One-Hundred-and-One READ-ALOUD CLASSICS

by Pamela Horn

1 ADVENTUROUS KIDS
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume, pg. 2
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E. L. Konigsberg, pg. 7
Ramona Forever, Beverly Clear, pg. 11
The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley pg. 15
Harris and Me, Gary Paulsen, pg. 20
Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way, Donald J. Sobol, pg. 24
Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren, pg. 27
Homer Price, Robert McCloskey, pg. 31
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson, pg. 38
Chapter 5, I Go to the Queen's Ferry, pg. 38
Chapter 14, The Islet, pg. 41
Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder, pg. 46
2 ANIMAL TALES
The Black Stallion, Walter Farley pg. 52
Old Yeller, Fred Gipson, pg. 56
The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling, pg. 59
The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting, pg. 62
The Call of the Wild, Jack London, pg 66
Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls, pg. 70
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, pg. 75
Chapter 1, My Early Home, pg. 75
Chapter 5, A Fair Start, pg. 76
The Red Pony, John Steinbeck, pg. 79
3 FABLES AND MYTHS
O. Hemy, pg. 84
The Count and the Wedding Guest, pg. 85
The Gift of the Magi, pg. 90
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, pg. 95
A Lickpenny Lover, pg. 99
Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling, pg. 104
How the Camel Got His Hump, pg. 105
The Beginning of the Armadilloes, pg. 108
How the Whale Got His Throat, pg. 113
The Elephant's Child, pg. 115
The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo, pg. 119
Mythology, retold by Thomas Bulfinch, pg. 122
Theseus, pg. 122
The Golden Fleece, pg. 123
Echo and Narcissus, pg. 125
Daedalus, pg. 127
4 FOLK TALES AND FANTASIES
The Tales of the Arabian Nights, pg. 130
The Story of Ali Cogia, Merchant of Bagdad, pg. 130
The Story of the First Calender, Son of a King, pg. 136
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, pg. 140
The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor, pg. 145
The Little Prince, Antoine de St. Exupéry, pg. 153
Days of Dreams and Laughter, Lucy Maud Montgomery, pg. 157
Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery, pg. 162
The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde, pg. 166
The Nightingale and the Rose, Oscar Wilde, pg. 170
5 FAIRY TALES
Hans Christian Andersen, pg. 176
Hansel and Grettel, pg. 177
The Ugly Duckling, pg. 184
The Emperor's New Clothes, pg. 191
The Swineherd, pg. 194
Ricky of the Tuft, pg. 198
The Three Soldiers, pg. 203
Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie, pg. 207
Blue Beard, Charles Perrault, pg. 212
Cinderella, or, The Little Glass Slipper, Charles Perrault, pg. 216
Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, Charles Perrault, pg. 221
English Fairy Tales, pg. 225
The Buried Moon, pg. 225
Cap O' Rushes, pg. 228
Jack the Giant-Killer, pg. 231
A Pottle O' Brains, pg. 234
Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse, pg. 238
The Wise Men of Gotham, pg. 239
Jack and the Beanstalk, pg. 242
Three Billy Goats Gruff, Asbjornsen & Moe, pg. 247
The Princess Who Could Not Cry, K. Adams & F. Atchinson, pg. 249
The Stupid Princess, K. Adams & E Atchinson, pg. 253
6 INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS
The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, pg. 258
Chapter II, The Council With the Munchkins, pg. 258
Chapter VII, The Deadly Poppy Fields, pg. 262
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett, pg. 265
The Robin Who Showed the XVay, pg. 265
T hg Strangest House, pg. 270
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, pg. 274
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl, pg. 280
The Return of the Twelves, Pauline Clarke, pg. 286
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, pg. 291
Marley's Ghost, pg. 291
The Second of Three Spirits, pg. 295
The Witch Family, Eleanor Estes, pg. 300
Paddle-to-the-Sea, Holling Clancy Holling, pg. 305
How Paddle-to-the-Sea Came to Be, pg. 305
Long River Reaching to the Sea, pg. 305
Paddle Starts on His Journey, pg. 306
Brook and Beaver Pond, pg. 306
Breakup of the River, pg. 307
Paddle Meets a Sawmill, pg 308
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, pg. 309
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, C. S. Lewis, pg. 314
7 INSPIRED BY HISTORY
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, pg. 320
Little Men, Louisa May Alcott, pg. 325
Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank B. GilbrethJr. and Ernestine Gilbreth
Carey, pg. 330
Pollyanna, Eleanor Porter, pg. 335
The Pushcart War, Jean Merrill, pg. 339
Robin Hood, retold by Louis Rhead, pg. 345
Robin Hood Fights Little John, pg. 345
Robin Tries His Hand Selling Meats, pg. 348
The Story of Macbeth, William Shakespeare, pg. 352
Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare, pg. 355
Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes, pg. 361
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Kate Douglas Wiggin, pg. 364
Heidi, Johanna Spyri, pg. 368
8 FANTASTIC CREATURES
The Animal Family, Randall Jarrell, pg. 372
The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien, pg. 375
Charlotte's web, E. B. White, pg. 379
Stuart Little, E. B. White, pg. 387
Chapter 111, Washing Up, 387
Chapter IV, Exercise, pg. 388
Chapter V, Rescued, pg. 389
Tales of Beatrix Potter, Beatrix Potter, pg. 392
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, pg. 392
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, pg. 395
The Tale of Tom Kitten, pg. 398

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Reference

401 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Pamela Horn is an historian specialising in Victorian social history. The author of acclaimed books on rural life, servant lives and childhood, she lectured on economic and social history at Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University, for over twenty years.

Reviews

[ashes ➷]

I went back to this one because I remembered often rereading specific parts as a child, and I definitely focused on those bits as an adult as well. To some extent that's just a matter of taste-- I'm not really a fan of excerpts from novels presented on their own, and I have my own genre preferences that I read towards-- so I can't say based on the amount I read that the book isn't worth having. On the contrary, I think it served its purpose in showing me what I did and did not want to read, both as a child and an adult.

I do, however, have some issues with the book, mostly centering on (you guessed it) racism. Though I wasn't reading through particularly closely (hence the DNF; I chose to just read what I liked for fun) I did confirm that the story The Water Babies which is excerpted here is in fact the one known for basically every kind of racism, which was just odd to me. There's also, obviously, a huge focus on white Christian authors, and I think we've reached a point where that kind of collection is simply lacking. It doesn't make sense to me to try and do a variety of time periods, styles, genres, and so on, but not include a substantial amount of non-white authors.

So: an outdated book. As a read-aloud, you can absolutely just cut the stuff you don't want to read and read what you would like to read, and there are many bits that give me nostalgia (not to mention the accessibility of the classics that are here-- things like Wilde and O. Henry). Still, though, I just have to wonder if we don't have better options out there for those who are willing to look.

[Jess Van Dyne-Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a GREAT idea - ten minute readings of classic stories - just right for my son - he can read a bit of say, Mark Twain or Roald Dahl - jump in at a great bit, and get excited about the book before beginning the real story!

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

101 Read-Aloud Classics: Ten-Minute Readings from the World's Best-Loved Children's Books
Horn, Pamela

a short retelling of american classics and british stories

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was written to read to children but I enjoyed rereading these stories from my childhood.