Hi.
We've always read chapter books to my baby (now babies) at bedtime. We took nearly 6 months to get through Anne of Green Gables and loved every minute of it! Since then, we have tried The Secret Garden, Little Women, and then Harry Potter. The last 3 didn't work out for one reason or another. I prefer reading chapter books to picture books so my kiddos can drift away into their own worlds. Needless to say, that last one's world wasn't so fun to go to sleep to for my 2 year old.
What other books could we try? Miss Anne was charming and not too heavy but I am drawing a blank on the other books I loved when I was a little one. Oh! Maybe My Side of the Mountain? Something on these lines would be great.
Thanks in advance!
Ah, yes! I just blanked so badly. Thank you!!! I'm logging into my library account right now to start this great list. My little ones love bedtime stories so much, I was very upset that I couldn't think of what to read next.
Happy Reading, All!
Update: I check out Peter Pan and started it last night. Thank you so much for the suggestion. This book is charming, and so funny! We're only a few pages in and I'm having a great time reading it - possibly as much fun as DH and the babies are having listening.
If you're going to stick to reading chapter books to babies, I'd suggest staying with the classics. Read the original Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Arabian Nights, Gulliver's Travels, Aladdin, etc.
We enjoy the classic pooh, charlottes web, Chronicals of Narnia. L.M. Montgomery has other books, if you liked Anne of Green Gables, Emily of new moon, I think the Story Girl is also by her.
I second Little House on the Prairie. I loved that series when I was young. You could also look for beginning chapter books in the library. The books tend to have subject matter that is okay for little ones and don't take too long to read. You could look for ones that match the interest of your kids (e.g. books about dogs, fairies, mysteries etc).
If they loved Anne of Green Gables why not continue the series? There is also a very similar one called Emily of New Moon by her.
We also read chapter books before "quiet time" right now we are doing Pinocico, it is nothing like the movie. We have read Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Mr Popper. We also read the bible before bedtime.
Little House on the Prairie!!!
I wonder if Tom Sawyer and Huckaberry Finn would work. There's other classics you could try out. Treasure Island? Swiss Family Robinson? Gulliver's Travels? We found a nice non-disney version of Peter Pan that might kids enjoyed as older preschoolers/young elementries. Before my youngest was born I spent almost a year reading poems like "Take me out of the bathtub" and "Where the sidewalk ends" (both of them are book titles).
I've always started reading the Bible to them from the day we came home from the hospital. It's all in the way you read whatever book it is.
My kiddos love picture books. Even though it gives them the image the story is talking about, it doesn't prevent my boys from coming up with their own thoughts on it. I talk about the story and the pictures and I also include some extras ie: "What else do you think could happen"?
My boys loved, and still love Goodnight Moon. Cat in the Hat books is another favorite.
When I was little, I had a lot of the "Golden Books". I loved all of those.
ALL of the Roald Dahl books are wonderful, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Matilda and more.
My kids also loved Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (short stories) My Father's Dragon, Mr. Poppers Penguins (nothing like the movie) Trumpet of the Swan, Miss Hickory, Alice in Wonderland, The Doll People (series) and Charlotte's Web.
They also loved all the "traditional" fairy tales, check out the library for a great selection and interpretation of these (some are more scary and graphic than others.)
Elizabeth Enright's Melendy series. Wind in the Willows. Caddie Woodlawn, or anything by Carol Brink.
Narnia series? My Father's Dragon series? Little House series? If you can find Carolyn Haywood's "Betsy" series or "Eddie" series at your library or on eBay, those might also be fun to read.
I, too, read the Bible to my children when they were babies. I also found copies of the All-of-a-Kind Family series, stories of a Jewish family about one hundred years ago. I loved those when I was little.
Try the original Peter Pan (J. M. Barrie)! Once you get past the first chapter or so, you won't be able to put it down.
Your kids are pretty young. Stories with pictures may hold their attention a little longer and also helps them learn to associate pictures with words. I didnt start reading chapter books to my boys until they were about 3 and 4. Hans Christian Andersen was one of my favorites.
The Red Shoes and The Tinder Box were two of my favorites when I was a little girl.
I would second the recommendation for the "My Father's Dragon" series.
The Little House Series
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Betsy, Tacy, Tibb series
All of a Kind Family
Ramona
Charlotte's Web
Trumpet of the Swan
Stuart Little
My mother always read Bible stories to us, and I did the same for my children when they were little. Lots of good stuff in them!
The Wind in The Willows!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, James and the Giant Peach...
Little Women, Nancy Drew series, Mary Poppins, The Secret Garden...
My son's first chapter book was Treasure Island--he loved it!
Some of my favorites growing up were by Roald Dahl. Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG. None of them were movies when I was a kid, but maybe after you finish you could have a family movie night to watch the movie version of some of them.
