Kindergarten Read-Aloud List, 61-80

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

Emilie Buchwald

The shining stars of this week's list are definitely #68 and #74. We also love anything by Tomie dePaola, who often interweaves Catholic themes or images into his books. His presentation of Jesus' miracles, #71, helps make the Bible stories come alive for young children.

If there's one book to skip this week, it's definitely the last.


Our Kindergarten Read-Aloud List, 61-80
*indicates Family Favorite

61. Three Musketeers/Robin Hood retold by Jim Weiss (audio book)
62. How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
63. Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze! by Maureen Wright
64. Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg (I would hold off on this one until a child is 7 or older - the illustrations are too scary)
65. A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker
66. Treasured Classics by Michael Hague (great re-telling of popular fairy tales; nicely illustrated)
67. Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World by Craig and Isabella Hatkoff, Dr. Gerard Uhlich (my children sat entranced with this factual account of a polar bear's life in the zoo)
*68. The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S. Lewis (audio book read by Kenneth Branagh) (of course this was EXCELLENT - even my 3.5 yo son listened to this, which is saying something!)

69. The Real Mother Goose edited by Grace Maccarone
*70. The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola (love, love, love Tomie dePaola; if you're Catholic you'll especially want to read this to your kids - be aware, however, that the theme of death is present)
*71. The Miracles of Jesus by Tomie dePaola (accurate, child-friendly accounts of the miracles Jesus performed; I was very happy to find these Bible stories because so many of them are either too simplified or too much license is taken)
72. The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo
73. Poppleton Has Fun by Cynthia Rylant
*74. Everyday Graces: Child's Book Of Good Manners edited by Karen Santorum (I literally stumbled across this book at our library and I'm SO glad I did; this is a huge book of short stories, poems and quotations concerning various virtues and good manners. It is lovely, and worth having in the home.)
75. The Three Golden Oranges by Alma Flor Ada
76. The Twelve Dancing Princesses edited by John Cech
77. Beauty and the Beast by Jan Brett
*78. Mr. Rumfitt by Margaret Mahy (charming old book about the changing seasons and a grumpy old man who learns to love all of them)
79. Poppleton and Friends by Cynthia Rylant
80. Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa by William Steig (I personally thought this book was junk - sorry to all the Steig fans out there. I had to do too much editing for the sake of little ears - all the name-calling, etc., was too much.)

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Be sure to check out my previous posts for other book ideas:

- Kindergarten Read-Aloud List 1-20
- Kindergarten Read-Aloud List 21-40
- Kindergarten Read-Aloud List, 41-60