be read to 5th graders?" That is the Google search that brought someone to my blog site. My first thought was that they were wondering if it's too hard or too long for them--it takes a while to read it aloud. But they may have meant that they wondered if it was okay to read a picture book to "big" kids. Actually, you're never too old for picture books! When I was a school librarian, I read Wild About Books
(see my post about it, below) to all the students, from grades K through 5, and they all loved it! I have read such books as The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk in World War II
and The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate 
to 4th and 5th graders, and the length of the books and the ideas in them were certainly not beneath the students. Even the simplest picture books can be enjoyed by older kids: I read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
to older kids when I shared all the Caldecott medal winning books with all the students, and I read it again to 5th grade when they were learning about persuasive writing in class!There are a few of the simplest picture books, really meant for infants and toddlers, that might not do for older kids, but there are many picture books that are perfect for them!
Jim Trelease says in The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition
(you need this book!) "A good story is a good story, whether it has pictures or not. All those pictures in museums don't have a lot of words under them but they still move us, right?" He goes on to say "I remember talking with a remedial class of ninth-graders in California one day. Of the twenty-one students, not one had ever heard of the Pied Piper, none had heard of the Wright brothers, and only two had heard of David and Goliath. Their mainstream cultural references were a bit shallow and ripe for planting"He goes on to recommend Johnny on the Spot
by Edward Sorel, The Man Who Walked Between The Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein, and An Orange for Frankie
by Patricia Polacco for older students.
is a fun book to go with this project. It explains concepts like what is a stepsister, a half sister, a cousin once-removed. It includes blank record pages or family listings and photographs, and a poster that children can use to create their own family tree.
, and many more. Not only that, he wrote and illustrated numerous books for children,
and many others. Two books my students really loved were 
and his 
. A capybara is a 100-pound rodent from South America, and Capyboppy was brought back by Bill's son and was a household pet for years. The illustrated account of Capyboppy's enjoyment of the bathroom shower, backyard pool, and other suburban amenities is hilarious! Peet's autobiography, with large illustrations on every page, chronicles his life, from his childhood through his Disney career, and on to his work as a writer and illustrator. Bill Peet fans will love to look at this book. Even if they are not ready to read the text, the pictures tell the whole story.
there are many, many other board books. There are editions of many of the classics you would want to have anyway: 
, 
,
,
(kindergartners love this book!) and a myriad of others.
by Susan Patron
by Holm
by K. Larson
by Cynthia Lord
by David Wiesner
: An Endangered Alphabet Book
by Weatherford.
(Newbery honor-silver medal).
. It is a wordless book, and the owner of the bookstore where I finally found a copy said she thought it would not be popular, with no words to the story. It turned out that the kids loved it! The pictures show a little girl sitting in class looking at The Red Book. She sees a little boy on a beach, and he finds a Red Book in the sand and when he opens it, he sees a city, and then the little girl. She goes outside, buys a bunch of helium balloons, and flies into the sky, dropping the red book. We see the boy and girl together on the beach, and another child picking up the red book. Through the magic of a book, a child can go anywhere...Only two more days, and we will learn the magical selections for this year.
happens in Brittain's favorite town, Coven Tree, and this is how the events begin:
and 
These books are from the 1980's and some may only be available in libraries, but they are classics of humor, horror and fantasy.
and it is really intriguing. I see several recipes I'm going to try this week; too bad there are no little kids around to help me! Each recipe is very clearly written, and each has a box entitled, "Call the kids" listing what things they can do in the preparation of the dish. Some also list "Use your judgment" tasks, which involve handling hot things, or using a food processor or knives. For example, for the Garden Vegetable Soup, "Call the kids" to peel the carrots with a hand-held peeler, rinse and drain the canned beans, break up the spaghetti, tear the basil, and stir the soup. "Use your judgment" as to whether they can cut the other vegetables and mix the pesto in the food processor. 
is a good place to start. There are many different versions of Cinderella, astonishingly different illustrations and retellings of the story. Just look at this version of 
where the illustrations are so different from my featured story, and the story is different as well. Find a version of the story you like and read it several times to your children. After that, try another version. Let them compare and contrast the two different versions of the story.
and seen the movie, but in my experience, one of the favorite read-alouds for kids is 
which is both written and illustrated by Van Allsburg. In this book, a little boy goes out for a walk with an ill-behaved dog he is taking care of for the day. The dog runs away, past the "no dogs allowed" signs, and they meet a sinister magician, Abdul Gasazi. He is angered by the dog's trespassing in his garden, and turns the dog into a duck...or does he? The surprise ending has the kids gasping. Like Gasazi 
is a creepy fantasy with a surprise ending that takes a little while to figure out. In it, a boy is proud of his sailing ability and, against everyone's advice, sails out into a storm. He finds a magical island where people have learned to sail their boats up into the air. He learns a little of the technique and heads for home, only to meet with disaster.
is yet another example of why you should ALWAYS read the book as well as see the movie. It's so interesting for kids to compare and contrast the two.
to do creative writing with their students. This book begins with a fictional introduction, in which a man drops off a package of illustrations with a publisher, and then is never seen again. These pictures are downright weird. In one, a man tries to hit a moving lump under a carpet. In another, a boy is skipping a stone on a pond, and the stone boomerangs back to him. Yet another shows a woman holding a knife over a pumpkin, and as the knife nears the pumpkin, it begins to glow. There is a portfolio edition of this book, which has large copies of the illustrations ready to frame, and the Internet is full of lesson plans to go with it.