Favorite {Read-Aloud} Novels: Part 1

If I was forced to pick my absolute favorite part of my day, I would say READ-ALOUD, hands down. I love everything about this time with my kiddos: relaxing, unwinding, quiet, all while enjoying a book together. I read aloud to my students every single day, at the same time each day, for about 20 minutes. More on a good day, never less. It is SO important to make time for reading aloud, but that's info for another post. ;)

It's nearly impossible for me to pick favorites when it comes to books {seeing as how I own approx. 11,657 of them}, but there are some novels that have really become tried & true favorites over the past 2 years. Last year, I taught third grade for part of the year and was able to try out a lot of fun novels with my class. This year, I was in fourth grade and chose to use a few of the same books, as well as trying out a few new ones.

This list contains {SOME} of my all time favorite read aloud novels. So, here we go!

1. The first book on my list of favorites has got to be "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. I mean, I even named my puppy Sophie after the little girl in the book. I love that this book is overflowing with humor that really gets the kids laughing, but also the fact that it is written with such vivid detail and imagination. Unfortunately, more and more kids are losing their sense of imagination and are unable to play unless they have concrete items. Sadness. This book really sparks the imagination with the description and outlandish characters. It's definitely my ultimate tried and true fav. I will even admit that I was not a Roald Dahl fan when I was younger. I didn't dislike him, I just never chose to read his books. 

{TIP: Make sure you have a lot of water/hot tea on hand when reading this book. You MUST perfect your giant voice and have a variety for the times the other giants speak. It's critical. My kids from last year still ask me to "say things in my BFG voice." All about the entertainment here.}

You can find "The BFG" here!

After reading "The BFG", we make frobscottle and snozzcumbers. If you don't know what those two words mean, you are simply missing out. I've used this frobscottle recipe with my kids and they love it. I always send home the recipe too, so they can try recreating it again and again! There are many snozzcumber recipes online, all of which I knew my kids would not eat. I just bring in cucumbers and dip and we call it a day. We always have a "BFG Celebration" after reading and even watch "The BFG" movie {it's not good, at all. GREAT win for teachers to show the book is usually better than the movie ;)}

And, as if I haven't proven enough already that this is simply a fantastic read-aloud, I gave my kids a copy of "The BFG" as one of their Christmas presents this year {$1 on Scholastic + bonus points = for free!} and they absolutely went crazy. You would've thought I gave them a check for $1,000,000. Seriously. It was adorable. I also made a cute little bookmark with a Roald Dahl quote on it for them to use in their book. This was a really special gift and I plan on giving something similar each year.

2. Now, I'm not sure if anything can really top my opinion of "The BFG" {clearly} so we will stick with the Roald Dahl theme for a minute. My next read-aloud novel pick is "Matilda" by, you guessed it, Roald Dahl.

You can find "Matilda" here!

"Matilda" is a classic and well-loved by my young readers! This was a favorite book of mine as a kid and I love sharing the excitement of this book with my kids. 

{TIP: Make sure you channel your inner Jersey girl, Fran Drescher, nasally voice for the mom. It makes all the difference.}

As with "The BFG", I always show the movie version of "Matilda" and let the kids decide which they like better. I was actually surprised that a lot of the kids like the book better because the movie cut a lot of parts from the book. 

{Teacher win, yay!}

3. My next favorite read-aloud novel would have to be "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. Although this is technically the second book in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series, I like to jump right into this book because it is one of my favorites. 

You can find "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" here!

This is an EXCELLENT book and crowd favorite because of the action, humor, and plot twists & turns. Although this book requires multiple voices {all of which should be somewhat British} it is a really fun book to read aloud and the kids always enjoy it. This is the third, and final, book in my list that has a movie accompaniment that I show following our book. 

Keep in mind, this movie is fairly long, we split this up over a couple of "Fun Friday" lunches in the classroom. 

4. My next choice for {Part 1} of my fav read-aloud novels is "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio.
I don't even truly know where to begin praising this novel.
Every once in awhile you read a book that is life changing. This is that book.
This is one of those books that you read, cannot put down, and cannot stop thinking about once you've finished reading. The message sticks with you.

I have not read "Wonder" as a read aloud yet, it's another one I recently read to check out what the rage was about, but I definitely plan on reading it next year. It's an excellent book to get kids talking about empathy, sympathy, compassion, and acceptance. The book is extremely well-written and has received a full 5 stars on Amazon, from over 3,000 readers. 

You can find "Wonder" here!

5. My final choice is another that I haven't actually used in my classroom yet, but definitely look forward to using next year. I recently read this book myself {as it has gotten a TON of praise from various teachers/teaching blogs} and fell head over heels in love.

The book is "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate. It is the story of a captive gorilla in a shopping mall zoo, told from his point of view. It will warm your heart and break it all at the same time. Promise. It's beautiful. I love it. I want to go read it again right now.

You can find "The One and Only Ivan" here!

I think this book will be an excellent choice as a read-aloud and look forward to choosing it as one of my first books for next year!

Although I cannot possibly choose all of my favorites {it would seriously take me until three Sundays from now}, these are a few that have a special place in my heart, for one reason or another.
I hope you check them out and find that you love them as much as I do!
I find that when I read a book I'm truly passionate about, my kiddos soak it up and look forward to hearing me read aloud each day.

Have any favorite read-aloud novels you think I should know about?
Comment below and let me know! :)
I'm constantly searching for books to fall in love with.

Happy Reading!

~Kristen