Choosing Adventure books for Bigger read aloud and DITHOR

[pjdobro]

We are just finishing up our Biography story time in Bigger this week, and we'll be finishing up our biographies in DITHOR this week, doing the project next week. I am looking through my books trying to decide what books to choose for our Adventure story time and what books to choose for my ds and dd for DITHOR. I thought I would get your opinions.

For our biography story time, we read Ben and Me. We've finished early since I hate stopping in the middle of a chapter and it only had 15 chapters. So we're reading a couple of short chapter books for the next few days to finish out our story time in biography. I would like to choose a bit of a longer book for adventure if possible so that we use this book through the whole story time. I was thinking of reading Cabin on Trouble Creek for our story time. It is longer and sounds exciting. I'm wondering though if anyone has read it and if it would be good for a read aloud? I still have The Sword in the Tree that I could read, but it's shorter so I might need another book to go along with it.

For my ds in DITHOR, I was thinking of having him read My Father's Dragon. That looks like it will be only a 10 day read though. So I'm not for sure what else to have him read. I have the 3 stories in one book in the My Father's Dragon series so he could continue on, but each story would probably be a 10 day read. He reads at about a 4th or 5th grade level so I could possibly assign him a bit more reading each day. We have the complete series of Mice of the Herringbone and he's only read the first one. So that is another option. I could have him read The Sword in the Tree if I don't use it as the story time selection. I was thinking about using Stone Fox, but I thought I might save that for realistic fiction instead.

For my dd in DITHOR, I was thinking of Island of the Blue Dolphins. She just read A Captive Princess as one of her biographies and enjoyed it. I was thinking this might have a similar feeling to it. I also have Castle in the Attic which I was considering, but I thought I could save that one for fantasy. I was considering Toliver's Secret as well, but thought it might be best to save it for historical fiction. She reads at a 7th or 8th grade level, but she is still just 8 and somewhat of a sensitive child so I have to be careful with my selection.

I have lots of books around here so there are lots to choose from. These are just a couple of which I've been thinking. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Tansy]

One thing that has really helped me is Carries book list which you can find here 5$ well worth the money mine is dog eared and much beloved.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php

[pjdobro]

I agree the book list is great! All of those books are either on the list or in the packages. I'm just not for sure if the read aloud quality is there for the book for which I'm thinking. I think I'll give it a read through and see how it sounds in my head.

[Kathleen]

We LOVED reading Snow Treasure (which I think is one of the suggestions for a Bigger read-aloud). We read that before HOD, so with my son I used Guns for General Washington as our adventure. He loved this book, too! I know those weren't on your list...but Snow Treasure is a real favorite here, so I had to throw that in. I took Elementary Education in Bible college, and my "Teaching LA" professor read this aloud to us at the beginning of class as one of our read alouds. I was on the edge of my seat, and couldn't wait to read it to my kids!

Kathleen

[mrsrandolph]

Definitely do Stone Fox!!

[pjdobro]

I'm glad to hear that Guns for General Washington worked well as a read aloud. I was thinking of using it for Historical Fiction since it will line up pretty well with the time period we are studying. I looked at Snow Treasure and considered it but was unsure because it is set in such a different time period than we are studying right now. I know that doesn't really matter, but I kind of nixed it based on that. Now that you tell me how good is though, I'm going to revisit it. I know we don't have to line up with the history period, but somehow that just seems to make us "live" more in that era and make the history come alive more. If we don't read it for this genre, perhaps we could read it for another genre.

Sounds like Stone Fox is one that we definitely have to include!

Thanks for the input everyone!

[pjdobro]

We just finished our adventure genre, and I thought I would post an update since there might be others out there considering some of these books or looking for suggestions.

We ended up using The Cabin of Trouble Creek for our read aloud and it was a big hit. It was a bit difficult at first for me to get into the flow of the book for reading aloud, but I eventually got it down. The longer length and higher reading level than some that we've done in the past worked well for us since we were able to read at least a chapter a day. I admit that I couldn't stand just reading a chapter a day and not knowing how things went. So after a few days, I took the book and finished reading it silently to myself. My dc were patient though and only once, during a very exciting part, asked me to read an extra chapter. We all really enjoyed the book. I would recommend it especially as a DITHOR book for an older child.

My ds ended up reading the trilogy of My Father's Dragon. It included, My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland. I decided to up his reading a bit in order to do this. He read each story in 5 days. I was afraid at first that this would be too much, but it worked out well for him. He loved the books! He has said that they are his favorite books that he has read. It really does my heart good to see him enjoying reading. He's been a bit of a reluctant reader and a later bloomer in reading so when he loves a book and wants to read it, it is a huge victory!

My dd ended up reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. She really enjoyed this book as well and is asking for more books by the same author.

Overall, these choices worked out well for us. I'm looking forward to including some of the other ones that you ladies suggested later on. We're all excited now to move into Historical Fiction!