Reading Aloud To Kids

As you know, I feel very strongly about reading. This is most likely because my parents made reading part of my life, part of my routine, part of their expectation for me, and part of our shared relationships.

They gave me age appropriate, exciting, adventurous, fun books. Most of the time. My dad snuck in some way-out-of-my-league books (which I have since reread and been like, oooohhhh, that’s what that was about), and my mother (an English teacher) snuck in some educational snore-fests.

Recently married, contemplating kids, timing, values, etc., one thing I know – reading will be a huge part of my children’s lives and a huge part of our relationships.

Reading to children, encouraging them to be excited to read on their own, reading the same books and then discussing (and by discussing I mean nerding out at the dinner table while everyone else rolls their eyes)…. This is what I want!

(You know you sang along when you read that shirt)

So, I have started compiling a list of books to be sure to read to my kids. Many of these are the very same books my parents read to me, because (shocker), I know about them, love them, and want to share them with my kids. But I am also looking for some good, more recent additions to the child-appropriate literary world to add to my never-too-early GoodReads list of books to read to my kids.

Here’s what I have so far:

• The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy (obviously)
• Harry Potter (duh)
• Ender’s Game (again, duh…)
• Narnia
• His Dark Materials series
• Lots of Roald Dahl
• Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
• The Neverending Story
• The Princess Bride
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• A Wrinkle In Time
• The Giver

So, please SEND ME SOME SUGGESTIONS!

Happy reading!