Read Aloud Suggestions

Roald Dahl books (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, BFG) make GREAT read alouds!

If I had to choose one, I'd say the BFG will take you nicely through the winter break and keep you both interested. The story's understandable for little ones when they hear it, but definitely needs to be read aloud (many made up words, mispronunciations written out so that you read them the way the BFG talks.

HTH
T.

Go old school and check out something big, classic, and gorgeously illustrated from the library, such as The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, or D'Aulaire's Greek Mythology. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is also a lovely read-aloud, as is The Hobbit.

Anything by Roald Dahl! My son especially loved Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Witches, but he ended up reading ALL of Dahl's books (once he really started reading on his own) because he was such a fan.
E B White, too, especially Charlotte's Web and Trumpet of the Swan.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Alice in Wonderland.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (that's the first one, not too dark.)

Thousands and thousands of options! I'd take him on a trip to the library, let him pick out what looks good to him and you go pick out what you would like him to hear.

Dr. Seuss comes to mind first - they are very fun to read and listen to - his longer books (ex Horton Hears a Who) will be good for a 7 yo.

At 7, have him read to YOU!

UPDATE: I have to update by saying, I've read your history and am surprised you are trained to teach K-8 and are asking this question, and that you taught elementary school? hmmmm....

My first graders like Ready Freddy books. I enjoy them too, but as a teacher that's to be expected.

My I laws listen to Hank the Cowdog books when they travel. Boys that are 9 & 10 usually like those.

My 8yo son and I are reading A Wrinkle in Time right now together, and he's reading the first book in the Narnia series on his own, but I read it aloud to my oldest son when he was about 7.

Happy Reading!

When my daughter was 7 and in the second grade, my brother lived in London and sent us 2 books that were quite the hit there & just beginning to become popular here in the states. It took us a while, but I read them out loud to her and her younger sister -- and then the next 5 books in the series, as they came out. THe last one, they read on their own as teenagers.

Even now, Harry Potter books are a favorite in my family -- and my girls still MUCH prefer the books to the movies!

Hatchet (and the sequels), and the Magic Tree House books are popular ones with my 8 year old.

Would he be up for Holling Clancy Holling's books: Paddle to the Sea, Pagoo, Minn of the Mississippi,The Tree in the Trail or Seabird? They are all wonderful; we've been reading them over the last year (my son is five, but I think they actually would work really well for 7-10 year old kids.

The books were written at various times between 1941-57 and they have a rich illustrations, great details and both a sense of history, geography and so much more. I found myself most enjoying "Pagoo" (the story of a "pagurus" or hermit crab-- which starts with the tiny crab emerging from it's egg into an ocean of diatoms and zooplankton and documents in great fun detail the story of his maturity and the adventures of living in the tidepool). "Paddle-to-the-Sea" is another fun one, and likely his most well known (an Indian-carved "Indian in a canoe' starts off in the forests of Canada and takes a journey through the great lakes, and then onward to the Atlantic.

My five year old was able to listen to both of these books for about 30 min.+ at a time.

Another favorite is "Life Story" by Virginia Lee Burton ("Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" or "The Little House"). This is the story of life on earth, from the beginning to present times. Another big favorite.

Happy reading!

The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. I loved reading that aloud to my son.

Magic Tree House books bore me. They are too formulaic and predictable to be a good read aloud for an adult.

Other great read alouds my son has enjoyed with me through the years:
The Chronicles of Narnia
Harry Potter
Lemony Snickett (sp?)
Hardy Boys (packed with great vocabulary to discuss)
Box Car Children
James and the Giant Peach
The Golden Compass triology

I asked a similar question a month ago, and one of the commonly suggested series was "The Magic Tree House." A few weeks ago my son and I picked up 5 of the Magic Tree House books at the library, and we are loving them. I read it aloud to him (about 50 pages/night at bedtime), so we read about 1/2 a book a day. It is a good read-aloud series as well.

How about Stuart Little? I loved being read that story when I was his age. Or Trumpet of the Swan. Both stories are by E.B. White.

Have fun!

Where the red fern grows. My son and I loved that one. At one point later on we did The Long Winter by Laura ingles wilder. It made my kids understand need and want and inequities better.

I Love (as does my 8 year old son) the "Magic Treehouse" series. Available at the library. My son loves to read though so we trade off. I get frustrated if he finishes a book without me cuz I really want to hear the end too. :)