What are you reading to your KIDS?

[Dr. Manhattan]

I try to read to my older two children (and the others when they will sit still and listen) nearly every night. I thought it'd be interesting to see what others are reading to their young ones. Perhaps we can exchange some good ideas?

(1) I am (re-)reading The Hobbit (Smaug just died)

(2) I also, for fun, have recently read some of Uncle Remus' stories...they love it when I read in character (different voices for each character). Their favorites are "Laffin' Place" and "Tar Baby", but my daughter esp. likes "Willer du Wust" (sp)

(3) We are about to start (re-) reading The Silver Chair (after The Hobbit is done)

If your kids are beyond the "read to" years, what books and/or stories did they enjoy most?

[scott]

Mostly Teen Titans, but she's old nuff to keep up on reading on her own.

[protector2814]

My 8 year old daughter is going through a major Goose-Bumps craze this Summer, so we're reading those together almost nightly. Of-coarse, this means I have to stay with her in her room 'til she falls asleep but that's not a bad thing. She's almost to the age where she starts pulling away with things like this. Man, I'll miss this stage. I've already been through it w/ my teenager.

My six year old is comic crazy. Hulk, Spiderman, Scooby. We'll curl up with a stack and just flip pages for an hour.

[RichBamf]

My 8 year old daughter is going through a major Goose-Bumps craze this Summer, so we're reading those together almost nightly. Of-coarse, this means I have to stay with her in her room 'til she falls asleep but that's not a bad thing. She's almost to the age where she starts pulling away with things like this. Man, I'll miss this stage. I've already been through it w/ my teenager.

My six year old is comic crazy. Hulk, Spiderman, Scooby. We'll curl up with a stack and just flip pages for an hour.

That's very cool! Hope my kids will be into comics. :thumbs2:

[endsongjen]

mine gets bored when i read to her. so she'll either read to me for a bit or we sit and read our own comics silently side by side. havent done that in awhile. :( she was reading wolverine and the power pack recently.

[Babytoxie]

We're expecting our first child in late February, and I'm already stocking up on books. The best part is, I can still find all the ones I had when I was younger: the complete Dr. Seuss, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Where the Wild Things Are, and Shel Silverstein. But I'm really looking forward to reading to them the entire Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Our granddaughter is going to be 1 next month and I'm trying to get her to sit still while I read picture books. I look forward to reading Dr Seuss and Golden books to her.

[protector2814]

Congratulations Babytoxie :thumbs2: Great news.
Sleep, sleep, go out on dates w/ your wife, watch Late Night T.V., and take naps my friend...while you still can.

[Babytoxie]

Thank you, sir! Indeed, we have planned one last trip before the due date.

[superdoug]

I don't have any kids, but here are books that I read to my sister when she was a little kid, and the books I try to expose my nieces and nephews to:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Belgariad (five books) by David Eddings
Homer Price (great for kids grade 3 and younger from the 50s) by Robert McCloskey
Whose Mouse Are You? by Robert Krause. (A GREAT book for toddlers/preschoolers. I had it when I was a kid, and still know it by heart.)
Sky Island by L. Frank Baum

[hawkeyethearcher]

Stephen Hawking's Universe

i hope he can help me understand it or it will put him to sleep

i wanted to read dear penthouse to him but my wife says that is "wrong". i dont understand women

ok for reals i am reading dragons from the dragonlance series to him but he reads his school books to me first

[Averone]

STAR WARS CLONE WARS!!!
Are you kidding me! Is there anything else boys think about now!!

Here is a photo he will share with his friends at school from SDCC! He is my world!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/averone_07/IMG_1600-1.jpg

[Dr. Manhattan]

Our granddaughter is going to be 1 next month and I'm trying to get her to sit still while I read picture books. I look forward to reading Dr Seuss and Golden books to her.

Oh, cool. I'm sure it's on your list, but you've gotta do "Green Eggs and Ham". My four year old still loves for me to read that one to him. He finishes the sentences. It's so much fun to see it.

:thumbs2:

[Dr. Manhattan]

We're expecting our first child in late February, and I'm already stocking up on books. The best part is, I can still find all the ones I had when I was younger: the complete Dr. Seuss, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Where the Wild Things Are, and Shel Silverstein. But I'm really looking forward to reading to them the entire Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.

Congrats. Parenting is the toughest job you'll ever love! Don't forget The Velveteen Rabbit...it's a classic.

[patrickwm68]

My 3 year old is currently reading Tim Vigil's Faust and Glen Danzig's Satanika.

[Babytoxie]

My 3 year old is currently reading Tim Vigil's Faust and Glen Danzig's Satanika.

:laugh:

I'll be sure to watch for them on the news.

[armitage]

My daughter's been into Lone Wolf and Cub we're on volume 4 now.

http://www.pacificdreams.org/images/books/lone_wolf4_large.jpg

[Dr. Manhattan]

We finished The Hobbit last night, and started in on The Fellowship of the Ring tonight. We only got to the point where Bilbo disappears, so not even through the first chapter yet. It's going to be a long ride for the whole series (Talk to me at Christmas ;) ). But my stopping at the disappearance at Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party kept them both wanting more!

[Dr. Manhattan]

We finished The Hobbit last night, and started in on The Fellowship of the Ring tonight. We only got to the point where Bilbo disappears, so not even through the first chapter yet. It's going to be a long ride for the whole series (Talk to me at Christmas ;) ). But my stopping at the disappearance at Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party kept them both wanting more!

(does me responding to my own post make me crazy? After all, I am "answering myself" in a manner. :peoples: )

Okay, I am surprised. I don't exactly know why I'd think so, but I thought the more simplistic linear story of The Hobbit would have a bit more appeal to a young reader/listener (6 yo & 8 yo) than the (even better, but more complext book) LOTR. The latter is far more descriptive and Tolkein's skill in this where the reader visualizes so well exactly what is being described is a thing, I thought for more mature readers/listeners....

...but they are LOVING LOTR, seemingly more. I have been ending each evening's reading at various "cliffhangers". They want me to read on, but due to the late hour, I stop. Even my slightly less enthusiastic (as a listener) oldest son loves it. As I tucked her in bed, my daughter told me that she couldn't sleep b/c she was thinking about what might be coming next in tomorrow night's reading. I responded, "that's what a good book is supposed to do. Goodnight, honey."

Anyone else see this with their children?

[Dr. Manhattan]

We have just finished "In the House of Tom Bombadil". It's one of the first times I didn't leave them at a "cliffhanger". So it's a "mental rest" where no one's hanging by a thread, so to speak, but the danger of the Barrow Downs is hinted at, however.

[Teague]

We read the entire Harry Potter series, and are now working our way through the Wee Free Men trilogy from Terry Pratchett. After that, we're starting on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series (one of my favorites from my childhood).

We've also done some of the Little House books, a Nancy Drew, the original Boxcar Children, Ella Enchanted (and a few other books by the same author whose titles escape me at the moment). I'm looking to find the books Ghost of Dibble Hollow (fantastic ghost story for kids!) and the Great Brain books (not tough to find, but just haven't gotten them yet).

[risingstar]

We read the entire Harry Potter series, and are now working our way through the Wee Free Men trilogy from Terry Pratchett. After that, we're starting on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series (one of my favorites from my childhood).

We've also done some of the Little House books, a Nancy Drew, the original Boxcar Children, Ella Enchanted (and a few other books by the same author whose titles escape me at the moment). I'm looking to find the books Ghost of Dibble Hollow (fantastic ghost story for kids!) and the Great Brain books (not tough to find, but just haven't gotten them yet).


I've been wonderong when to start reading to my daughter.

How old were your kids when you started reading those books? How much did you generally get to read in one sitting/bedtime? Those books are long too.

[Dr. Manhattan]

I've been wonderong when to start reading to my daughter.

How old were your kids when you started reading those books? How much did you generally get to read in one sitting/bedtime? Those books are long too.


I will tell you that IMO, as a rule, girls can be read to (so that they pay attention and follow the story) earlier than boys. I began reading the Chronicles of Narnia series to my daughter at 4.5 yrs. She was great with it. The chapters are fairly short and we'd do, typically, a chapter per night...sometimes two...and finished the whole series fairly soon. We then re-read TLWW right before the film came out and I then had her, conversationally, compare and contrast the differences b/w the film and the book. It was an excellent exercise.

BTW, prior to starting a new chapter, I'd have her, from memory, give me the book title, author, then chapter titles of what we read up to that point, with a very brief summary of what happend in each chapter (not has hard on her as it might sound). This was an EXCELLENT exercise in listening comprehension and retention.

I've done the same thing now with my next oldest, my 6 yr old son. He really didn't have the same attn span as my then 4.5 yr old daughter until he was ~5.5 yrs. (As an aside, my daughter insists on "sitting in" on the readings of the Chronicles saga that I was primarily reading to my 6 yr old son).

I have done the same thing with "The Hobbit", and now the
'Fellowship of the Ring', we're doing now.

:thumbs2:

[Teague]

I've been wonderong when to start reading to my daughter.

How old were your kids when you started reading those books? How much did you generally get to read in one sitting/bedtime? Those books are long too.

I started reading the HP books with my eldest daughter when she was 6; I haven't yet started them with my 4 year old, but I think I will once she turns 5. (She heard a lot of the story from when I was reading to her sister anyway, and plays HP with her sister all the time already.)

Books like The Boxcar Children are short and easier, too; there are a lot of books that are easier to start with. Whatever you choose, don't get discouraged if your daughter doesn't connect with a book--she will later. My daughter was completely freaked out by the opening chapter of The Book of Three when she was 7, but now she loves all the books. :)

[risingstar]

Thanks! The way it sounded, I had thought you guys started reading to your kid much younger! Phew!

My daughter is presently ten months of age. She much prefers to eat books and tear them apart more than anything else. The best I could do now is have her see me reading a book and encouraging the curiosity of it all.

Today, I read her a chapter from a book on Manners (a Winnie the Pooh book). While she didn't seem to get it, it did serve to relax her. She just sat on me and listened to the gentle tones of my voice, that is, until she found crumpling a grocery store ad sitting next to us more entertaining.


:D

[Blu Falcon]

My son is not yet 3, but I've already got him all the Chronicles of Narnia books, which I hope will spark interest in the fantasy genre at young age. I will start reading those to him when he's a bit older. I pretty much have all of Tolkien's books, so hopefully he'll pick those up on his own when he's old enough. Right now he's enjoying Dr. Seuss books and such. He never says no to story time.

[endsongjen]

i may have to read my 8 yr old some of the books mentioned here. thanks guys.

[Dr. Manhattan]

I'm sure you're fine! I read to my kids pretty early on, but didn't hit the novels unil 4.5 yrs or so. The kids books, etc, I started early...Green Eggs and Ham comes to mind. My 3 yr old could finish the sentences as I read b4 too long...repitition, you know. ;-)


Thanks! The way it sounded, I had thought you guys started reading to your kid much younger! Phew!

My daughter is presently ten months of age. She much prefers to eat books and tear them apart more than anything else. The best I could do now is have her see me reading a book and encouraging the curiosity of it all.

Today, I read her a chapter from a book on Manners (a Winnie the Pooh book). While she didn't seem to get it, it did serve to relax her. She just sat on me and listened to the gentle tones of my voice, that is, until she found crumpling a grocery store ad sitting next to us more entertaining.


:D

[madjazz]

My daughter's been into Lone Wolf and Cub we're on volume 4 now.

http://www.pacificdreams.org/images/books/lone_wolf4_large.jpg
I'm LMAO at this one. :D

[madjazz]

The Hobbit is a great choice. I remember reading this one to my kids.

My son likes to read along now that he is 8. We've been enjoying Mouse Guard together.

[HalJordanFan]

Guns & Ammo

[joefixit2]

Angelina Ballerina first thing before I came to work to my 6 year old. She loves Curious George though.

[Dr. Manhattan]

I just finished reading "Book 1" of the Lord of the Rings to my oldest two (first half of Fellowship of the Ring). We just finished "Flight to the Ford" and are a few pages into the next chapter. They're loving it so far. My daughter was shocked to learn that there were 9 riders (I had her guess early on, she was way short ;-)