It has been difficult to predict which chapter books my five-year-old will like and which ones will cause him to avoid read-aloud time. We have been reading chapter books together for about a year now. Our pattern was that I read aloud to him from a book of my choice after lunch, and he picked a story or book to be read to him at bedtime.
When we started The Chronicles of Narnia (one of my everlasting favorites), he was on board for the whole series. In fact, he has started to ask for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at bedtime again. I guess we are starting the series over.
When we started Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which I thought a four-year-old (or at least a five-year-old) would surely love, he tried everything he could to skip read-aloud time. It was such a struggle for his interest that I finally stopped reading it to him when we were on the last chapter!
The series I want to mention in this post is one I found in the library. The author, Ursula K. Le Guin, wrote one of my favorite teen-adult-fantasy series, the Earthsea trilogy. When I saw her name in the children's section, I figured these books had to be good. My son agreed. We have read as many as we could get our hands on.
The books are about Catwings. Cats with wings. And there you have it.
Somehow the author evokes universal fears, challenges, and triumphs of childhood without writing down to her young readers. The Catwings books are a quick read, interesting to different ages, and they passed muster for our read-aloud time. The illustrations, done by S.D. Schindler, are very nice as well. The editions in our library have hard covers over smooth, slightly shiny pages that, to me, are a joy to hold and turn.
Publishers Weekly recommends the Catwings series for ages seven through ten and School Library Journal for grades two through four. I found it a perfect fit for my four-year-old. For children who are not used to listening to chapter books, I might recommend six years old as a starting point. At that point, some children may be able to read them on their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment