2012 Projects – Reading with David

Now that our A Book a Week with David project is over, I’ve been thinking about how to continue reading together for 2012.

Here are all the books we read in 2011:

  1. Winnie the Pooh
  2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  4. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
  5. The Tale of Despereaux
  6. Ralph S. Mouse
  7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  9. Holes
  10. The Land of Oz
  11. The Cricket in Times Square
  12. The Twenty-One Balloons
  13. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
  14. The Secret of Terror Castle
  15. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot
  16. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy
  17. The Mystery of the Green Ghost
  18. The Secret Garden
  19. Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective
  20. Katie Kazoo Anyone But Me
  21. Katie Kazoo Be Nice to Mice
  22. The Emerald Atlas
  23. Junie B. First Grader, Dumb Bunny
  24. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic
  25. Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine
  26. Charlotte’s Web
  27. Because of Winn-Dixie
  28. The Magician’s Elephant
  29. Stuart Little
  30. The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure
  31. The Secret of Skeleton Island
  32. The City of Ember
  33. The Tilting House
  34. Harriet the Spy
  35. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm
  36. Babe, the Gallant Pig
  37. Much Ado About Aldo
  38. The World According to Humphrey
  39. Owls in the Family
  40. Pee-Wee’s Tale
  41. My Father’s Dragon
  42. Akimbo and the Elephants
  43. Elmer and the Dragon
  44. The Dragons of Blueland
  45. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye
  46. The Mystery of the Silver Spider
  47. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
  48. Homer Price
  49. The Westing Game
  50. Frindle
  51. Sideways Stories from the Wayside School
  52. The Little House in the Big Woods

Instead of doing another 52 books this year, I decided we would focus on longer, more involved books. These books might take a month to read and that’s ok. The idea is for him to learn to stay connected to a story over a long period and to get a better feeling for the depth of experience a longer novel can provide.

Or so is my hope.

I picked a bunch of books that I thought were on the longer side and a few classics.
Here’s what I have so far:

  1. The Mysterious Benedict Society (and books 2, 3, 4 if he likes it)
  2. Little Women
  3. Black Beauty
  4. Bridge to Terabithia
  5. Peter Pan
  6. The Wind in the Willows
  7. The enchanted castle and five children and it
  8. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

My goal is to incorporate our thoughts and feelings about each finished novel to David’s Book of Good Memories so we can have a record of our progress and continue to write down his thoughts on each book.

Like last year, I would love some more suggestions. David is almost 7 so any age-appropriate books for a 7-8 year old would be excellent. A huge thank you in advance!

Yey, can’t wait to start another year of reading!

20 comments to 2012 Projects – Reading with David

  • Cheryl

    Great idea!

    The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

    Roald Dahl James and the Big Peach. See the official website at http://www.roalddahl.com/
    Especially Mathilda. Fabulous story!

    The entire Nate the Great series.

    Charlotte’s Web
    Stuart Little Both by E. B. White

    Poetry by Shel Silverstein

    A.A. Milne – The Winnie the Pooh Adventures

    All of David’s books are in the attic. This is all that I could remember from many moons ago!

  • Deb

    My girls loved Roald Dahl too, particularly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Another favourite have been the Geronimo Stilton books http://www.scholastic.com/titles/geronimostilton/

  • Any of The Boxcar Children books.

    I agree with Charlotte’s Wed and the Geronimo Stilton books, as well. I used the GS books with my low readers when I was teaching (early second grade reading levels).

  • Cheri Stine

    My children and I (now ages 31 and 37) had a similar reading together experience when they were younger. One of their favorites was TUCK EVERLASTING; it provoked much discussion and we still talk about some of the concepts occasionally. Good luck with your list!

  • Kate Burroughs

    I would recommend the “Phantom Toll Booth”. Also “Alice in Wonderland”, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” series, “Indian In the Cupboard”, and “Watership Down.” So many good books to read!!!
    Aloha, KAte

    • karenika

      We read Phantom Toll Booth in 2010. Sort of how this project started last year. I love The Phantom Toll Booth” one of my all-time favorite books!!

  • Brenda in Sunny SoCal

    The Percy Jackson and the Olympians might be a good one. They are not too long and action packed so they should hold attention well each might take a few weeks.

    • karenika

      I think he would like them too but he seems to be scared of the movie so he refuses to read them! Maybe I’ll try again in a few months 🙂

  • Brenda in Sunny SoCal

    Good luck, that’s what we are going trough right now with the HP series, I have this funny rule about book before movie, somehow he snuck a peak of one of the HP and now he thinks they are too scary so he won’t go near the books. He’s probably the only 4th grader who has not seen them.

    • karenika

      I love that rule. I won’t let David watch any more Harry Potters without reading either and he, too, is worried they are too scary. I’m just happy we have more stories to look forward to over time. There’s also the Tolkien books and so many more!! I am so grateful for books!

  • The Castle in the Attic and its sequel, The Battle for the Castle
    Little Men
    Swallows and Amazons
    the Henry and Mudge series, but that’s one he most likely is reading on his own.
    All of the Edgar Eager books (Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Magic by the Lake, etc. FABULOUS!)

  • pam

    A couple classics from my childhood – The Five Little Peppers and The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Trumpet of the Swans and Stuart Little. Any of the Narnia series. Also Heidi. The Uncle Wiggly books. How I loved reading to my children! Really miss it and looking forward to reading chapter books to my grand-daughter.

  • Tracey Amend

    The book ‘Hugo’ was a big hit with one of our third grade classes but I would only recommend it if you haven’t seen the movie. I think it spoils it for kids when they see it first but that’s just me. Also, one that’s super popular in our fifth grade classes is ‘The Ranger’s Apprentice’ series of books. The kids in there are 9-10 so maybe keep that on your list for the future!! (PS-I’m a principal…that’s why I write like I own ‘classes’ of kids! I sort of do…they are like my own since I spend more time with them than my own!!)

  • My kids weren’t that fond of Dahl’s books – we picked and choose carefully, some images are quite harsh.

    The Green Knowe series is one my kids loved at 8+, you read the Little House in the Big Woods there is another in that series my DS preferred ‘Farmer Boy’. Search for Delicious and others by the same author… Patricia C Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles we first read at about that age too (I’m trying to think what else did we read in 1998…) little Britches was in our reading list for school and was mixed, but David may enjoy it.

    TheToothpaste Millionaire – actually look at Sonlight.com for the appropriate reading list for 7 yr olds, that will have more recommendations.

    Chinaberry.com is wonderful for recommendations too, and I’ve spent more money than I’d like to think there – starting before I was a Mom but still an Aunt who loves books.

    For Nathanial’s letter project – Five in a row has some wonderful book and project combos. When dd was that age we did A apple pigs, B berries – including picking and going in a pie, as events came up – meant we did some letters more than others but she didn’t seem to mind.

    • karenika

      thank you so much for the list!! I am not as huge a fan of Dahl either. Some I love, some not so much. I will check these out, thank you!

  • stephanie m

    My daughter is in the 5th grade and I continue to read to her. It’s a special time for the two of us. We are currently reading The Secret Zoo series which is awesome. Make sure you read Trumpet of the Swan. Enjoy!

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