Interactive Read-Aloud Recommendations

Interactive Read-Aloud Recommendations

By Wendy Sheets, Intermediate Trainer

When engaging children in the practice of Interactive Read-Aloud, it is important to choose high quality text that will promote good conversation. In addition, exposing students to a wide range of authors, genre, and content will broaden their repertoire of experiences. I am often asked for a list of recommendations, and although many lists have been published by others, I’ve compiled my own personal list of favorites. What follows is a variety of titles that I have personally used during Interactive Read-Aloud with intermediate readers. I would love to hear some of your favorites as well!

A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant

A Unicorn Named Beulah Mae by J.H. Stroschin

Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Doreen Rappaport

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka

An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant

Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol

Bigmama’s by Donald Crews

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco

Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson

Crab Moon by Ruth Horowitz

Crow Call by Lois Lowry

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill

Dear Willie Rudd, by Liba Moore Gray

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say

Grandpa’s Face by Eloise Greenfield

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth

Ma Dear’s Aprons by Patricia McKissack

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Gray

My Name is York by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk

Mr. Peabody’s Apples by Madonna

New York’s Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester L. Laminack

Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Sophie's Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

The Brothers Kennedy: John, Robert, Edward by Kathleen Krull

 The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland and Tatsuro Kiuchi

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting

Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher

Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson

Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Wilson Chall

Welcome to the River of Grass by Jane Yolen

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan

Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat? by Nancy Patz