Vintage Read Alouds

Currently I'm reading Jockin the Jester by Ursula Moray Williams, a tale of medieval England to my five children. My edition is from 1973, but it was first published in 1951. After I finish it, I'm going to start Miss Minerva and William Green Hill by Frances Boyd Calhoun, 1909.

Unforgettable vintage books and stories read aloud to me as a child include Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Caddie Woodlawn, Just So Stories, and Smoky.

My mother read the entire Oz series (only th ones by L. Frank Baum) to me when I was younger. They were marvelous to be heard read aloud.

My Mom turned me on to Miss Minerva and William Green Hill and I've never forgotten it. Indeed, a classic, it brings the life and times of the nineteenth century to the now with a unique tone and sweetness absent from much contemporary writing. I read it aloud to my fiancee.

Understood Betsy
Betsy, Tacy, and Tib series
early Dr Seuss (Gerald McBoing Boing

Understood Betsy
Betsy, Tacy, and Tib series
early Dr Seuss (Gerald McBoing Boing

My parents read the Bobbsey Twins books to us when we were little - they're still my major vintage collection.

Later, when we were a bit older, we all read Mark Twain to each other on long car trips - we got through all four Tom Sawyer novels, A Connecticut Yankee, and The Prince and the Pauper that way, and it was the best way I can imagine to meet Twain.

Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends is my all-time favorite book to read aloud to kids. It was also my favorite book growing up. I loved to hear his books.

My Father's Dragon series, and I loved Five Little Peppers and How They Grew when I was younger. Also Lois Lenski books, like Strawberry Girl. You have to be careful, though, because the social mores were different and some of the older books are quite discriminatory or downright racist.

Oh, I loved All of a Kind Family too. They were five sisters growing up in New York's Lower East Side.