Holes: The Best Plot, and the Real Caution
Nothing else on this list does what the last forty pages of Holes do. It is also the one with real violence in it, and you should know exactly what...
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James and the Giant Peach: Read It Aloud
Dahl is one of the few children's writers who is genuinely better out loud than on the page. He is also crueler than people remember, and the first page is...
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Ramona the Pest: The Kid Who Makes Sense
Every thing Ramona gets in trouble for makes perfect sense from inside her head. That gap is the funniest thing in the book and the most useful thing in it.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Aloud
Lewis wrote this one to be spoken, and he talks to the listener directly. Here is what that does to a room, plus a straight answer about the allegory before...
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Mrs. Frisby: The One With a Real Plot
If your child says books are boring, the honest answer is usually that nothing was at stake. This one has a clock, a sick kid, and a society of rats...
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Because of Winn-Dixie: The Candy Chapter
There is a chapter in here about a candy that tastes like sorrow, and it does more for a child's inner vocabulary than a year of talking about feelings.
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