read aloud booklist: stage 4

What reading stage?:-
Stage 1: Evocative text with pictures that enable a parent to talk to the child about what is happening.
Stage 2: Stories of children and their worlds. Appeal to toddlers and very young children. Simple stories but rich text.
Stage 3: Simple chapter books and other books with lots to think about.
Stage 4: Books that are technically for any age but where we found the themes and emotional level suitable for younger children.

I'm aiming to keep this list updated. The books are listed roughly in order of difficulty.

Narnia books - C. S. Lewis
Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Stig of the Dump - Clive King (but watch the last chapter - looks like child sacrifice for those old enough to understand - it just means missing out a sentence). Otherwise excellent.
Little House series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith (but NOT The Starlight Barking, which is drivel)
Mr Popper's Penguins - Richard Attwater
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl. I know it's hard to get away from them, but I don't like the others very much...
Mrs Frisbe and the rats of NIMH - Robert O'Brien
The Borrowers - Mary Norton
The Dolls House - Rumer Godden. Captures tension well, but could be unsettling for a soft-hearted child (though I haven't met many of those...)
The Secret Garden, A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild
The Sign of the Beaver - Elizabeth George Speare

And here are the ones that didn't work for us (sorry if they're your favourites...)

My Father's Dragon - R. S. Gannett. A sort of modern fairy tale that was just too knowing for me - but L loves it.
Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo. Don't get me started. If you want a book reflecting the sense of victory that we have in Christ, don't read this. The small world is made a little better by some self help.
Pinocchio - I stopped reading at the point where Pinocchio was being hung from a tree and was half dead, while a witch with blue hair watched from a nearby house. It's also badly written.