RAR #142: What We’re Reading This Winter ❄️

Sarah Mackenzie (00:12): You're listening to the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast. This is the podcast that helps you make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. Hello, hello, everybody. Sarah Mackenzie here. You've got episode 142 of the Read-Aloud Revival. It's time to talk about winter. We're knocking on the door of December. I think it's arguably one of the best times of the year for read-alouds, it's so cozy. (00:46): On today's show, I want to give you the scoop on what we are reading at Read-Aloud Revival this winter. So here's what we're going to do in this episode: First, I'm going to answer a couple of listener questions. Then, I'm going to share with you what we are reading at Read-Aloud Revival throughout the winter months and then we'll wrap up with our, Let the Kids Speak. Of course, we'll hear from 10 kids about the books they're loving right now and at the very end I will announce who's coming on the podcast two weeks from now because it's a very good episode right around the corner. I'm excited about it. (01:15): As always, the show notes for this episode are at Readaloudrevival.com/142. You'll find all of the books I'm recommending on today's show right there. And before we dive in, I wanted to make sure that you know that Read-Aloud Revival Premium is currently open. RAR Premium is our online community that helps you connect with your kids through Family Book Clubs, masterclasses, and support from like-minded mamas. (01:40): It's the best of the best of what we do here at Read-Aloud Revival and if you are serious about helping your kids fall in love with books, it's your place and we're your people. So, it's a really simple and delightful way to put relationships first in your home while also giving your kids a really solid and engaging literary education and we'll bet that your kids will fall in love with books. So join us at Rarmembership.com, registration's open. (02:06): And by the way, we have a 30 day money back guarantee, so there's no risk to try it out and see if it's a good fit for your family. It's a really good time to try it because our December lineup and winter happenings at Read-Aloud Revival Premium are really good but I'll get into that in a minute. First, I want to hear a question from Heidi. Heidi (02:25): Here's my question: My kids are 14 and 12 and I still read aloud to them at night. My 12 year old however asks to read our read aloud book on her own during the day. I want to say, "No, this is our shared family experience," but should I let her? Sarah Mackenzie (02:41): Hey Heidi, thank you so much for this question. Okay, well first of all, I want to say good on you because if your daughter wants to read ahead the books that you're reading aloud together, that means you're choosing really good read alouds, so good job. (02:54): Secondly, I love this question because here's what I think is happening. First of all, it takes a lot longer for us to read aloud than it does for a child usually to read with their eyes. I mean, not a fledgling reader, but a 12 year old who can read well. It's taking a lot longer to get to answer the question, what happens next, right? That's what her brain wants to ask. (03:14): So if you haven't heard episode 141 yet, go listen to that because on that episode I talk about rereading and I explain how the first time that your child's reading a book, their brain is trying to answer the question, "What happens next?" Really what that means is the first time we read a book, we're just reading for plot. So as you're experiencing this book for the first time, your daughter wants to know what happens next and it's taking a long time for you to get there because you're reading it aloud right now, right? (03:40): Now the second, third or fourth time a child reads a book, they're reading for deeper layers. They're reading for deeper meaning, they're getting better language. They are sort of finding the hidden treasures that are in there and are only a gift for the re-readers. So reading the first time, we're reading for plot and to ask the question, "What happens next?" And the second or third time we read, we get a deeper, richer reading experience. (04:04): So my short answer is yes, I would let my child read ahead. In fact, we do this at our house. This is how it works: I tell my kids if they want to read ahead, whatever we're reading aloud together, they may. I'm not going to stop them from reading ahead. There are however, two main rules they have to follow. The first rule is that they're not allowed to spoil it for anybody else, so they can't tell anybody else what happens or what's coming next in the book. (04:28): The second rule is that they still have to show up for read aloud time. Now what this means is that you are giving your child the opportunity to read for plot, to answer the question what happens next on their own, and then when they come to read aloud time, you're giving them a second read, which is actually a better, deeper, richer read. So you're benefiting, your child's benefiting and you're benefiting actually from them reading ahead, but I do think it's important to lay some ground rules, especially if you have kids who would like to tell each other what's coming next so that they can sort of be the know-it-all. (04:57): Not that I have any children that would be like that of course, but we have those set ground rules to make sure that everybody plays fair so people who read ahead, they can not spoil what comes next and they still have to show up for read aloud time and that works for us. I hope that helps, Heidi and anybody else who has a child who wants to read ahead whatever you are reading aloud. Now I've got a second question I want to answer and this one comes from Laura. Lara (05:20): Hi Sarah. My name is Laura and I'm from Louisville, Kentucky and just had a quick question for you: How many read-aloud books is too many? I have a five year old, three year old and one year old and we love reading aloud to them. My husband's currently reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at bedtime and I'd love to start The Vanderbeekers for fall Family Book Club and we like listening to audio books in the car and you know, reading during the day. I didn't know how many was too many for your little kids to keep up with, if we should just take it one at a time or if we can have multiples going on. Yeah, thanks so much. Sarah Mackenzie (05:52): Hey Laura, great question. You know, I actually think our kids can hold onto quite a few stories at the same time. I think for sure, I think your husband, if he's reading Chronicles of Narnia or whatever he's currently reading at night and you're reading something else during the day and you have a third book on audio in the car, I would bet that they can hold on to all three of those stories fairly well without too much trouble. (06:16): Your kids are young so I wouldn't worry too much about always having chapter books on. If you are worried about having too many stories going, you could have maybe two of those going instead of three and then do picture books or shorter narratives for in the car. One of the audio books selections I really like for my younger kids, especially in the car are The Rabbit Ears productions and we'll put some of our favorites in the show notes for you. (06:39): The Rabbit Ears productions are usually about 20 to 30 minutes. They use professional actors, and music and it will be like King Midas or Paul Bunyan or something like that or the Velveteen Rabbit and it's a 20 or 30 minute story that's dramatized very well and it gives the whole story start to finish, so it's not like an ongoing novel. (06:59): So if you wanted to have books in the car, audio books, but you didn't want to sustain quite so many novels, that's one way to do it. That said, I know a lot of kids who use a Charlotte Mason kind of a homeschool, and those kids a lot of times are reading several novels at a time over a long period of time. (07:16): So they might be reading four, five or six books sustained where they're reading a chapter a week, or a chapter a day or whatever it is from those books for over an entire term or an entire season. So, as long as you don't notice that your kids are getting super confused, I wouldn't worry about it. I'd say go for it. (07:34): If you notice that your kids seem confused and don't seem to quite be able to follow the storylines, then I would just trim that up and maybe one or two novels and then use picture books or shorter narratives to fill in the in-between spaces. But if there's no trouble, I wouldn't change it. I think that's awesome. Thanks so much for your question. (08:11): Okay, so let's talk about what we're reading this winter. Now, you may know that at Read-Aloud Revival Premium, we read a book each month as part of our Family Book Club and the books I'm going to tell you about today are in fact the book club picks for premium for the winter. So if you choose to read any of these with us this winter, you're in good company because thousands of us are reading them together. (08:34): In RAR Premium, we actually make Family Book Club guides to go with each of our Book Club picks. So each of the books that I share with you today are going to have a Book Club guide in RAR Premium. If you're a premium member, make sure you go download those. Those Family Book Club guides contain ideas for sharing experiences about the book. Usually, it's some way to transform an ordinary dinner into a book club dinner, a family dinner club, let's say, a Family Book Club experience that dad can be a part of and that everyone will remember fondly. (09:02): The thing I love about that most is that it makes quote unquote book club not just another thing on your to do list, not just another thing added to your schedule, but instead it transforms something that you're already doing every day, making dinner and just making it into something that means something for your family's educational and literary life and it's just really delightful as well. (09:23): So, those Family Book Club guides have ideas for your shared experience, some open-ended questions to ask about each book with kids of all ages to have some great conversations and then also some tips for looking at and reading the book really closely. That might be my new favorite part of the book club guide is that looking closely section. It is really fun when you know what to look for to sort of dig out the treasures in a picture book that you probably missed your first time through. (09:50): So, we help you do that in the book club guidance kind of magic. Anyway, the author or illustrator also comes to RAR Premium and meets your kids in a live video stream. So, if you want to find out what that's like, episode 134 has an example where you can watch or listen to where you can watch the video or you can listen to it on the podcast, Sally Lloyd-Jones talking about one of her books that we chose for Family Book Club. (10:17): So that's at Readaloudrevival.com/134, and you can watch the video there or listen to the episode and kind of see that in action. So, every time we pick a Family Book Club, we're actually choosing a lot of different things at the same time. We're looking for a book that appeals to a broad range of ages that is cream of the crop as far as picture books or novels go that we can invite the author or illustrator on to meet your kids and that we can create a really compelling book club guide for you for. (10:43): So, the books that actually meet the requirements on all of those levels, they're the best of the best. They're very carefully chosen, so I'm excited to tell you about the ones we're doing this winter. Now, to get those Family Book Club guides, and then to give your kids a front row seat at those author access events so they can meet the author or illustrator, you need to become a Read-Aloud Revival Premium member, which you can do at Rarmembership.com, and then also because we love to celebrate our lineups, we're celebrating the winter lineup of what we're doing here at RAR Premium and the books we're reading and all that good stuff by giving away several copies of the books on Instagram. (11:22): So make sure you check out our feed on Instagram. That's just Instagram.com/readaloudrevival so that you can get in on the giveaway fun there. Okay, so what are we reading aloud this winter? Well, it all starts with some Christmas magic. Our December Family Book Club pick is The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Now, this is an excellent book to read and then there's also a really wonderful movie based on the book that's just really well done too, and that can be a wonderful conversation starter, reading the book and then watching the movie. (11:56): You can talk about what's the same, what's different? Everybody has an opinion, right? After they've seen a movie that they've already read the book of, everybody has an opinion, which one's better? What was the same? What was different? And I'll tell you what, this picture book is an excellent example of how a picture book can be relevant for all ages. So, let's say you only have teens in your house, you're still not going to want to miss this one. (12:17): The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey has something for everyone and in that book club guide that's in RAR Premium to go with this book, we're going to give you specific ideas for how to share some simple and meaningful experiences around the book. We're going to show you how to look closely at the book to see things you might have missed the first few times you read the book, and we're also going to give you some open-ended questions so you can ask your small children, your three year old, or your 13 year old or your 18 year old these open-ended questions about the picture book and it's such a good experience. (12:46): You've got to try it so that you can see what I mean. In early December, the illustrator, P.J. Lynch is coming to our RAR Premium. He's going to be on video live all the way from his home in Ireland, and he's going to give us a peek at what he was doing with the illustrations in this book. (13:04): Your kids can ask him questions. It's going to be a good time. That's December and it's going to be a really rich, meaningful Family Book Club, I think. Now, let's talk about January. So, our January Family Book Club choice is Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. Now, I actually think that if we're going to sit here and talk about picture books' structure and style, which I would love to do all day with you, this is basically a perfect picture book. (13:32): I mean truly, as far as the magic of picture books goes, this one has it all. If you haven't read it yet, you're in for a treat and if you have read it, well, just wait until you get your hands on your Family Book Club guide because it's a really fantastic one for this, and of course the author, Mac Barnett is coming to Premium. Now, the illustrator, Jon Klassen, he's actually been to RAR Premium before. (13:53): So if you are a premium member, go watch that in RAR Premium because he actually shows us on his computer what his illustrations look like in Photoshop. He adds and takes away layers, and shows us all kinds of good stuff about how he makes his illustrations. It's really fascinating. Jon Klassen is easily one of the most watched illustrators today, so I think you'll know why when you watch it. (14:16): He's actually just a genuinely wonderful person. So, it's a really good author access replay, so you should watch that if you're a premium member. In January, Mac Barnett's coming, and of course he wrote the text for Extra Yarn. I'm excited to meet Mac, the two of them, Mac and Jon, they collaborate on books often. I think Extra Yarn is actually the best one they've done yet. So, I'm really excited to hear Mac talk about writing this book and it's going to be a lot of fun. (14:43): That's January. So, one thing that's important to know about how we choose our Family Book Club books is that every season, we choose one novel and three picture books. So, we choose one novel for our Family Book Club that you can read aloud at any point during the season, and then we choose a picture book for each month. And that way, there's really something for everyone in the family. (15:04): We often correlate them so they kind of weave together and then this isn't to say of course, that the picture books are for the younger kids and the novels are for the older kids because as you know, at Read-Aloud Revival, that's not what we believe. We believe a good book is a good book, no matter your age. We actually choose our Family Book Club picks pretty carefully so that our picture books will appeal to older kids, and so that our novels appeal to a wide age range. (15:29): So, we're really careful to choose books that appeal to a wide range of ages because we believe the best books do and I want to tell you about the novels that we've chosen for winter. The novels we are reading throughout the winter are the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. So, Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy and all the rest. (15:50): Now, I mentioned that we choose one novel and of course this is a series, right? But there's a lot of flexibility here. So, if you've read the Little House books before, you can just choose whatever your favorite is and reread that one, and if you've never read them, you can start at the beginning. I do encourage you to read the Little House books in order. (16:07): You know, some series you can jump in and out and you totally can jump in and out of the Little House books when you're rereading them, which you're probably going to want to do, just saying, but the first time through, I would really encourage you to read them in order, and you want to start with Little House in the Big Woods. And now that I'm saying that, I'm going to give a little, except for this particular situation, Farmer Boy is a book that I think you can read at any point while you're reading this series. (16:30): But as far as the rest of the books, you want to start with Little House in the Big Woods and then go in order. So if you've read them before, you can just choose your favorite, reread it. If you haven't read any of them before, start at the beginning with Little House in the Big Woods, and here's the thing: You can read the whole series or you can just read one. You don't have to read a specific one. (16:50): The Family Book Club guide that RAR Premium members are going to get is going to correlate with the books no matter which one or ones you choose to read. So, the Book Club Guide's going to be very flexible no matter where your family is in this series. My family is going to be re-listening to them on audio, thank you very much. Cherry Jones is exquisite narrator on the audio versions that you can find on Audible. We'll put them in the show notes. They are easily among our family's very favorite audio books. (17:20): Pa plays the fiddle, Cherry Jones reads like a master. It's just magic. So, the audio book experience is so, so good. And if you are in the car a lot or even if you just want to enjoy the read aloud yourself, you don't want to have to do all the reading, right? I enjoy audio books even at home when we're just sitting around by the fire or just lounging around on the couch or at the table because I can sketch, or if I'm actually being productive I could fold laundry, I could get a number of different things done while I'm listening and it's really a joy actually to be read to. (17:52): So, I would encourage you to get your hands on the audio versions if you can. That's how my family is going to be listening. Now, our February picture book choice for Family Book Club is going to go right along with this because we are choosing the Little House picture books. That of course coordinates beautifully with our novels, right? Told you there's something for the whole family. No, Renee Graef illustrates these stunning picture books that use original language from the Little House books and then pairs them with her really gorgeous and really fitting illustrations. (18:25): Oh gosh. You just have to see them. If you haven't seen them, go look them up right now because I think you're going to go, "Oh my goodness." They are really lovely, lovely picture books, and so Renee is going to come and meet your kids in premium in February to talk about what it was like to illustrate those iconic Little House books. (18:41): She also has a few little treats for us that I'm not going to give away yet, but she's got a few little fun treats for everybody who comes to the author access and for everyone who does the RAR Premium Family Book Club in Little House. So, it's going to be a good time. Now, because we know how to have a good time and we know how to check educational boxes off at the same time. A lot of us are homeschooling. We've got a lot on our plates. (19:03): We've got to get some stuff done, right? We are having a guest teacher. This is Nana from Chalk Pastels come to RAR Premium and lead our kids through some Little House-themed paintings. So, she is creating some paintings, some Chalk Pastel paintings based on Little House books and she's going to teach our kids how to draw them. So she's going to do one drawing for our younger kids, age four to nine, and she'll lead us through right on screen how to make the painting, and then another one for kids 10 and up, a more complex, detailed painting based on Little House. (19:35): So, your kids will have a really wonderful literary experience, you'll have your Family Book Club, some great memories to share, some really good conversations about the books, and then also they're going to have a chalk painting that is worth hanging up on the wall or giving to grandma or even putting in a frame in their room to remember their winter reading experience. (19:55): So good, right? That's what we're reading this winter. Can you tell I'm excited? We have a lot of fun putting these together and we're very excited about our winter read alouds, and a winter can be long depending on where you live. Where I live, a winter is long and so to have this kind of experience, these kind of sequence of experiences to look forward to in our family is just really wonderful. I'm so looking forward to it. (20:18): We would of course love to have you read along with us and you can get that full experience where you can get those Family Book Club guides. Join us for author access, do the Chalk Pastel paintings with us, all that good stuff by joining us in RAR Premium and you can do that by going to our Rarmembership.com. Now speaking of that, I want to make sure you know about something else that's happening in our RAR premium this coming year. (20:42): It's brand new. It starts in January. We're calling it Circle with Sarah. It's a monthly live coaching session with me where you're going to get ideas and encouragement to help you create the homeschooling life you crave. If you are an RAR Premium member, you know we do seasonal or regular masterclasses that really help you get the skills and tools you need to do a great job homeschooling your kids. (21:04): This is sort of taking that up a level because we're going to do every single month what we're calling Circle with Sarah, which is a session with me and I'm going to be live on screen guiding you through some small wins that are really going to move the needle in a big way in your homeschool. (21:19): If you want to enjoy your homeschool more, you want to teach from rest, you want more peace, and confidence and joy in your day to day life, you don't want to miss these because here's what I know about homeschooling: The joy that you take and the success that you find in homeschooling is built on a succession of very small wins and some paradigm shifts. (21:40): You know, when we do one small thing for our homeschool that packs a serious punch and then we do another, and another, they can be really small, they can be very slight shifts, or just a very small new habit or just a small tweak in our day. Over time, doing those one after another and having a group that we can be accountable to, that's how we build the homeschooling life we really want for our families. It's how we make the small adjustments necessary to do it well over the long haul, and I think it's also how we can make sure we're loving our homeschooling life as much as we want to. (22:11): So in these monthly Circle with Sarah sessions, we're going to get to work knocking over dominoes, knocking over one domino at a time until they all start falling and you fall back in love with your homeschool, and if you ask me what I'm most excited about in 2020, it's Circle with Sarah. I'm excited about this. It's going to be a lot of fun and I think it's going to be game changing for a lot of us as well. (22:31): Those are happening every first Friday of the month. So every single month, you can put them on your calendar right now. First Friday Circle with Sarah, game changer for your homeschool, I'm so excited. Now here's the thing, if you're like, "Ah, Friday doesn't work for me", here's the deal: One of the great things about our live events in RAR premium, whether it's author access where these authors are coming to meet your kids, whether it's an art workshop like our Chalk Pastels or whether it's Circle with Sarah or anything else, they're all recorded and they're available for you to watch in our premium library any time it works for you. (23:02): So, just because something doesn't work for your schedule to go to it live, you don't have to miss out on it entirely. We know your schedule is unique. We know your family is unique and we want you to have the tools and resources you need to give the best homeschooling experience to your family, and so everything is available for you to watch on replay. (23:21): Actually, everything we've ever done is available for you to watch on replay when you join. So if you're a binger and you like to just binge watch something when you get really inspired, you're going to have a heyday when you get into Premium because there's a lot there for you to enjoy. (23:37): Remember, you can join us now, registration's open. You can do that Rarmembership.com. You'll find answers to your questions there as well. You can grab our one page, winter premium calendar so you can see everything happening in premium this winter at a glance. It's going to be a good time. I hope you join us. Okay, let's go listen to the kids and hear what they're loving reading right now. Now it's time for Let the Kids Speak. This is my favorite part of the podcast where kids tell us about their favorite stories that have been read aloud to them. Isabella (24:18): Hi, my name is Isabella Noda. I live in Florida and I am 10 years old and my favorite series is Dog Diaries. My favorite part about all the books is that it puts you in the dog shoes like how it is to be Abraham Lincoln's dog or George Washington's dog or the Queen of England. Sarah Mackenzie (24:35): What's your name? Eli (24:36): Eli. Sarah Mackenzie (24:37): Eli. And where are you from? Eli (24:40): Canada. Sarah Mackenzie (24:41): Canada. That's right. How old are you? Eli (24:44): 2. Sarah Mackenzie (24:45): 2. What's your favorite book? Eli (24:48): Dodo. Sarah Mackenzie (24:49): Mr. Dodo. What's your name? Ezekiel (24:51): Ezekiel. E-Z-E-K-I-E-L. Sarah Mackenzie (24:54): And how old are you? Ezekiel (24:55): 4 [inaudible 00:24:55] and a half. Sarah Mackenzie (24:58): And where are you from? Ezekiel (24:58): Canada. Sarah Mackenzie (25:00): And what's your favorite book, Ezekiel? Ezekiel (25:05): Hello, Mr. Dodo! Sarah Mackenzie (25:08): What do you like about Hello, Mr. Dodo? Ezekiel (25:08): Because it has a Dodo and a [inaudible 00:25:08]. Isabella (25:13): Hi, my name is Isabella Noda. I'm from Florida. I'm 10 years old and my favorite book is The Girl With the Silver Eyes. It's by Willo Davis Roberts. I like The Girl With Silver Eyes because Katie thinks she's the only one but she's not. She finds tons of cool friends and has a really cool adventure. I really like that book. Thomas (25:33): Hi, my name is Thomas Noda and I am from Florida and my favorite book is The Green Ember because I just like it because there's a lot of wolfs, and they're my favorite animals and there's bunnies and they fight. Sarah Mackenzie (25:50): What's your name? Alice (25:51): My name is Alice and my favorite book is Dragons Love Tacos because they have a taco party and it's really fun, and I wish I had one too. Speaker 10 (26:02): And it's by Adam Rubin. And how old are you? Alice (26:06): I'm four years old. Speaker 10 (26:07): And I'm from Florida. Alice (26:09): And I'm from Florida. Speaker 11 (26:11): Hello, my name is [inaudible 00:26:13]. I'm eight years old. I live in Virginia, and my favorite book is The Lion, and the Witch and the Wardrobe. My favorite part is when Lucy finds Narnia. Anna (26:23): Hello, my name is Anna. I live in Barry's Bay, Ontario. My favorite book is [inaudible 00:26:30] song because in it, her [inaudible 00:26:33] and I'm five years old. Isaiah (26:34): Hi, my name is Isaiah and I'm at 8. I live in Barry's Bay, Ontario and my favorite book is Story of Civilization volume two because it teaches me a lot of history and I love history. Speaker 14 (26:48): My name is [inaudible 00:26:49] and I'm 4 years old and I'm from England. I love Milly-Molly-Mandy because I love when [inaudible 00:26:57] went to the party and she putted her party dress on. Speaker 15 (27:00): My name is Will. I am from England and I am 6 years old. My favorite book is The Secret Mermaid SOS and my favorite part is when Molly gets attacked by a sea monster and she [inaudible 00:27:17] like a seahorse. Sarah Mackenzie (27:22): Wonderful. Thank you so much kids for calling in with those recommendations. Hey, if your kids would like to leave a message to be aired on the podcast, you can do that by going to Readaloudrevival.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page, that's where the recording button is, and I said this before. I want to say it one more time just to make sure everyone knows, it's okay if you need to coach your child through, if they need to repeat after you, if they're nervous and they want you to say the words and then they repeat because we can clean that up in the recording. (27:51): So, we want to hear from your kids. Don't let worrying about having a perfect recording stop you. We clean them up. That's why the kids sound so awesome and because you kids are totally awesome. Now, I told you guys we have kind of a fun announcement. For the next episode of the podcast in two weeks, the one and only, Kate DiCamillo is coming back. She is one of the most inspiring women I have the pleasure to know. (28:12): It's not her first rodeo at Read-Aloud Revival, but it's a really good conversation that I'm delighted to share with you. So meet me here in two weeks, same place, same time. I can not wait to share that episode with you. If you don't want to miss it, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast in your favorite podcast app, and also make sure you're getting our emails by going to Readaloudrevival.com and putting your email in there so that we can let you know when the new podcast drops. In the meantime, go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.