The Summer Read-Aloud Plan :: The Summer of the Sequel

School's out! Well, for two of my girls ... I have one that has a couple more days to put in. We had a pow-wow earlier this week and talked some about what we wanted to read this summer and we came up with a plan that we could all agree on. We're calling it The Summer of the Sequel. It's catchy, isn't it? : )

We do a good job getting lots of variety in our read-alouds. However, one of the things that we don't spend a lot of time doing is finishing some of the series that we start. I can think of several series that we read the first book in and then, for whatever reason, we move on to something else. And, it's usually after we've LOVED book one ... it always happens that there seems to be something more pressing that we need to read that might tie in with our other studies.

This summer we are playing catch-up. In the photo above you can see our tentative game plan for the next eight to ten weeks.

• The Little Princess - we finished this Tuesday and I blogged it here.
• The Horse and His Boy - we have slowly read the Narnia series - a little every summer - in conjunction with the Reading to Know Narnia challenge. The girls have listened to the whole series on audio books, but we still want to read the last two aloud. We're starting with this one.
• The Black Cauldron - we read the first book in Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydian series this spring and then ... dropped the ball on this one. We're going back for book two. Amy at Hope is the Word has reviewed her family's read-aloud of this series here (book 1), here (book 2), here (book 3), and here (book 4).
• The Last Battle - back to Narnia to finish the series. I'm looking forward to this and dreading it all the same. The good news - the boy hasn't read these yet, so in another couple years we'll start the whole series over again.
• Henry Reed's Babysitting Service - we laughed our way through Henry Reed, Inc. just last month and the girls are eager to read more of Henry and Midge's adventures. (Henry Reed's Journey has been blogged here; it's probably my favorite of the Henry Reed books ... might have to squeeze that one in this summer as well).
• Black Hearts in Battersea - I don't know that we'll get to this one before school starts, but it's in the pile. The sequel to The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, this book is the story of Simon, one of the supporting characters in book one.

There are also going to be lots and lots of picture books. The boy and I have been reading these three dino books daily and while Dinosailors isn't my favorite rhyming book I've ever read, I sure do love the artwork in it. We stumbled on When Dinosaurs Came With Everything on accident and what a happy accident it was! This may get added to the boy's shelf come birthday time.

And there you have it. A happy plan for lots of reading aloud this summer and wrapping loose ends with several sets of characters that we have come to love. I love finding series to read with my girls because I know even if we don't finish the series, it's there for them to meander through on their own if they choose. Any favorite series that I should be on the lookout for? I'm always happy to add to our read aloud list. : )

Of note:
My friend Elizabeth did a little series a couple weeks ago in conjunction with Children's Book Week. You can find some great suggestions if you are on the hunt for new pictures books for your munchkins: great picture books part 1 and 1a (aka great picture books about girls), great picture books part 2 (aka great picture books about boys), and favorite illustrators.