A Friday digression for you all, as I sit here with my coffee and prepare to do my taxes.
I've been reading Ginger Pye to Ella at night (Winner's Circle entry to come), and I have been pleasantly surprised by what a good read-aloud it is. It's filled with the kind of prose that rolls effortlessly off the tongue; that requires no special theatrics on the part of the speaker to infuse it with energy; that's conversational without being choppy and languid without bogging down in description.
For the life of me, though, I can't pinpoint the exact qualities that make up a good read-aloud. It's unpredictable. There are definitely some excellent books that fail this particular test (reading A Wrinkle in Time aloud was excruciating).
So, dear readers, I was hoping that you might be able to lend me your insights, especially since some of you are classroom teachers and school librarians who have more than one-on-one experience with reading novels aloud. Tell me: in your opinion, what makes a good read-aloud?
I prefer books with very distinct characters. I'm not sure how to articulate it, but characters that are unique within the story? That way, if you don't "do voices" which I don't usually, it's not difficult to tell characters apart during long dialogue scenes. I don't know if that makes any sense. I find "fantasy" books do this more successfully than "realistic fiction." (anecdotal: when I read the "Harry Potter" books aloud to my young cousins, one night I was told that my "Ron" sounded like my "Harry" and to please "get it right" next time). Also I dislike reading books with "flowerly" language aloud. Often text that reads beautifully on the page, sounds pretentious aloud (example: "Peter and Max" by Bill Willingham, which is told in a "modern fairytale" like form that I found humourous and inventive. When read aloud to adults at a program, they found it obnoxious and trite. I was a little heartbroken. How dare people not like a book as much as I do!)
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about beautiful printed prose not always sounding good aloud! I kind of think Hawthorne suffers from that sometimes, and I think there are kidlit authors who do too.
DeleteSome books make great read alouds no matter what. Some do not. Some depend on the reader, others the audience. There were books I read to each and every 5th grade class I had (The Westing Game and The Giver), there were others that I only read based on my class's personality.
ReplyDeleteI'm finding reading to my own two children that my daughter loves having anything read to her. Anything. My son not so much...he is very picky.
I love reading books like Harry Potter, Rebecca Stead, Kate DiCamillo, Megan Whalen Turner, Jeanne Birdsall, and N.D. Wilson aloud and I've seen groups of children respond with enthusiasm to all of these. They share all of the elements you mentioned finding in Ginger Pye so I think you answered your own question. :)
Right now, at my daughter's request, I'm reading Anne of Green Gables. She's loving it. I'm not. Not because I don't love the book and always will, but all that flowery language and complicated sentence structure does not flow off the tongue easily.
Agreed about the flowery language. It can be a chore.
DeleteWhen I taught 2nd grade I read at least one Ramona book. The combination of humor and distinctive character make these books fabulous read-alouds. But my all-time favorite is Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. Such a simply-written book, very little muss or fuss, but the plot twist at the very end absolutely blew the kids away every year. It just comes out of nowhere, but it's perfectly suited to the story. AND it is age-appropriate - so it worked so well vs. something like From the Mixed-up Files did (because I had to keep stopping to explain some of the situations and/or a lot of the dated language... not a good read-aloud for 2nd grade).
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the Ramona books are delightful to read aloud!
DeleteI actually haven't read Stone Fox. Will put it on my list.