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Hi again, the newby is back already with another question I am looking ahead at the next book to read for the storytime block in Beyond. I see that we are to choose an Adventure book and that Carrie has suggested 4 titles. I have not heard of these so i was wondering what you all thought of these and which title you liked the best. Or if there is another book the you feel is a "must read"! Would love to hear anyones thoughts!

Hi Bridget!

I've not done Beyond yet, but I know that every book we've read so far that Carrie has reccommended has been wonderful! She does an excellent job screening books and picking good ones. I don't know what your 4th choice in the book is, but if you want to read a description of the ones in the packages on the web site, you can go to this link and scroll down to the read-aloud packages at the bottom and read about your choices. http://www.heartofdakota.com/byd-little ... ckages.php I can't wait to read some of these. My kids LOVED the book Snow Treasure (that's in one of the Bigger packages). We read it last year, and picked Guns for General Washington as our adventure this year with Bigger.

Carrie has also said that the book in the Classic package will be at a higher listening level than the ones in the Boy Interest and Girl Interest packs. So, you may want to consider this.

I'm sure there are moms here who can tell you their favorites who have actually read the books you're looking at. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them though!
Kathleen

Hi! We have read A Lion to Guard Us, Sword in the Tree, and The Twenty-One Balloons, and they are all wonderful! I haven't read King of the Wind, but it sounds great too. We read The Twenty-One Balloons for the Storytime box in the Beyond guide, but then my son read the Sword in the Tree during his special read-aloud time with his dad in the evening and they both raved about it. So of course I had to read it! We also read A Lion to Guard Us together and really enjoyed it. (Both Sword and Lion are by the same author, Clyde Robert Bulla, an author we were introduced to by HOD. We're so thankful for that, as my son and I both love his books now and have gone on to read more.) I'm not sure if you're doing Beyond with both your 8 and 6 year olds or just one of them. I'm doing Beyond with my 8 year old and he thoroughly enjoyed The Twenty-One Balloons. It is a much longer and more "mature" book (in terms of vocabulary, extensive descriptions, etc.) than Lion or Sword. They are both fairly short chapter books. If chapter books are still sort of new for your kids, then you might want to choose one of them, but if you have seasoned listeners, I'd say jump into 21 Balloons! (Lion and Sword are also great books to use if/when your kids start DITHR.)
Hope this helps a bit! I think that no matter what you choose, you can't go wrong! (I've loved the great literature we've been introduced to by Carrie. I always thought I knew a lot about quality books from my public school teaching days, but now I realize how much our school focused on the "latest and greatest" books that were newly published and missed out on a lot of great classics.)
Kristin

dolphingirl wrote:I've loved the great literature we've been introduced to by Carrie. I always thought I knew a lot about quality books from my public school teaching days, but now I realize how much our school focused on the "latest and greatest" books that were newly published and missed out on a lot of great classics.
Kristin

Me too, Kristin! I have had that thought a million times! In fact, most of my ps books have now been donated to charity - they just weren't of the caliber that the HOD book selections are.

Bridget - we have LOVED Sword in the Tree - perfect for my ds - shorter chapters, tons of action, not scary/gory, knights/castles - just great!!! Another favorite at our house was King of the Wind - anything by Marguerite Henry is done so well. I will say that King of the Wind requires a more mature listener; the chapters are longer and the reading level is higher. A Lion to Guard Us was yet another favorite of ours. I'm not making this easy for you, am I? Well, any of these 3 choices would be wonderful! I'd say consider the length of time your little one can sit and listen attentively and stretch that a bit - read-alouds are meant to be at a higher reading level than the dc's own personal reading level. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

I read a Lion to Guard Us to my dd who is 6 and she enjoyed it. It held her attention very well and I though it was a great story. HTH!

Gina

Thanks for all your wonderful insight about the adventures books for Beyond! After reading all of your rave reviews about Carries book choices, I cannot wait to read all of them with my kiddos:) I think we will go with Sword in the Tree. I'm going to order it now

Bridget,

I LOVED Sword in the Tree (and all of my boys have too)! You won't be disappointed!

Blessings,
Carrie

My 6 and 8 year old are doing Beyond. They LOVED Sword in the Tree (and so did their older brothers--several years ago).