Stick to Reading Levels?

by | Reading Aloud | 2 comments

Recently I purchased a copy of George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster. The recommended reading level begins at 4th grade, yet is seems like excellent read-aloud material. Is there a compelling reason why I should wait until my knowledge-level children are older before using this as the backbone for a history timeline? Pamela, Chicago

I suggest that you might want to ignore reading levels. Here is the rule I followed — if I liked the book and wanted to read it, then I read it aloud to my children, no matter what the reading level was. The summer of 1981, the year Ava was born and Nathan our oldest was 5, I read aloud through the works of Jules Verne. Oh, that was fun! Laurie

2 Comments

  1. Megan Volmer

    We are nearly finished Augustus Caesar’s World by Genevieve Foster and my kids love it. We read it aloud one or two chapters at a time. My ten year old begs for more. 6 and 7 year old enjoy it and though 4 year old sits quietly and I don’t really now how much she is getting she is right in on the pretend that they do relating to this book.

    My then 8 year old daughter and I listened to Around the World in 80 days on audio and loved it. We were preparing to move and I painted and painted and painted. When the littles went down for naps I painted and we listened. I want to read more of Verne’s works.

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  2. Pamela

    This question looks familiar, Laurie! From a long time ago, perhaps? =)

    As it turns out, I wasn’t very pleased with the humanist worldview I perceived in “George Washington’s World,” so we never used it in our study of history. I know a lot of good people will disagree with me on this point, but I feel like it’s at least worth mentioning.

    Thanks for your help! =)

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