Good read-alouds for 8-12?

[mata]

what are your favorites? I'm looking for something that's funny and entertaining.

[lyterae]

I remember that one of my favorite read-alouds was "Mr. Poppers Penguins", also on that list was Paddington Bear. They were books that were read-aloud that my siblings and I all enjoyed.

[kirstenb]

I remember we were read the Fudge books (by Judy Blume) in 4th grade and the whole class loved them.

[Murihiku]

I love fantasy, so:

Harry Potter
Narnia
The Chronicles of Prydain
The Underland Chronicles
The Hobbit


And for non-fantasy:

Little Women
The Secret Garden
The Railway Children
Anne of Green Gables


I find all of these funny and entertaining, as well as serious and moving.
Have fun!

[katmann]

I got these for my 8 year old nephew:
The phantom toll booth
A wrinkle in time

My brother read them aloud to him and he really enjoyed them.

[homefrontgirl]

Books by Gordon Korman. Some feature high school characters, but many are for the middle school set.

No More Dead Dogs
Maxx Comedy


You might want to check out The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. It has an anthology that is arranged by reading level. HTH.

[terrordactyl]

Little House on the Prairie

[StoriesInTheSoil]

I second The Phantom Tollbooth! I am so looking forward to DS (currently 7 months ) being old enough for me to read it to him!

From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg is FANTASTIC! She also wrote The View From Saturday which is even better IMO but isn't quite as fast paced and adventure oriented as Mixed Up Files.

The Little House on The Prarie series is super fun especially at that age. I read them in 2nd grade and again in 3rd so that I could go to Laura Ingall's house in Mansfield over and over! The fact that the stories are true is the best part!

The Adventures of Tow Sawyer would be really good at that age.

To Kill a Mockingbird my dad read this to me for the first time in 2nd grade and I really appreciate now having read it in elementary school, middle school, high school for class, and as an adult and noticing how different it seems each time I read it.

I was never in to The Chronicles of Narnia but my brother really loved them and my dad read the whole series to him.

Roald Dahl would be good but mostly for the 8-10 set and not as much for the 10-12 I would think. Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, and The Witches spring to mind first.

Half Magic by Edward Eager was one that I found in a used book store around that age and really enjoyed.

I was a smidge too old but my little sister thoroughly enjoyed the Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events series.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett who also wrote A Little Princess.

Charlotte's Web, The Bridge to Terabithia (prepare to cry a lot if you haven't read this one- I distinctly remember feeling very silly sobbing over this book during a kidlit book club around age 9) and Harriet the Spy are all good picks also!

Gosh, that is such a fantastic age for books. I can hardly wait to experience it with my kids!

HTH!

[1xmom]

The Phantom Tollbooth! - my dd and I are reading this together now. It's a great book.

We tried Little House, but my dd didn't like them and she was way too sensitive and would get upset so we shelved them.

[kirstenb]

Where the Red Fern Grows is another good one.

[Drummer's Wife]

Spiderwick Chronicles

[Thalia the Muse]

The 13 Clocks, James Thurber. It's WONDERFUL to read aloud!

The Edward Eager books about magical adventures are very funny and read aloud well, too.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

With my 9 YO DS, we finished all the Harry Potter books, all of the Narnia books, and the Spiderwick Chronicals in the last year or so. He really wanted more fantasy/dragons, so we have moved on to things from the "adult" section of the bookstore, with caution. Right now we are reading lots of the Ann McCauffry "Pern" books -- Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragon Drums are especially good places to start. After that you start getting into some, um, interesting, semi-sexual situations that can lead to interesting discussions but might not suit everyone.

At the moment we are reading Eregon -- which I didn't finish when I tried it but he seems to like so far. Lots of hard-to-pronounce names for the reader though.

He was eyeing Inkheart in the bookstore yesterday but I think he's ready to read that on his own.

I find that to keep his interest the book I am reading aloud it has to be above his personal reading level. This has pushed us into slightly older book selections.