Recent Family Read Alouds {Summer 2024, Age 11&9}

I never regret the time spent reading books with my kids, but finding the windows of time for longer books feels challenging with a toddler in the mix. We have relied heavily on audiobooks in this season. I have dreams of reading aloud to the bigs once the toddler is in bed, but I seem to always run out of energy. Seasons change quickly, though. At any rate, here are the novels we read in the last few months, 5 via audiobook and 2 via my voice.

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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. A good friend was reading this series, so my kids were inspired to give it a try. I’m so glad! We all thoroughly enjoyed this first book of the Lord of the Rings series. I declined to continue the series, but my kids have been working through the audios all summer and now into the fall. Those are hefty books! (20+ hours long) and they are mildly obsessed. Side note: they have zero interest in viewing the movies. Second side note: this is a beautiful picture book biography of Tolkien which we enjoyed! Third side note: we insist on the audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis.

The Little House in the Big Woods, The Little House on the Prairie, and Farmer Boy. This summer our homeschool co-op met monthly for a book club (more like a book party) celebrating our reading of each of these books. It was SO MUCH FUN! We made the foods mentioned in the books, played comprehension games, and each family prepared a craft or activity related to the plot. This deserves its own post, and maybe one day I’ll get around to that. Side note: this series is BEST via audiobook with narration by Cherry Jones, with Pa’s fiddle music alongside the narration too!

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill. My kids didn’t love this one, but my affections made up for that! This is the most darling book about a very special teacher in the 1950s in a one room schoolhouse in Alaska. I was encouraged as an educator by Miss Anges’ teaching methods and relationships with her students. Despite the kids’ lackluster feelings about it, they do recall scenes from it now many weeks later. Worth a read IMO!

Applesauce Weather by Helen Frost. This is a novel told in verse. It deals with grief, yet is not heavy but rather beautiful. (And features the main character receiving his first pocket knife, so my kids connected with this one.) This inspired us to start reading novels in verse for our poetry teatimes this fall! I’ll have a roundup of those later!

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. This book received a lot of buzz and some pretty hefty accolades, comparing it to some impressive classics in the canon of children’s literature (Lewis, Tolkien). I wouldn’t say it was worthy of all of that praise, but we did find ourselves immersed in this story. It’s the upper limit of middle grade fiction IMO.  My kids enjoyed the weaving of the magical world and the quest story. It brings up some topics to ponder as the main character learns she is to be the keeper of the immortal memories of all of mankind. As an adult listener, I was in tears at the book’s climax but the depth was lost on my kids. (There’s a sequel planned for fall 2025.)

That’s it for now! I’m working on our holiday themed read alouds now! I’ve got my eyes on some fun novels, which I’ll share before January so that you can preview them too 🙂