Drop-Everything Reads

Favorite read-aloud titles for families of D.E.A.R. readers, compiled by Reach out and Read, the National Education Association, and Reading Rockets.

For families with soon-to-be readers (Ages 4 and under)

Brown, Margaret Wise – Goodnight moon; pictures by Clement Hurd
Burton, Virginia Lee – Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel : story and pictures
Crews, Donald – Bigmama’s
Eastman, P. D. (Philip D.) – Are you my mother?
Hurwitz, Johanna – New shoes for Silvia
Johnson, Crockett – Harold and the purple crayon
Parish, Peggy – The Amelia Bedelia treasury : three books
Sendak, Maurice – In the night kitchen
Steig, William – Pete’s a pizza
Williams, Vera B – “More more more” said the baby : 3 love stories

For families with up-and-coming readers (Ages 5 to 7)

Barrett, Judi – Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
Blume, Judy – Tales of a fourth grade nothing
Carlson, Natalie Savage – The family under the bridge
Cleary, Beverly – Ramona the pest
Estes, Eleanor – The hundred dresses. Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin
Gannett, Ruth Stiles – Elmer and the dragon
Geringer, Laura – A three hat day
Lobel, Arnold – Days with Frog and Toad
Platt, Kin – Big Max and the mystery of the missing giraffe
Rockwell, Thomas – How to eat fried worms
Scieszka, Jon – The true story of the 3 little pigs
Wiseman, Bernard – Morris goes to school

For families with growing readers (Ages 8 to 11)

Conrad, Pam – My Daniel
Curtis, Christopher Paul – Bud, not Buddy
Konigsburg, E. L – From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Paterson, Katherine – Lyddie
Raskin, Ellen – The Westing game
Rodgers, Mary – Freaky Friday
Spinelli, Jerry – Maniac Magee
Stevenson, Robert Louis – Treasure Island
White, E. B. (Elwyn Brooks) – Charlotte’s web
Yep, Laurence – Dragonwings

For families with sophisticated readers (Ages 12 and up)

Adams, Richard – Watership Down
Byars, Betsy Cromer – The pinballs
Creech, Sharon – Ruby Holler
Dahl, Roald – Boy : tales of childhood
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds – Shiloh
Nix, Garth – Sabriel
Peck, Richard – A long way from Chicago : a novel in stories
Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) – The hobbit, or, There and back again