Summer Family Read Aloud Books

So last week I wrote about how reading outside is a great way to redeem a little ground at home. Going off that, I’d now like to encourage you to choose a family read aloud book for the summer – something you could read together as a family…maybe while laying on a blanket on a lazy Sunday afternoon or sitting by your fire pit at night or while snuggled up on the sofa on a rainy evening.  Our girls’ school requires a family read aloud during the summer…which is what got us started on what has now become a favorite family activity during the summer…as well as over vacations and holidays when the homework lets up and life slows down.

You know we’re all about redeeming things here at RYGblog…and redeeming family time and living a simpler life is part of what we’ve tried to do at casa de Scott.  Family read aloud time is one of the ways we’re doing that.   Read aloud time was what families once did for entertainment – before there was television, movies, video games, and other devices of every flavor and color.  They found great value in that time together as a family…and thankfully we have too and hope that you will as well.

We read a chapter or two a night…and each time everyone anticipates finding out “what happens next” together as a family.  My non-reading Resident Gardner even enjoys “reading”  if he can do it this way!  Regardless, reading the same book together has connected us as a family…which is clearly a great thing.  If you’ve never done it, we hope you will give it a try this summer. It just may become your favorite family time of the summer…and it’s so simple, so easy…and not to mention cheap! You’ve just got to slow down…all of you…decide to do it and do it.

To help you get started, here is a list of some books we’ve enjoyed reading together as a family (click on the title and you’ll be taken to the book on Amazon.com)…

• • Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
  • The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler
  • Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
  • The Adventures of Lily Lapp series by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher
  • Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis
  • My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
  • The Tanglewoods’ Secret by Patricia St. John
  • The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

And here’s what’s on our family’s list to read sometime this summer or fall…

• • Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  • The Cay by Theodore Taylor
  • Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
  • Ginger Pye by EleanorEstes

Clearly we have young girls, but there are still a number of books on the lists above that are good read alouds for boys too…in fact most of them are.  So please check them out.

I’d love to add to my list…so if you’ve got any family favorites, please share them with the rest of us ground redeemers.  It’s always nice to get a good book referral….especially just in time for summer!

Take care,