RAR #130: Reading Aloud as an Obstinate Act of Love, with Meghan Cox Gurdon

FROM SARAH

Soothing words and charming illustrations have made this Margaret Wise Brown book a classic. Say goodnight with Bunny to the great green room, the light and the red balloon

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this classic of children's literature, beloved by generations of readers and listeners, the quiet poetry of the words and the gentle, lulling illustrations combine to make a perfect book for the end of the day.

Based on stories of the author’s grandmother, Caddie loves hunting and pranks, but refuses to be a “lady.” Set in Wisconsin in the late 1800s, Little House fans will love Caddie!

FROM SARAH

A dip into Boston just before the American Revolutionary War, as told from the view of a 14-year-old silversmith. Don't let the length of this one deter you—it's engaging!

FROM THE PUBLISHER

After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.

FROM SARAH

Everything Jane Yolen writes has a touch of magic to it, including this simple story about a girl and her father going “owling.” A beautiful tale to warm your winter.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Distinguished author Jane Yolen has created a gentle, poetic story that lovingly depicts the special companionship of a young child and her father as well as humankind's close relationship to the natural world.

**Description from Amazon: The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they are planting and plowin...

** Description from Amazon: Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hu...

NARRATED BY: Peter Dennis

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 53 min

**Description from Amazon: Fritz, a pony excluded from the group of beautiful horses within the walled city, becomes a hero when he rescues the children of the city.

**Description from Amazon: When Piper the dog's grim new master treats him badly, he is terrified and runs away to the big city where his courage and desire to please makes him a hero and finds him a new, loving home.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

A Caldecott Honor BookAn ALA Notable BookA breathtakingly beautiful and luminescent book that is pitch-perfect for anyone of any age who has experienced any type of loss or disappointment.

NARRATED BY: Peter Batchelor

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 2 hours, 42 min

NARRATED BY: Peter Dennis

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 3 hours, 12 min

*Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Arnold Lobel

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 24 min

**Description from Amazon: The classic story of literature’s most beloved elephant. After his mother is killed by a hunter, Babar avoids capture by escaping to the city, where he is befriended by the kindly Old Lady. Later, with cousins Celeste and Arthur, he returns to the great forest to be crowned King of the Elephants...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction.

*Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Arnold Lobel

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 20 min

*Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Arnold Lobel

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 24 min

**Description from Amazon: "[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, d...

*Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Davina Porter

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 39 min

*Rabbit Ears Audio Books are Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Meryl Streep

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 23 min

*Rabbit Ears Audio Books are Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Jack Nicholson

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 23 min

*Rabbit Ears Audio Books are Highly Recommended*

NARRATED BY: Meryl Streep

BEST FOR AGES: 4+

LISTENING LENGTH: 23 min

**Description from Amazon: Dedicated to astronaut Neil Armstrong, A Kite for Moon is the perfect children’s book to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first United States moon landing.What would it be like if the moon was your friend? Find out as you walk alongside a little boy who journeys through life to achieve h...