Fun Family Read-Alouds for 2nd Grade and Older

Created on February 22, 2020, 1:28 pm

Last Updated April 18, 2022, 10:17 am

These titles are selected for students in 2nd grade and older. Although these students can often read independently it's important that they still be read to. This article from Brightly.com lists just a few of the benefits (https://www.readbrightly.com/importance-of-reading-aloud-to-big-kids/) including modeling reading fluency and introducing higher vocabulary than the student would be able to read/comprehend on their own. So don't stop reading! Kids this age benefit just like your younger ones do! Created by Miss Terri. Updated 4/2022.

1) The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

Author

Glaser, Karina Yan

Series

Vanderbeekers volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

"Told that they will have to move out of their Harlem brownstone just after Christmas, the five Vanderbeeker children, ages four to twelve, decide to change their reclusive landlord's mind"--Provided by publisher.

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Twelve-year-old Lou Montgomery's life has been centered on her mother's terrifying plan to make her a singing star, but a crisis reveals Lou's sensory processing disorder and people determined to help her address it.

Author

Series

Formats:

Book, eBook, eComic, Kindle

Description

"Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful--and very awkward--hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear--sometimes...

4) One crazy summer

Author

Williams-Garcia, Rita

Series

Gaither sisters volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

5) Flora & Ulysses: the illuminated adventures

Author

DiCamillo, Kate

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived.

Author

Series

Front desk volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade...

Author

Telgemeier, Raina

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Catrina and her family have moved to the coast of Northern California for the sake of her little sister, Maya, who has cystic fibrosis--and Cat is even less happy about the move when she is told that her new town is inhabited by ghosts, and Maya sets her heart on meeting one.

8) The bad guys

Author

Series

Bad guys (Aaron Blabey) volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

The Bad Guys, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Piranha, want to be heroes, and they decide that the way to do it is to free the 200 dogs in the city dog pound--but their plan soon goes awry.

Author

Sutherland, Tui

Series

The menagerie (Tui Sutherland) volume 1

Description

Zoe Kahn's family has been in charge of keeping watch on the secret menagerie of mythical creatures like unicorns, dragons and phoenixes for centuries. Six griffin cubs have escaped, or is someone trying to sabotage the Menagerie? Zoe and her classmate Logan Wilde must get the cubs back.

10) The first rule of punk

Author

Pérez, Celia C

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

Twelve-year-old María Luisa O'Neill-Morales (who really prefers to be called Malú) reluctantly moves with her Mexican-American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang--violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school's most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded weirdos.

11) From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Author

Konigsburg, E. L

Series

Thalia Kids' Book Club

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run "from" somewhere, she wants to run "to" somewhere -- to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find...

12) James and the giant peach: a children's story

Author

Series

Penguin classics deluxe edition

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

A young boy escapes from two wicked aunts and embarks on a series of adventures with six giant insects he meets inside a giant peach.

13) Lalani of the distant sea

Author

Kelly, Erin Entrada

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"Twelve-year-old Lalani Sarita takes on the impossible task of traveling to the legendary Mount Isa, towering on an island to the north. Generations of men and boys have died on the same quest--how can a timid young girl in a tiny boat survive the epic tests of the archipelago?"--

14) Love that dog

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem.

15) The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane

Author

DiCamillo, Kate

Series

Thorndike Press large print summer reading collection

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Talking Book

Description

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.

Author

Series

New kid (Jerry Craft) volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Playaway

Description

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and...

17) The one and only Ivan

Author

Applegate, Katherine

Series

One and only Ivan stories volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

"When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life"--OCLC.

18) The problim children

Author

Series

Problim children volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

When the Problim family home blows up, the seven siblings must go live in their grandfather's abandoned home in Lost Cove. Rumors about treasures and magic lead to shenanigans as their new neighbors becomes determined to get their hands on the secrets the children hold. Through it all, the children must band together and muster up the courage to face whatever challenge comes their way as a family.

19) Sideways stories from Wayside School

Author

Series

Wayside School volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

20) The wild robot

Author

Series

Wild robot volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

Roz the robot discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island with no memory of where she is from or why she is there, and her only hope of survival is to try to learn about her new environment from the island's hostile inhabitants.