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Hi,

Just dug up some of my old books from my mom's house, and I was wondering if I could use these as read alouds for my ds, he's 5 this year and using LHFHG. While he doesnt really need extra read-alouds this year as he's getting his feet wet with the burgess books, I guess I can't really stop planning for next year haha!

Anyway, would appreciate anyone's rough estimate of what age any of these books could work for... I guess im hoping i could actually put what i have to good use with school the books I found were the following:

1. Heidi
2. Little women (unfortunately, ds is a boy hehe so not really too sure about doing both Heidi and little women in the same year)
3. Good wives (ditto here haha)
4. Oliver Twist - this time I'm guessing he would like it, but I was a little turned off by the summary about the "satanic" guy mentoring Oliver. Any thoughts?
5. The little prince - is this even considered a living book?

Other books are those by jostein gaarder, this Norwegian writer known for his philosophical novel "sophie's world." He has a book called "solitaire mystery" which was a bit like Alice in wonderland, which I enjoyed in college, so I'm not sure if it would work for grade school or high school kids.

And other books I've loved which gave a good storyline for biblical events are those by gene edwards, "the chronicles of the door," which includes "the beginning," "the escape," "the birth," "the triumph" and "the return." I currently have the return, anyone has thoughts on these?

Thank you very much ladies!

Bear in mind that my girls do not particularly like being read to....

-I tried to read Heidi a couple of years ago? Maybe early last year, and they did not care for it really... they got bored with it.
-*I* don't like Little Women so I'll just let them read that themselves if they choose. I think it'd be fine to read, but I"m not sure they'd really get it.
-Never heard of Good Wives.
-Oliver Twist... hmmm... I read it in Jr. High. But we were doing a Dickens unit. So we were actively studying the book. I think I would try reading it, but I wouldn't make it part of school. I would just have it be a read aloud like at bedtime.
-The Little Prince... hmm.. I can't remember that one. Seems like I saw that in one of the book sets, but that could have been a long time ago, or it could have been The Little Princess I just can't remember.

We just listened to the Heidi audio book in the car and the kids really enjoyed it. For a read aloud, I would think it's okay for a 2nd grader. My son loves any kinds of books and did like this one, but if your son is picky, he might not like it. It's pretty girl-focused.

The LIttle Prince is odd. He travels around to different planets .I studied it in high school french class years ago. I think it would be confusing to a young child as it has meanings on multiple levels.

My kids, ds & dd, both loved Hiedi, it really is a wonderful story, brought tears to my eyes in several places. Little Women would probably be most appreciated by girls and even then 5yo may be a little young. I have no insight on the rest.

Thank you very much for your responses! glad to see Heidi might still make it into our read alouds next year!