This book is just right...

There's an art and a bit of a science to choosing a good Read-Aloud book. The Reading Connection (TRC) has spent more than 20 years reading with kids, and we've identified some essential elements of a quality book for reading aloud.

The next time you are choosing books to read with kids, look for these elements:



Fun or interesting topic
Will the topic appeal to kids? What you think is fun might be different from what your listeners think is fun.

Is the topic appropriate? Be sure to read, or at a minimum, carefully look through any book you choose before you read it to kids. Look for content or story twists that would be inappropriate or that you would feel uncomfortable discussing with a child. For example, a book about pirates might include a section on drug smuggling or human trafficking. Really.

High-quality writing and a good story
Less is more. The amount of the text of the page should be appropriate for

the age of the listener. Generally speaking, the younger the child, the less text the page should have.

Rhyme and repetition can be fun and keep the listeners engaged.

If the book is fiction, is the story interesting? Can kids relate to it?

If the book is nonfiction, is it accurate? Is it concise or wordy?



High-quality illustration

Are the illustrations appealing? If you are reading to a large group, are theillustrations easily visible from a distance?

Do the text and pictures work together to tell the story?  Do they enhance each other or detract from one another?

Simple isn’t always bad.  Elaborate isn’t always good. If you've ever read one of Mo Willem's Pigeon books with a kid, you've seen how this simple fellow packs a lot of moxie.









Design and writing that encourages interaction

• Page breaks or writing that support prediction or create suspense
• Rhythmic writing or energetic pacing that move the story along
• Physical design that demands active reading (questions, flaps, instructions)
• Writing or illustrations that encourage movement or verbal interaction

Lack of Preachiness
Kids are smart. You don’t have to beat them over the head with a moral. If the story is well written, it conveys a message on its own.









Diversity
The world is full of all kinds of people -- people with different shapes, sizes, colors, beliefs, abilities and lifestyles. Look for books that have diverse characters and settings. Books should be both windows to the whole, wide, diverse world and mirrors where kids can see themselves and their families reflected. (This is such an important topic that we'll devote an entire blog post to it.)


The “special sauce” --  that something special that makes you smile or nod
Beyond interesting topics and high-quality writing, illustration and design, really great books have something extra -- something that catches your attention or your heart.  It makes you want to read the book again and share it with someone else. You'll know it when you see it, but here are a few examples:

• Characters you relate to
• Humor
• Twists or unexpected elements
• Universal truths or experiences

When you are looking for the right book, libraries and bookstores can feel overwhelming. Don't hesitate to ask booksellers and librarians for help in finding books kids love. Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook and Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children by Valerie V. Lewis and Walter M. Mayes are excellent references.

Once you have separated the wheat from the chaff, book-wise, then you can start assessing which books would be good for various audiences, age groups and situations. Stay tuned for another blog post describing that process. In the meantime, happy hunting!

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Resilience

What is that special something that enables a person to survive and sometimes even excel under challenging circumstances? What factors or resources strengthen or bolster a child? The September 2013 issue of Educational Leadership explored the concept of resilience and its role in learning.
     
A study described in the issue, Resilience and At-risk Children and Youth, explains that resilience has two parts: "1) An exposure to great risk; and 2) Corresponding factors that help promote positive outcomes or reduce negative outcomes." (p. 3) At-risk children, like the kids TRC serves, often experience multiple risk factors. When these factors occur together, they multiply the behavior problem. For example, "children in families that had accumulated two risk factors showed a more than fourfold increase in behavior problems" when compared to families with one stress factor. (p.4)

In the same issue of Educational Leadership, Nan Henderson’s article, Havens of Resilience, describes protective factors that help kids develop their resilience. The author created a graphic, the Resiliency Wheel, that represents the resiliency-building conditions that have been identified through research.

 Nan Henderson's Resiliency Wheel
from Educational Leadership, September 2013

According to Henderson, the most important environmental protective factor is providing caring and support. The other five factors grow out of it.

The structure and content of TRC's Read-Aloud program provide several protective factors that help kids weather challenging situations. 

At the beginning of each Read-Aloud, volunteers set and communicate high expectations and also set clear and consistent boundaries when they remind kids about TRC’s Promises (Listen, Respect, Cooperate and Have Fun). Consistently reminding the kids about the Promises and enforcing them every week helps the kids know what to expect and reduces their stress.

Every time a volunteer asks a child for his opinion about a story or encourages her to choose a book to take home, the volunteer is expressing his perception of the child as a reader, another high expectation.

By taking the time to ask questions, listening to what kids say about the books being read aloud and providing engaging activities, volunteers create opportunities for meaningful participation and teach life skills.

Getting to know the children and encouraging positive interaction with their Read-Aloud peers increases prosocial bonding. Meeting weekly throughout the year creates a community of readers that cares for and supports each other. This social aspect of the Read-Aloud experience helps kids feel connected to other readers in their neighborhood and to the reading community at large.

The hour each week that TRC kids spend at a Read-Aloud supports their growth as readers and provides them with a positive, consistent, engaging environment that fosters their resilience. Reading with volunteers provides a healthy escape from stress and creates a supportive, caring community that the kids can count on. TRC's Read-Aloud program helps kids become frequent and passionate readers, but it also does so much more in the process.

Nan Henderson, Havens of Resilience, Educational Leadership September 2013, Vol. 71 No. 1, pp. 23-27.

Jan Moore,  Resilience and At-Risk Children and Youth, National Center for Homeless Education, April 2013.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Channeling high energy into active learning

A recent article in The Atlantic by author and middle-school teacher Jessica Lahey focused on making classroom environments more welcoming to boys. It got me thinking about ways to channel all kids' natural energy into active learning about books and reading.

Instead of endlessly shushing kids and telling them to sit still, why not tap into their natural need to move and inherent curiosity and creativity? The Atlantic article I mentioned above cites a study about classroom techniques that are especially successful with boys. It also points out that these methods can be used effectively with both boys and girls. Here are some of the techniques, adapted to pertain to reading aloud with a group of children.

While preparing to read with kids, look at the books you are using and think about ways you can:

• Make the experience more dramatic by using novelty or surprise.
  
  If the kids are expecting a straightforward read-through, delight them with props or change your voice to differentiate between characters. Use varied pacing as you read to build suspense. Have more than one adult read the story aloud together. Try Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka with two people.

• Encourage independent, personal discoveries and realizations by helping kids connect what you are reading with something they already know. Allow time for discussion that lets the kids have an "Aha!" moment where they can connect something they already know or have experienced with what you are reading. While reading, ask questions like, “Does this remind you of anything?” or “How do you feel about what just happened?” Watch the light bulb go on over their heads and their excitement build as new knowledge clicks with old.

When you are planning reading-related activities, think about ones that:

• Result in an end product.  Encouraging kids to apply their own creativity to a topic they've just read about builds both motivation and comprehension. Think superhero masks, rain sticks, flip books or anything the kids can create and take with them. The best kinds of projects are related to the theme and open-ended, allowing for creativity and interpretation.

• Require a combination of competition and teamwork. Sometimes we learn best from each other. Games and team projects allow kids to share knowledge and support each other's learning. Get kids to start accessing their background knowledge about a specific Read-Aloud theme by playing Jeopardy or a trivia game before you start reading. Or, strengthen their comprehension about the theme by playing a related game after reading. At a recent Read-Aloud at Columbia Grove about fish, a volunteer created a game with pictures of different kinds of fish that the kids, working in teams, organized according to different criteria:  fresh water vs. salt water, smallest to largest, predator and prey. 

• Require motor activity. Some kids learn best by moving. Physical activities such as doing puzzles or running relay races related to your theme, or acting out a story let the kids use a different part of their brain during the reading process. More generally, taking a break from reading to play Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, or using TRC’s activity cube or Energizers can help kids better focus on the reading experience.

Encouraging kids to use their energy to be actively engaged in listening to, thinking about, talking about and understanding books makes for better learning and more fun for everyone!


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Finding Read-Aloud books on A Mighty Girl blog

Like the Children's Book-a-Day Almanac blog (here is our write-up from last April), A Mighty Girl blog is another fine resource to help you compose a strong list of books for your Read-Aloud.   

While A Mighty Girl's mission is girl-oriented, this blog is an excellent resource whether or not you have girls in your life. It provides a fun and savvy slice of family life for anyone who works with, lives with, or is interested in the universe of kids in 2013. 

The book lists in particular are a valuable resource and are especially helpful when putting together a themed Read-Aloud. Click on the "Books" tab at the top left of the navigation bar to find the book lists. 

The next time you find yourself needing just a few more books to complete your Read-Aloud theme, use A Mighty Girl's general interest lists. The site is strong on categories such as food/gardening, animals/nature, creative arts and other subjects that are frequent Read-Aloud themes. Open any of these and you'll find an easy-to-scan page (here is the one on creative arts, as just one example) that offers book options that could work for your particular theme. Each book is represented by its cover, followed by a synopsis, a description from a review source or Amazon, recommended age range, number of pages, price, publisher, etc. 

The books on a theme page are not presented in any particular order, but even so, it is quite easy to find the books appropriate for most Read-Alouds. Picture books are obviously identified because their cover photos are larger than those of chapter books. 

For example, if you’re trying to complete your book list for an air travel Read-Aloud (details here), click on A Mighty Girl's "Transportation" category. From the picture books listed, you might choose Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen as an addition to your book list. Violet is a young girl who loves to build things, including a plane that she enters in an airshow. Another option is Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride, beautifully illustrated by Brian Selznick, which features double-page spreads of Washington, DC, and recounts a night-time flight taken by Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. In a snap of the fingers, you have two great books to add to your air travel Read-Aloud!

The blog's other sections (Toys, Movies/TV, Clothes, Parenting, etc.) are as helpful as the book lists. We're happy to spread the news about this informative and well-designed site.  


This post was written by The Reading Connection's intern Margaret Fogarty.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Author Profile: Mo Willems

“Always think of your audience, never think for your audience.”

This week, we’re featuring an author who has been called a master of children’s literature: the brilliant, award-winning Mo Willems. Since receiving a Caldecott Medal Honor in 2004 for his now-classic picture book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Willems has written and illustrated over 40 books for children. 

 

His books are deceptively simple, as if any parent could have made them, but there is more than meets the eye behind the illustrations that Willems uses. They express the story clearly and allow the reader to focus more closely on the text. Instead of imitating life, he uses his illustrations to help create joy and magic in his stories.

Although his books appear to be written for a very young reader, he has said that he doesn’t write for a certain age because he wants to have as large an audience as possible. His clever humor and the way he writes about emotions like jealousy, sadness and joy make it easy for readers of any age to connect to his books, and parents especially will be able to relate. The tactics that the sly Pigeon uses to try to convince the reader to let him drive the bus, stay up late or get a puppy are strikingly familiar to anyone who has tried to bargain with a child.

The work of Willems could easily become a theme for a Read-Aloud. While his most famous picture book characters are Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny, he also created an extensive series of early readers focused around the relationship between Elephant and Piggie. These books can spark discussions about different situations and can help children learn to be more empathetic. There are also a number of craft and activity ideas to go along with these books that could be used at a Read-Aloud. 

At a recent Read-Aloud, a WMATA bus driver read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! to the children. The Pigeon books lend themselves to interaction, as the Pigeon speaks directly to the reader and asks to drive the bus. He tries to persuade the reader by saying he'll be their best friend or even give them five dollars if they let him drive the bus. The kids love to shout out “NOOOO!” when asked if they would let the Pigeon drive the bus!

Regardless of age, any reader will enjoy the vast array books by Mo Willems.


This post was written by The Reading Connection's intern Margaret Fogarty.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here. 

Now boarding on platform 9 3/4...

Have you ever used a manual typewriter? Have you ever seen a tumbleweed or a coal chute? If you haven’t, it would be hard to understand some of our favorite Read-Aloud books:  Click Clack Moo:  Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Tumbleweed Stew by Susan Stevens Crummel.

To help kids get the most out of books you are reading aloud with them, it’s a good idea to read through the books, looking for words or situations with which the kids might be unfamiliar. Sometimes words or concepts will be unfamiliar because they are old fashioned—like manual typewriters or coal chutes. Sometimes geography (take tumbleweeds for instance) or simply opportunity will be the factor preventing understanding. 

This kind of broad vocabulary and life experience is called background knowledge, and it is crucial to reading comprehension. It is your job, as an experienced person and reader, to look for stumbling blocks to understanding in the books you've chosen, and think of ways to remove those blocks for the kids. Here’s an example:

King's Cross Station

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry is supposed to take a train to his new school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He instructed to go to King’s Cross train station where the Hogwarts Express, his train, will be waiting at Platform 9 ¾. If you've never ridden on a train, like an AMTRAK train, the idea of a platform for a train might not make any sense. After all, a platform can be a stage or a shoe or a political thing, too. And the fanciful idea that there could be a train platform 9 ¾ would be lost on the kids.  How can there be a 3/4ths kind of place?

If you were reading that passage to the kids, you’d need to stop and talk about train stations and platforms. You could ask “What is a platform?”  “How do you think Harry will find his train?” It might even help to have some pictures to show the kids. (Google Images is your friend.) 

In addition to explaining what a word means, it also helps to make a connection between the new word or idea and the kids’ experience. For example, you could say, “Have you ever ridden on the metro or on a subway? The place where you stand and wait to get on the train is the platform.” And then you could talk about how they might have figured out which train to take when they were standing on the platform. That kind of connection helps kids apply their new vocabulary word or experience not only to the current story you are reading with them, but also in other situations in their lives.

Sometimes when you are reading with kids, you'll stumble upon words or ideas they are unfamiliar with and you just need to take a minute to explore and explain. But it would be even better if you had a chance to prepare in advance, so take a minute when you are looking over books to read with kids and think about, not just how you might read it to them, but also how you can build their background knowledge.

 
To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

I don't get it

The Dalai Lama walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything."

I smiled broadly when I first heard this joke in college but only because everyone around me was chuckling. Really, I didn’t get it. I had only a vague idea of who the Dalai Lama was and didn’t connect the “one with everything” with Buddhism—which I knew nothing about.

You need a frame of reference to connect to new and existing information. And that comes from the things that you are exposed to. To me, “one with everything” was a hot dog with all the fixings (including cole slaw). To a Buddhist, becoming “one with everything” (or moving past a sense of individual identity), is a spiritual goal.

Growing up in southern West Virginia, I wasn’t exposed to Buddhism through my family, culture, surroundings, or schooling, so a spiritual leader ordering a hot dog with the works was funny only because a hot dog seems far from divine and the guy ordering it is wearing a robe.

Kids naturally have limited knowledge about the world. They have had fewer experiences. But with fewer experiences to draw on, making connections and learning from what they read is challenging.

The good news is that knowledge brings more knowledge and improves thinking. And the sooner kids start to build that store of knowledge, the better. Interesting experiences, reading and sharing books are great for building knowledge. 

Start with pre-reading activities that introduce unfamiliar concepts or vocabulary. You might show photographs, bring in props or costumes, play music, or do some role playing.

When you’re ready to pick up a book to activate and expand their knowledge, try these tips:

• Read the title, show the cover and ask kids to tell you what they think the book is about. 
• Talk about what kind of story it is—a fable, historical fiction, tall tale, nonfiction, poetry—so listeners know what to expect
• Give kids ideas about where to focus their attention. They will be excited when they recognize things you’ve asked them to look for or make a connection to a pre-reading activity. 
• Talk about the author to help kids recognize how authors may bring specific themes or characters to different books.
• Think aloud when you are reading to share your own experiences and connections to the story and encourage kids to do the same.
• Talk about what the story is about and ask kids to tell you what it personally reminds them of.

Remember that the experiences and culture of others may be very different from your own. In order to help kids make stronger connections, you may want to build your own knowledge of the foods, historical figures, musical traditions and geography of other countries and cultures. 

Apparently the Dalai Lama himself had the same problem with a different version of the joke that an Australian reporter tried on him in 2011, “So the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop, and says, ‘can you make me one with everything?’”

Rachael with 
Dr. Seuss' Horton

The Dalai Lama didn’t get it. He’d had no experience with pizza shops.  

Guest blog post by TRC Advisory Council member and Belle of the Book, Rachael Walker.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Z is for Moose? Yup. Read it and laugh.

Today's book feature is Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky.

Z is for moose? Really? How could that be? A zany moose? A zippy moose? A moose from the Zurich Zoo?  What kind of ABC book is this?

It’s a hilarious ABC book. And well worth reading aloud to group of kids. It’ll work for preschoolers through 10- to 12-year-olds because of its clever design, engaging illustrations and tongue-in-cheek story.

Here’s the set up:  It is Zebra’s job to keep everybody in order to end up on the correct page of this ABC book. But Moose is very excited and struggles to wait his turn. When “M” comes around, and things don’t go the way he expects them to, Moose goes berserk. What will Zebra do? Will Moose calm down? What will happen to the ABC book?

Most of the text follows standard ABC book format, “A is for Apple,” but speech bubbles add drama and humor. Zelinsky’s illustrations tell much of the story, too. If you pay attention to the details, you’ll get so much more of the story. 

As you are reading this book aloud, be sure to give the kids plenty of opportunity to carefully examine the pictures. Encourage the kids to predict which item will depict the letter that comes next, or what Moose or Zebra will do next. Ask them how Moose, Zebra or the other ABC characters feel about what is going on. Pause before the end and brainstorm ways that Zebra can resolve the problem.

This book would work well with other unusual ABC books like The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger or The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg or with unconventional books about books like Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein or The Three Pigs by David Wiesner.

On a more emotional level, Moose’s melt down finds a great parallel in Pigeon’s tantrum in Mo Willem’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. And the resolution of the story invites a discussion about the nature of friendship that brings to mind Willem’s Piggy and Elephant books or Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad.

Or you could just have fun with it. It’s that kind of book.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Election Day — Hold the Politics

In anticipation of Election Day, we organized a theme around elections, voting and democracy. We began the session by discussing ways in which the children already get to vote, whether for their favorite food at home, for a class representative at school, or about what to do with their friends. 

We first read Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, in which Duck is tired of doing his farm chores so holds elections to take over the farm from Farmer Brown. In an entertaining story, Duck continues to run for higher and higher offices to redress certain grievances.  

In Max for President by Jarrett Krosoczka, Max and Kelly decide they both want to be class president in a tale about election processes and compromise.  

Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells presents a similar theme of class elections, but shows what happens in a “race to the bottom” filled with unrealistic campaign promises. 

Books

Vote! by Eileen Christelow

If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier

Larue for Mayor by Mark Teague

I Could Do That! by Esther Morris

Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio

Woodrow, the White House Mouse by Peter and Cheryl Barnes

Clifford for President by Acton Figueroa

My Teacher for President by Kay Winters

D is for Democracy by Elissa Grodin

Why Are Elections Important? by Jacqueline Laks Gorman

Voting in an Election by John Hamilton

Activities

The team and children then demonstrated democracy in action by voting at multiple polling stations. To prepare for the voting, every child made a Voter Identification card and every volunteer an Election Official card. The children wrote their names on pre-printed identification cards, then hole-punched them and tied a yarn “lanyard” through them. At the same time, the Central Election Official also set up three separate tables for polling places. 

When everyone had their IDs, we assigned the voters and election monitors to their first polling place. To be successful, following directions is important, much like in real-life voting. The volunteers helped the children understand the voting question and method at each polling place.

• Favorite Color/Favorite Sport—Ballot Box
• Choice of Snack—Cast Lots
• Future Read-Aloud Topics—Computer Tabulation (requires a laptop)

At each station, the election monitors checked the voter IDs, verified that each child had not already voted, explained the voting question and helped the children cast their vote.  

At the first polling place, the children marked a paper ballot and deposited it in a box. At the second, a marble was added to the jar representing their vote and at the third, the voters selected from multiple options on a computer. The team used this last vote as a way of determining the interest level in certain topics we were considering for future Read-Alouds. 

About every 5 minutes, once everyone had voted at their polling place, the Central Election Official called time and each group moved to the next polling place. After everyone had voted at all of polling places, the volunteers and 1 to 2 Deputy Monitors tallied the vote, and then the deputies delivered the official results to the Central Election Official. 

We then discussed the differences of each voting method, revealed the overall results to all the children on a white board, and informed them that they (unknowingly) had voted for a treat at a future Read-Aloud (the snack choice vote). 

Everyone really enjoyed the voting. It was entertaining to see the children and volunteers take their roles seriously and to watch the children try to influence each other.  

Guest blog post written by Jason Dutil, volunteer at Woodbury Park.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

A super Read-Aloud about superheros!

There are few things that little boys (and girls) get more excited about than superheroes. Superheroes in books come in all shapes and sizes and are not limited to the ones created in comic books. There are books about super sisters, super animals and super athletes.

We took this topic for a recent Read-Aloud.  We started out with Timothy and the Strong Pajamas by Viviane Schwarz about a boy who gains super powers when his mother mends his pajamas. He uses his new-found powers to help those in need including a princess, an old woman and a crew of sailors. This sparked a good discussion of types of powers one could have and how to best use them for good.  We even talked about Olympic athletes and how they are like superheroes.

Books
Timothy and the Strong Pajamas by Viviane Schwarz
Supersister by Beth Cadena
Eliot Jones, Midnight Superhero by Anne Cottringer
Princess Super Kitty by Antoinette Portis
Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod
Charlie's Superhero Underpants by Lee Wildish
Super Guinea Pig to the Rescue by Udo Weigelt
Superduck by Jez Alborough

Superman: The Story of the Man of Steel by Ralph Cosentino

Activities

For our activity, we made superhero masks and arm cuffs. We did some preparation beforehand to make this work with a younger age group, but most of it could be done onsite as well.

We used the four mask templates found here.  If your printer takes construction paper, print the templates right onto construction paper in a variety of colors. You could also print the templates on white paper and let the kids color them. We cut out the masks, including the eye holes, to save time, but that could be done by the kids if they're old enough.  

We used a hole punch and ribbon to attach the masks.  It worked really well to have a long piece of ribbon already tied on to one side.  When the child put on the mask, an adult tied the ribbon through the other hole, fitting the mask to the child's head. This process allowed for some one-on-one discussion time as well.

We also made wrist cuffs. These were simply toilet paper rolls with a slice down the middle. We curved the edges at one end to keep them from poking our hands, but that step is not absolutely necessary. The instructions for this project came from this site. We simplified things and the kids decorated cuffs and masks with markers.  

While the kids picked out their books, we asked each about his/her superpower(s). The kids were excited to share their invented powers and all walked away proudly wearing their new gear.

Don't forget to make a mask for yourself!




To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Read-Alouds for the older crowd: how to keep tweens engaged

Occasionally you might find yourself at a Read-Aloud mainly populated by kids who aren't as interested in hearing picture books read out loud. The problem isn't that they're too old for Read-Alouds; many kids enjoy being read to until thirteen or fourteen (and we know some adults who like to be read to, as well!). The problem is the book!

By the time kids are old enough to read on their own, they might be able to read the text of a picture book in their heads faster than you can read it out loud to them. This can be frustrating and, frankly, boring for an older kid who's moving on to bigger and better reading materials, even if the pictures are interesting. 


Parents can solve this problem by reading ten or twenty minutes from a chapter book every day until the story is finished, but it's harder to do that in a Read-Aloud situation. In an article on booklistonline.com, author Rob Reid gives a suggestion for how to handle having an audience with minds that are hankering for longer, more complex material than picture books. 


Ried's suggestions are aimed towards young people who "want to learn about themselves and their own place in the world." If you capture their attention with a segment from a chapter book, it might inspire them to pick up the book themselves!


See Ried's article for his segment suggestions, including selections from Ben and the Suddenly Too-Big Family by Colby Rodowsky and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly.


Here are some suggestions by TRC for selections from chapter books that could be read to an older group (ages 8-11):


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

This is a book that requires very little introduction! After explaining the basic premise (keep it simple: Harry Potter and his friend Ron are at a school for wizards called Hogwarts) read from chapter ten, 'Halloween'.

Start towards the end of the chapter, with "On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell..." (in the American paperback addition this is near the bottom of page 170) and read to the end of the chapter. This segment is about ten pages long and works for a few reasons: it shows Hogwarts students in Charms class, really highlighting Rowling's Hogwarts universe; it shows Harry and Ron and Hermione fighting a mountain troll and then becoming friends; and it works well as a self-contained story in that it resolves -- though the audience will definitely be left wondering what happens! 




Rascal by Sterling North


In Sterling North's largely autobiographical children's novel, the eleven-year-old protagonist becomes unlikely friends with a baby raccoon. He spends a year raising his new pet, named Rascal, and the book details the adventures they have together.


There is a memorable chapter where Sterling and Rascal enter (and win!) a pie eating contest together, and this segment would make a great Read-Aloud. Begin towards the middle of the "September" section of the book, with the sentence, "The most exciting event in Brailsford Junction each September was the Irish Picnic and Horse Fair..." (around page 119, give or take given the edition) and read until the section ends with "it was a delicious victory." No kid will be able to resist the image of a raccoon helping out in a pie-eating contest!



Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Kids might be familiar with this title; the book is old but it was recently adapted into a film starring none other than the famous Selena Gomez. The introduction for the story is that Beezus Quimby is having trouble with her little sister, Ramona--something many kids might be able to identify with! 

In this short selection, Beezus is having a hard time on her birthday. Start at the beginning of chapter six, page 131 in our edition (pictured), with the very first sentence: "When Beezus came home from school on the afternoon of her tenth birthday..." and read through to (on our page 144) Aunt Beatrice's line: "What's an aunt for if she can't come to the rescue with a birthday cake once in a while?" The section ends on a positive note after ten pages of birthday cake drama. And what kid (or adult!) doesn't feel horrified at the idea of a ruined birthday cake? Everyone will enjoy watching Ramona's cake-antics--especially since Beezus comes out on top in the end with a wonderful birthday.

 The Enormous Crocodile, Esio Trot and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, all by Roald Dahl.

These novels are short enough that you could conceivably read  the entirety of one in a Read-Aloud. They all feature pictures, too, so they're even shorter than they look.




If you read a segment of a book, round out the Read-Aloud by having a couple copies of the book in case kids want to hear some more of the story during small-group time, and have some picture books on similar topics in case the younger end of the age range want to look at those.

If you're a TRC volunteer and decide to try this out, let us know what book you're going to read segments of; we might be able to put some of the same title in the give-away book box for kids who are eager to continue the story! They might be big enough to read it on their own, or have a parent to read to them at home. And having a really good book that's a little too hard can be a great incentive to struggle through the difficulty.

Post by The Reading Connection intern Anna McCormally.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.