. Listen to a one-hour interview with Avi online at: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/programs/midmorning/listings/ mm20040621.shtml (scroll to June 22, 2004, second hour).

A Week in the Woods

by Andrew Clements      Gr. 3-6      190 pages      Simon & Schuster, 2002

Once again, the author proves himself a master of the school setting. Here he's taken a familiar setting—fifth-grade nature trip into the woods—and woven it around a wealthy know-it-all new kid in town and a science teacher. The teacher is a decent, hard-working man but he's not perfect. And sometimes when you've been in a business for 12 years and you're the best at what you do, you're tempted to think you know it all. It's an easy trap to fall into. In the case of this teacher, who thinks he's seen all kinds of kids, he's got the new kid figured out perfectly and what the kid needs is a hard lesson or two. While the teacher is an expert at reading kids' behavior, he's misread this child's heart. In resolving the conflict, Clements gives us a solid dose of outdoor survival tips, as well as tips on how classmates might make the life of newcomers a lot easier. For other books by the author, see Frindle. Related survival stories: see Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

by L. Frank Baum      Gr. 1 and up      260 pages      Numerous publishers

Before children are exposed to the movie version, treat them to the magic of this 1900 book, which many regard as the first American fairy tale, as well as our earliest science fiction. (Incidentally, the book is far less terrifying for children than the film version.) The magical story of Dorothy and her friends’ harrowing journey to the Emerald City is but the first of many books about the Land of Oz. Among those sequels, one is regarded as the best—Ozma of Oz. Author study: Michael Patrick Hearn’s The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Centennial Edition (Norton, 2000), and L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz by Kathaine M. Rogers (St. Martin's, 2002). On the Web: www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/index.htm; as well at this site: Baum.

There is, however, another side to Mr. Baum's writing resume: Fourteen days before the battle of Wounded Knee, an editorial appeared in the local press urging an assault on the Lakota tribe: "Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are." How many of the resulting 150 dead Indians could be attributed to that editorial is pure conjecture but a century later the writer's great-great grandson devoted his master's thesis to the writer's racist views—L. Frank Baum. Listen to NPR's "'Oz' Family Apologizes." See also: the Indian-Oz Connection.

The Year of Miss Agnes

by Kirkpatrick Hill      Gr. 2-5      128 pages      Aladdin, 2002

Set in a remote and impoverished Alaskan bush village in 1948, this heartwarming story is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old Athabascan village girl (Fred), who watches as the new school teacher arrives. Everyone assumes she’ll leave like the rest have. After all, how could she stand the smell? They’re wrong, of course. She stays and takes over not just the one-room schoolhouse but also the hearts of everyone in the village, including Fred’s deaf sister who’s never been to school. Out go all the old ways and in come records, pictures from around the world, maps, and a Robin Hood read-aloud—anything to inspire learning in the bush. You’ll be surprised at how Alaskan village kids can relate to Sherwood Forest. Miss Agnes demonstrates that programs don’t teach—teachers do and what an example she is! Also by the author: Toughboy and Sister; and Winter Camp, a survival story.