Top 15 Read Aloud Books for the Whole Family

The Benefits of Reading Aloud

Reading aloud together with your children, even after they have learned to read themselves, is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. There’s a lot of information out there about the positive effects of reading to children, but here are just a few important ones to note:

• It helps to nurture a love a reading, which will hopefully start at a young age and continue as your child grows older.
• It increases a child’s ability to focus for longer periods of time.
• It helps to strengthen family bonds and gives you a chance to spend quality time together.
• It allows younger children and struggling readers the chance to hear stories and vocabulary that they would not be able to encounter on their own.
• It helps to strengthen a child’s imagination.
• It helps children develop language skills and literacy.
• It expands a child’s understanding of the world.
• It helps children build empathy and learn how to handle difficult feelings.

Read Aloud Book Recommendations

Even knowing all of the benefits, finding books and stories that appeal to different ages can be challenging. Between different levels of development, unique interests, and varying attention spans, it can seem like an impossible task to find a book that everyone in your family (including you!) is going to enjoy.

We can help with this! We’ve taken the guessing game out of it and have compiled a list of some of our favorite read aloud books for the whole family to enjoy. The stories we’ve chosen should appeal to and be understood by a wide range of different ages and interests, and include storylines with positive messages and relatable characters.

In no particular order, here are our top 15 read aloud books for the whole family:

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne
• The BFG by Roald Dahl
• The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
• The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
• The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• The Mysterious Howling by Marose Wood
• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
• The Vanderbeekers of 141^st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

How do you think we did?

Let us know if you’ve read any on the list, or share a favorite read aloud that your family enjoys!