The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We
Shared
by Alice Ozma
When Alice Ozma was in 4th
grade, she and her father decided to see if he could read aloud to her for 100
consecutive nights. On the hundredth night, they shared pancakes to celebrate,
but it soon became evident that neither wanted to let go of their storytelling
ritual. So they decided to continue what they called "The Streak."
Alice's father read aloud to her every night without fail until the day she
left for college. In the book called The Reading
Promise, Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about
her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he
read to her.
Interested in starting your own Reading Streak? Here are some books they read and loved, organized by grade level. If your child shows a keen interest in being read to, or has been read to regularly before you begin a Streak, you may want to bump him or her up a grade level or two.
Grades 1 and 2: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, Dot and Tot in Maryland by L. Frank Baum, The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Beverly Cleary, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Cornerby A.A. Milne, Mr. Popper's Penguinsby Richard Atwater.
Grades 3 and 4: Alice's Adventures in WonderlandandThrough the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes, The Bears' House by Marilyn Sachs, The Encyclopedia Brown Series by Donald J. Sobol.
Grades 5 and 6: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Surviving theApplewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, It's Like This, Catby Emily Cheney Neville.
Grades 7 and 8: The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling,Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles, Esperanza Risingby Pam Munoz Ryan, The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz, Holesby Louis Sachar.
Grades 9 and 10: Up a Road Slowly and Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Wish You Well by David Baldacci.
Grades 11 and 12: The Pigman by Paul Zindel, The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Great Expectations and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Interested in starting your own Reading Streak? Here are some books they read and loved, organized by grade level. If your child shows a keen interest in being read to, or has been read to regularly before you begin a Streak, you may want to bump him or her up a grade level or two.
Grades 1 and 2: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, Dot and Tot in Maryland by L. Frank Baum, The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Beverly Cleary, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Cornerby A.A. Milne, Mr. Popper's Penguinsby Richard Atwater.
Grades 3 and 4: Alice's Adventures in WonderlandandThrough the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes, The Bears' House by Marilyn Sachs, The Encyclopedia Brown Series by Donald J. Sobol.
Grades 5 and 6: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Surviving theApplewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, It's Like This, Catby Emily Cheney Neville.
Grades 7 and 8: The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling,Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles, Esperanza Risingby Pam Munoz Ryan, The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz, Holesby Louis Sachar.
Grades 9 and 10: Up a Road Slowly and Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Wish You Well by David Baldacci.
Grades 11 and 12: The Pigman by Paul Zindel, The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Great Expectations and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
