At what age would you start reading chapter books to your child? And what books would you recommend to appeal to active little boys. I'm talking about classics not Harry Potter type stuff. Thanks!
I think the answer to this question is relative to the little boys themselves, not their actual age. If you have little ones who can sit and listen for several minutes then they are ready for read-alouds of chapter length. If they can play quietly with legos or crayons or whatever AND listen while you speak, then they are ready. Some children need the bright pictures and short page lengths for longer than other children. And there's nothing wrong with that! If they are very young, I would just remind you to only read small amounts at a time- an entire chapter may be too long. Book recommends for little boys: Stuart Little Charlotte's Web The Mouse and the Motorcycle Sorry, it's early to be thinking of what I read to my little guys. If I think of more later I will try to get back here. MT3
I think it depends on the child. My oldest dd was about 3 when I started reading chapter books-Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Where the Red Fern Grows, etc. I had to read those to her at bedtime because anything with pictures kept her awake. However, my youngest is 7 and still has a hard time sitting through more than a picture book.
We try to follow a Classical education and began reading aloud very early. Currently my kids are 6, 8, 9, 11 and we are reading King Arthur (abridged) aloud. Other good titles are Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Dr. Doolittle, Tom Sawyer, Black Beauty, Tarzan, White Fang, Call of the Wild, Jungle Book, Aesop's Fables... Also, side note: if you have a Kindle (Fire) you can get all these classic titles for free! I just got 4 years (classical education follows a 4 year timeline) worth of classics without spending a dime. Most are abridged and I even got some re-written for kids at about at 2nd grade reading level. For read alones/read alouds for very young ones, check out Classic Starts series. I also really like Mary Pope Osbourne in both the Magic Treehouse series and Tales from the Odyssey, and C. & M. Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. Have fun!
If they can sit long enough for a chapter....start then. Lots of good BOY classics listed above. My son's first on was Swiss Family Robinson, he picked it out himself, then wouldn't let me read it to him. It took him 9 months to read it, but he did it all by himself. Then we rented the old movie and watched it...he loved that. For read alones, he's loved the Horrible Harry, Flat Stanley & the A to Z Mystery Series, as well as the Geronimo Stilton books. And don't discount Captain Underpants (lol....thankfully we've finally outgrew that one!), and Ricky Riccota's Mighty Robot (those were my favorite because it taught all about the planets without the kid realizing it! LOL )
I would second the Classic Starts series. We've read Oliver Twist, the Three Musketeers, Robinson Crusoe and Dr. Dolittle with that series, and my kids are 5,7,9. We started with these more than a year ago. They also enjoy the Moongobble and Me series, which someone on here had suggested to me a while ago. They're shorter than the Classic Starts, and is something my kids will read by themselves...mine are a little intimidated if the books are too "fat" Right now they are reading the Boxcar Children series. I still get the picture books from the library for them, even for the 9 yr old, there are some pretty good books out there, that cause a child to really think about something, or derive a different perspective or idea from them. Some children's books are extremely well written, even though they might seem simplistic to you. My 9 yr old reads well, but lacks confidence, so I find that these kinds of books build confidence in him.
Depends on the child, my oldest wouldn't listen to them until last year at age 7, my youngest however would listen at age 3 1/2 to chapter books. My boys love the Narnia books.
When they start reading them alone is up to them, but we started reading chapter books aloud when our kids were born. (We're book lovers and our house is like a library, it seems. :lol: )
Depends on the kid. You can try at any age to see if the child is climbing the walls or paying attention. My oldest had no difficulty with chapter books at age 5. My younger son couldn't absorb much of anything from chapter books until he was 7. Even now he absorbs more if he reads than if I read to him. I haven't tried with my 4 year old. There are so many excellent picture books that I'm not even going to attempt yet. Roald Dahl books would be a great choice for an active little boy.
You might want to check out Sonlight's read alouds. They have some really good ones for younger kids. Homer Price, Henry Huggins, Mr. Popper's Penguins are all titles I think a boy would like and we did as read alouds with Sonlight's core B. Even if you do not use the core you can see what they use.
Right now in our area Target has all these great classics for one dollar. That's where I started last year so he was four. We read black beauty, wind in the willows, Heidi, dr dolittle, boxcar children, Winnie the pooh, chronicles of Narnia. I just bought (from the dollar bin at target) Tom sawyer, huck Finn, treasure island, and one more I think. I bought moby dick and Oliver twist. Read them myself and decided he was too young for those. Oh and he LOVED mouse and the motorcycle. Did that one on kindle. We finished it and immediately read it again. Right now we are on prince caspian (kindle). Then boxcar children #6 if I can find it (we just moved).
My youngest is 8 and we didn't start reading chapter books aloud until probably age 7 (late 7). She wasn't interested before this, mostly because they lack pictures. The first chapter book we read outloud together was Tiger Rising...her choice because she won it at the library reading program last summer. She enjoyed that very much and then liked chapter books. Right now we are reading LOF elementary (only through D) and Little House in the Big Woods.
