Read aloud day at an elementary school

I first read Stephen King's "IT" that year. Along with a shitload of baseball books. And a bunch of Hardy Boys books. And "Bridge to Terabithia." And "Where The Wild Things Are."

 

What about Maniac Magee? That has some passages that would be entertaining to me even today.

 

Roy MacGregor has "The Screech Owl" series -- any one of those would be good for fourth grade boys at any rate. Might bore the girls. It's about a peewee hockey team's adventures. Very easy to read and I believe 10-13 or so is the target audience

 

Read them a couple pages of Amaechi's book. That'll wake 'em up fast.

 

Anyone else remember Harriet The Spy? I read that around that age.

Encyclopedia Brown was the man.

 

Charlotte's Web. Great book for that age group.

 

Don't you need a shorter book? How much time will you have?

I'd go with something funny--kids that age already start thinking books are boring and hard. Probably can't get away with Captain Underpants, but check out the Maximum Boy series by Dan Greenburg...short, funny, clever. I buy those for my nephew, who hates to read but loves those books.

Or maybe a classic short story...something by Roald Dahl, they'll all know Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, some of the short stories are just as great.

If all else fails, go with something involving gas or boogers. Fourth graders cannot resist gas or boogers.

 

Read them "Green Eggs and Ham" and challenge them to guess the 50 words Seuss used in the book. No one ever gets Sam-I-Am.

 

Both my fourth-grade son and my second-grade daughter are devouring books from two series: Bailey School Kids and Magic Tree House. You probably couldn't read a single one of those books in one sitting, but you could get through a few chapters. The advantage of Bailey School Kids is that those books are funnier.

 

What about Boxcar Children? I was reading those books around fourth grade...

 

Holy shit. I haven't thought about those in years!

Good one, KY.