20 Books We Read Aloud in 2023
Last year a big goal of mine was to do more read-alouds and I am happy to report we did pretty well. Of course, we read lots of picture books out loud so this list is just chapter books or books that have a compilation of a lot of stories. Everyone always asks if we count audio books as read-alouds and the answer is yes as long as we’ve listened as a family or, at least, I listen in with one of my kids.
I have been reading aloud to my kids for a long time so just remember if you’re new to read-alouds it can take awhile before your kids can sit still and listen quietly while you read or have an audio book going. It takes time and practice and my best advice is to just start out with simple picture books for a few minutes and then gradually work into longer books for longer amounts of time. Also, it can be helpful and fun to have simple activities going while you read so mouths are quiet and hands are busy. Over the years we mix up what we do, but for now here are my kids favorite 5 things to do while I read:
Play with toys. This is the easiest thing that especially my younger boys (6 & 4) like to do. It’s simple and easy and requires no prep or forethought on my end. My only stipulation is it needs to be a quiet toy like wooden pattern blocks, magnatiles or small figurines. They’re also really into plus plus right now. Sometimes I set the toys out as an invitation to play and other times they just grab what they’re excited to play with.
Puzzles. Whether it’s a larger more challenging puzzle with more pieces or a toddler friendly puzzle - we've done lots and lots of puzzles during reading.
Coloring or sticker by number. Both of these are easy to keep on hand and don’t require a lot of brain power. This is a coloring book my older girls love and we can never go wrong with the sticker by number or sticker by letters. Lately, we’ve also been enjoying these scratch off books.
Perler Beads or Diamond Art. Perler beads have been a long time read-aloud favorite around here. Last week the kids made over 15 little creations. Diamond art is actually something we just started doing last year and it’s also been a huge hit.
Sensory Bins. Sometimes this is as simple as play-doh and sometimes I go all out with water beads and little figurines. Since it’s January, this week I’m setting up instasnow with some arctic animals! Either way, even my big kids still love playing with sensory materials.
Now, my older girls (10) liked all of the books on this list, but some of the books on here probably wouldn’t be as enjoyable or appropriate for early elementary/preschool kiddos so just keep that in mind.
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory: I think this is the first book I ever read aloud to my girls and it was time to introduce it to my oldest son (6 at the time). It is such a fun early chapter book for young elementary kids and even my youngest son listened in on some of it.
The Wild Robot & The Wild Robot Escapes: This is another story my girls absolutely loved and I introduced Raz to my son earlier this year. We always listen to this one on Audible. It is such a sweet story about a robot who gets stranded on an island and becomes friends with all the wildlife. We cruised right through it and listened to the sequel immediately after. The third book in this series released in late 2023 and there is some subtle questionable content - so just a heads up in case you want to look more into it and decide what is best for your family.
Charlotte’s Web: Growing up I really disliked the 1973 movie adaptation of this book so I never read the book. But, last January I decided to read it with my older girls as part of a language arts study and I couldn’t believe what I had missed out on!!! It was SO fun to read and, man, did it really cement what alliteration was for my girls. A year later and they’re still talking about things we learned.
Wizard of Oz: Can you tell this was a year of classics for us?! I absolutely LOVE the audio version of this book read by Anne Hathaway. It is fantastic! This was our second time listening to it. In fact, writing this is reminding me I need to show the kids this movie sometime.
The Grimm Fairytales: Okay, last year I went on a fairytale kick after listening to Why Read Fairytales by the Literary Life Podcast and went back and started reading a bunch of the Grimm versions to my kids. Some of them are definitely really strange and sometimes I’m like, okay, what did we just read? But, we usually just laugh and love comparing them to the stories we’re more familiar with. And in the background I’m always trying to see just a little deeper into the stories. I like this version of compiled stories because it does have really pretty pictures.
Classic Starts Greek Myths: Well, Literary Life influenced me again and I went down a mythology rabbit hole and loved their episode on Pagan Myths. That podcast title is not one I normally would’ve gravitated to, but I trusted them after the fairy tale episode and was not disappointed after listening to their discussion on Greek Mythology. Again some of these stories can be a little strange, so I loved the Classic Starts version because it was super clean and simple to understand. At first my kids weren’t too into the stories, but once they made the connection that there is a lot of Greek Mythology in Harry Potter, they were sold! After we read the Classic Starts version I got this DK version which we have loved to come back to because the illustrations are beautiful.
Classic Starts The Iliad: We started this book and it’s one that got kind of lost in everything else we were doing and we never finished it. But, hey, at least the kids are familiar with Homer and know the book is based off of his poem. I’m sure we’ll circle back to it at another time.
Story of the World Ancient Times: Technically we started this in Fall of 2022, but we finished this last spring with our Ancient History studies so we’re going to count it. I loved using this book as a spine to our studies and have a few blog posts all about it which you can read here. I love how these books are told in story form and have little mini stories inside of them (like greek myths) and then you can jump off those chapters and dive deeper or just keep going through the chronological history of our world. We’re using volume 2 as our spine right now for our study of the Middle Ages.
The Snow Queen: Everyone tells me we need to read the unabridged version of this story so that is on our TBR list, but, at the very least, we did listen to an abridged version of it via Yoto last year. I am excited to read the unabridged version down the road from now. I think it would be such a fun one to read in December or January.
The Secret Garden: Okay, this is another movie I really didn’t like when I was little, but the book definitely gave it some redemption. The read was a little slow for us and especially my little boys would get bored, but overall we liked it. One thing I noticed in myself was that I found my heart being softened to the beauty of gardens and the healing power of slowing down and being outside more. All of my kids love being outside, but I noticed my older girls especially taking a tender liking to even more things in nature.
Classic Starts Peter Pan: None of my kids had ever seen Peter Pan so it was so fun to read this. My boys especially loved it and the Classic Starts version felt very age and culturally appropriate while still telling the classic story.
Star Wars Stories: This is a collection of short little stories based on the films. It definitely wasn’t my first choice as a read-aloud, but it was my 6 year olds and, boy, did he love it.
The Trumpet of The Swan: Loved, loved, loved this book. We began this right when we started our nature study with Seasons Afield which coordinated really well. And it is a fun read because of the onomatopoeia literary elements. All of my kids enjoyed this - definitely a safe read-aloud for everyone.
Nordic Tales: We gave multiple stories in this a fair chance and we didn’t really loved anything but, I am still so drawn to the illustrations and our Swedish heritage that I keep thinking one day we’ll come back to these stories and appreciate them…I will keep you guys posted!
Norse Myths: This is another one we liked, but didn’t love. My kids immediately picked up on similarities between these myths and other characters they were familiar with in Frozen. This is where some of the modern day super-heroes have roots in - like Thor, but none of my kids have ever really gotten into those so I can see why we probably weren’t as excited about some of these stories.
Tales of King Arthur: This Usborne version was a good start for the kids - even though I don’t love the illustrations - my kids took to them just fine. We stopped reading this last November when we took a break for the holidays so we’re actually going to come back to some of these stories in February. I was borrowing the Usborne copy and I actually decided to switch and add the Great Illustrated Classic version to our home library so that’s going to be the one we pick back up here pretty soon.
Beowulf: When I read this book last fall with my older girls, I wasn’t sure any of us loved it. To introduce the story, we read an abridged version in volume 2 of Story of the World. Then, since it’s written at quite a bit higher literary level, I had them follow along in the book as we listened to this YouTube telling of the story (which is great, by the way). When we were done, they didn’t have much to say about it and frankly, neither did I. I mean it was good and I know it is a classic good versus evil story, but it is hard to understand. Coincidentally, which I am only seeing in hindsight now, we were also reading Wingfeather and now that we’re three volumes into that series - just the other day the girls were going on and on about Wingfeather and Beowulf and when I heard them talking about both of the stories - I also started to see all sorts of connections. And, I still can’t quite believe they saw the connections before I did. Regardless, this turn of events has made all of us suddenly more interested in Beowulf again so I feel like our opinions of all of these deeply symbolic stories are still unfolding…
Wingfeather: On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: Okay, I have no idea what I think of Wingfeather right now, so take what I say with a grain of salt. In this first book, I was a little taken back by some of the darker elements in the storyline of a children’s book, but we pushed through. I will say, after a few chapters in I made an effort not to read it around my younger boys and I definitely stand by that. So, if you’re going to read it - it’s better for older kids. But, even more than that - especially now that I just barely finished reading book two (which I think is much darker than the first book) - I think this is a series parents should pre-read before they do it as a read-aloud and especially if your kids are going to solo read it. I think the author does a really good job addressing light and dark in his Note to Parents, but just be aware this is definitely not a sunshine and roses series. Many reviewers put Peterson in the same ballpark as Lewis and Tolkien and while I definitely don’t think his writing is as classically good, there is a lot of deep symbolism in his books…the kind that pierce your soul…for better or worse. I’ll keep you guys posted on my final thoughts when we finish the series.
The Magician’s Nephew: Speaking of Lewis…I mean, gosh, we loved this book. We listened to this on Yoto and flew threw it in just 2 days. It was the first time introducing my 6 year old to Narnia and as much as we enjoyed this book, there were a few times he got a little restless. I do wish I had started him with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe first like I had done with my girls years ago.
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: This was our last read-aloud of the year. It’s funny because I hadn’t really planned to read it around Christmas again. We had actually tried to start it a few months prior, but, for some reason it didn’t stick and it wasn’t until the holidays we were able to pick it back up. Christmas is such a wonderful time to read this story and experience the magic. For so many reasons Narnia and wardrobes will always have such a special place in my heart. Hands down, this is probably one of my most favorite books of all time.
Well, there ya have it! Especially as my children are getting older, I am just thoroughly enjoying the memories we’re making around literature. One of the things we started in 2023 was a read-aloud journal. It is so simple to just jot down a few fun memories we have while reading - things like our impressions of certain characters or who we relate most to, funny things my kids say along the way, and our final thoughts about the story.
What read-alouds has your family enjoyed recently? I’d love to add more to our list!
Other Posts You May Like: