My kids love to be read to, and I love to read to them!! Several years ago, before the first Narnia movie came out, I read all 7 of the Chronicles to the kids and then as each movie has come out, I re-read that particular book and then we go see the movie in the theater. I love that the story is appealing and exciting to kids and has so much depth for adults. This year we decided to read some of Francis Hodgson Burnett's books, The Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and The Little Princess. We have also included many saint books, Devotional Stories for Little Folks 1&2, The Little House series, Hank the Cowdog books, Rare Catholic Stories, Why Geese Fly Farther Than Eagles, Angel Food for Girls & Boys Collection, Children's Treasure Box Books, The Little Apostle on Crutches, The Little Butterfly who Loved Jesus, Catholic Tales for Boys & Girls, and many classics. Catholic Heritage Curricula has a wonderful selection of Faith based books and I usually try to buy a few each year to add to our collection. This is one tradition that I hope my kids continue with their families someday. It's also a perfect way to wind down the evening and then have prayer time and bed time. I'm always on the look out for new books to share with them...especially interesting ones about our Faith. The little ones usually drift away or become distractions. It isn't until they are 5 and up that they start to pay attention, but it just depends on the kids, some 3 year olds have better attention spans than some 7 year olds.
The hard part is finding something quiet for the little ones to do. After reading the Secret Garden, our whole family is excitedly planning our Spring garden....if we get the swimming pool all filled in first!!
Angel Food...oh my goodness, my mom read us those when we were little. I can't say I remember any of the stories per se, but I do remember LOVING them!!
ReplyDeleteI am anxious for longer read-alouds in our family.