From: Thompson, Lauren <LThompson>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 19:21:43 -0400

I've been thinking a lot about read-alouds as I pick what to read to my seven-year-old son. He is reading independently at a "Frog and Toad" level (which is also great to read aloud!) but craves the more complex stories and drawn-out drama that longer books offer. We are just now finishing up the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. My Father's Dragon and the two sequels (Elmer and the Dragon, The Dragons of Blueland) are wonderful favorites. We will soon start The Animal Family and The Wizard of Oz. (I'm developing a nice list of possibilities out of this discussion!) I've been looking for a certain kind of book for my son these past few years, which, along with literary use of language, has a real story with adventure and character development, but that also is appropriate for his developmental age. This means that many middle-grade novels are not going to be quite right. Middle-grade readers are more likely to be ready for stories with unreliable adult characters, shattering losses, finding inner strength in response to lost innocence. But right now, for my son I prefer stories in which the adults, or at least the parent figures, are reliable (perhaps flawed, but basically good). There might be a struggle between good and evil, or between human persistence and the wildness of nature, or right and wrong - but the evil isn't to be found among those the child character ought to be able to trust implicitly. Perhaps I'm old?shioned in this preference - I end up turning back to the older "classics" such as those I mentioned above, and holding off on more recently published books till he's older. I suspect the innocence of My Father's Dragon is a hard sell these days in the world of children's fiction because the middle-grade readership is believed to be too sophisticated to want to be seen reading such a "sweet" book. But as a parent I would like to see more new books like this. Partly because the trouble with some of the "classic" books is the unenlightened views about race, class, ethnicity, harsh discipline, etc. that crop up. But I've tried to use these instances as teachable moments.

Lauren Thompson Sr. Editor, Scholastic Press

Also author of Little Quack books, Mouse's First Christmas et al, and Polar Bear Night in fall 04


 -----Original Message----From: Megan Schliesman
[mailto:Schliesman at education.wisc.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 12:59 PM To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [ccbc-net] Chapter Books for Preschool

T Baker commented on a colleague who read aloud from Junie (?) B. Jones to preschoolers. In my personal life, I am also in search of chapter books and longer picture books to share. I recently read Vera B. Williams's Scooter to my 4-year-old daughter, and she greatly enjoyed it. We ready it over the course of 6 or 7 nights, and each night she wanted to return to it. Just recently, she asked me if I'd bring it home again. What fun!

I am enjoying being able to integrate longer books--books we can stretch out of the course of multiple nights--into our reading experiences, even as we continue to seek out new picture books, as well as old (and not so old) favorites.

I've always loved Jim Trelease's introduction to his terrific Read Aloud Handbook, where he shares a story about a parent who read to her child from birth, so that when he was four he was more than ready to hear Charlotte's Web. That is what got me thinking years ago about reading chapter books to my own child when she was old enough and experienced enough for sustained listening.


Megan


Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 05 Aug 2004 06:21:43 PM CDT