Fantasy Read Alouds
I was so blessed to have parents who read to me.
Reading was something my mom actually prayed that I would like to do.
I’m thinking that there may have been times she regretted that prayer a little… like when I rigged up a rope and pulley system so I could quickly flip the lights off while sitting in my bed across the room so that my parents “wouldn’t know” that I’d been up reading past my bedtime.
I do realize now that they knew and I was the idiot.
Or maybe when I had to be called multiple times to come complete a chore because I was holed up in my room absolutely living inside a book.
But my parents continued to encourage my reading anyway. They read out loud to me. It was through these read-alouds that I first fell in love with books. It was through these sweet times of being read to that I fell in love with fantasy and adventure and heroes and noble themes of honor and loyalty and standing up for what is right and good.
Now, for some reason, not all books are created equal when it comes to ease of reading out loud. There’s something about the way certain words and sentences are constructed that make them easier to read aloud.
So I thought I’d list a few of my favorite fantasy books to read out loud here — because it’s national read aloud day, and because I firmly believe that children should be read to as often as possible and for as long as possible. Even though my kids are getting a lot bigger and all four of them are capable readers… they still love being read to. And my husband and I still love reading to them. Something about hearing stories read out loud is good for the soul, I think. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been rediscovering my love of audio books. Because reading isn’t just about your eyes moving across the words. It’s about ingesting a story, stepping into a character’s shoes and walking around with them for a while.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
This was the book that launched me into the world of reading on my own. It was the first book to truly capture my imagination. Little 7-year old Jenelle absolutely could not wait for bedtime to find out what happened next to Meg and Charles Wallace. I snuck the book off my dad’s nightstand and curled up with it and read the whole rest of the book that day.
I still remember the disappointment in my dad’s eyes when I told him what I’d done.
I realize now that he wasn’t disappointed that I had taken the book and read it. He was disappointed that he didn’t get to read it to me, experience it with me, and he thought that I had “outgrown” being read to. Which I absolutely had not!
I remember he asked me if I didn’t want him to read to me, or if I wanted to pick another book. I remember feeling more than a little startled. No! I still wanted to hear him read the rest of it. I just… I needed to know how it ended!
Interestingly enough, though there were books that I read and then recommended he read out loud to my siblings and me… I never read ahead of him like that again. It wasn’t that I thought I wasn’t allowed to… but I think in my heart even at that young age I realized that in the future, I wanted our read alouds to be something we experienced together.
I have since read this one to my own kids, and it is a very fun book to read out loud. Highly recommend.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Another absolute classic and pillar of the fantasy genre. This one is great for younger kids who are a little squirmy. It reads in such a flowing way, my throat never gets tired when reading The Chronicles of Narnia out loud.
All seven books are just wonderful. And I’m not here to tell you what order to read them in, I’ve read them myself in various orders and I’ve even just picked up one book to re-read at particular times without reading through the entire series every time (something one of my friends once told me she couldn’t even comprehend). I think starting with LWW is great, but there’s a lot to be said for reading chronologically, too. Any way you read them, this series is just lovely.
The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye
One of my all-time favorites, this story about a princess whose fairy godmother decides to bless her with the gift of being “ordinary” is just darling.
It’s a quick little read, fairly short, but it is just so… pretty. Words can be pretty, my friends, and the ones in this book are gorgeous. That’s not to say that they are old-fashioned or archaic… it’s written in very plain, ordinary English that is easy to read… but the words are crafted with beauty and care.
And the story is brilliant.
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
My dad read us these after he read us The Lord of the Rings, and there are a LOT of similarities. But not in a bad way. This is kind of “Tolkien Lite” and is to this day one of my favorite series. Full of adventure and coming-of-age, the world of Prydain is a great one to spend time in. The characters are wonderful, and the story is fantastic.
It’s perfect for introducing kids to the fantasy genre.
Is it a perfect story? No. But it’s beautiful and engaging and an easy read aloud.
Disney Fairy Series by Gail Carson Levine
This trilogy is super fun to read out loud. If you ever wanted to spend more time in Never Land… but were more interested in the fairies than the lost boys… then this is the story for you!
The first two books in this series pre-date the Tinker Bell movie, so that’s kind of fun. Since (had to do a little research for this one) Disney was the publisher for these books, you do get to see some of the characters in the books cross-over into the realm of the movies… and this was one of those movie franchises where I felt like the movies actually got better with each sequel, a rare feat indeed!
Ahem, but we’re here to talk about BOOKS and these are super fun to read aloud. The audio versions are pretty good, too.
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
You’d think that the more archaic language that MacDonald lived and wrote in would make his books hard to read out loud.
You would be wrong.
MacDonald’s writing flows so beautifully that you won’t find yourself tripping over your tongue like you might with other older pieces of literature. And the story of the Princess and the Goblin is one that really shouldn’t be missed.
The Magic Bicycle series by John Bibee
This one is another favorite I grew up with and is a great one both for adventure, and for helping children understand the reality of spiritual warfare. Also, what kid wouldn’t want a flying bicycle? I sure did!
The Cooper Family Adventures by Frank Peretti
If you love Indiana Jones and stories about lost treasure AND you like stories with Biblical roots AND you want a story where you get to go on adventures with a whole family where the adults aren’t morons… then I highly recommend the Cooper Family Adventures.
A little on the creepy side, I haven’t read these to my kids yet because I’m pretty sure they would give my boys nightmares. But I remember loving them at a young age… I was the kid who kind of enjoyed being “deliciously scared” as Anne of Green Gables might say… so if you have a kid who isn’t kept up at night by scary things, then I highly recommend these!
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Ahhh, a classic. I love Peter Pan. I love that it’s a stand-alone, as well, so if you want to read a story out loud to your kids but don’t want to commit to a whole series of stories for months on end… this is a great one.
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
I came to this one later in life, finding it after I had kids of my own, but this sweet story about kind of hobbit-like folk is a cozy, adventurous read that just makes you want to snuggle into a blanket and spend the afternoon reading it out loud for one more chapter to find out what will happen next.
There is a lot of uniqueness to this book, and I loved it to pieces.
I will say that I didn’t love the sequel as much, but this book wraps up so perfectly that you really don’t need the sequel.
My Books
Because I wrote my books specifically for my dad to read out loud to my siblings, I did a lot of reading them out loud when I was drafting them. I have been told by fans and readers that my books are easy to read out loud, and that always makes me happy, as that was one of my goals when writing them.
They are all available in audio, as well, and you can find them all on Audible below!
My narrators, Benjamin Fife and Brenna Colleen Castor do an absolutely fantastic job with the audio, you should definitely give them a try!
For slightly older readers…
And if you’re looking for something a bit on the longer side, maybe for slightly older kids… I can attest that the City Watch arc of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is fabulously fun to read out loud. Despite the length, I could easily read those out loud for long periods of time. I did not read these to my kids, but I did read them out loud to my husband, and it was great fun.
Far cleaner than I expected when I went in, the Discworld series is a lot of fun. There are a few swear words tossed in there, but nothing too bad and definitely not frequent — I’d say the language is on par with the original Star Wars trilogy. The only reason I’d save it for older kids would simply be that the humor and satire might be above most 10 year olds’ heads, so they wouldn’t “get” the jokes as well. This arc starts with the book, “Guards! Guards!”
How about you? Do you have memories of being read out loud to as a kid? As an adult? Do you read out loud to anyone in your life? What are some of your favorites to read out loud? Do you agree that some books are easier to read out loud than others?