And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon
By Janet Stevens
(Harcourt Inc. 2001)
Reading Time: 14 minutes
Ages: 2 and older

A highly original, absolutely delightful spoof of "Hey, Diddle Diddle" for all those who wondered what really happens after dish and spoon run away as well as those who never before thought of it. The readalouder can have an enormous amount of fun reading some lines with incredulity, others matter-of-factly all the while building excitement through the pace and changes in inflection as cat, dog and cow realize the next morning that dish and spoon did not come back as usual, and thus the trio rushes off to find them before the moon comes out.

The Gumdrop Tree
By Elizabeth Spurr
(Hyperion Books 1994)
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Ages: 2 and older

If read with smiles and laughter to children ages 2 and older, the readalouder will impart the humor Spurr intends in this imaginative tale of gumdrops planted, sown and harvested.

The Jester Has Lost His Jingle
By David Saltzman
Afterword by Maurice Sendak
(Jester Company 1995)
Reading Time: 11 minutes
Ages: 2 and older

A joyful exuberant fun-filled read-aloud, and there's a wonderful message here besides. When it appears that the world has lost its sense of humor, the King banishes the Jester. Down, but not out, the Jester and Pharley, his alter ego, search the universe, ultimately finding and reinstating laughter to its rightful place: that of regenerating the human spirit.

In creating a book for children ages 2 and older which invites the readalouder to perform, rather than merely read, Saltzman has pioneered a new genre: the laughalong. For never has the adage "laugh and the world laughs with you" been more apropos than when Saltzman provides the book's narrator with "laugh lines" which compel listeners and readalouders to laugh aloud together.

Besides providing terrific entertainment, the book provides an alternative to anyone faced with adversity, whether it be financial, emotional or physical: "I turn my sadness upside down and stand it on its head," says the Jester. Maurice Sendak's afterword makes clear that David Saltzman did just that in his life as well as in his art. Instead of wallowing in self-pity for the Hodgkins disease, which claimed his life before age 23, he created a magnificently illustrated ebulliently told story in which he left laughter as his legacy.

The Tale of Custard the Dragon
By Ogden Nash
(Little Brown and Company 1995)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Ages: 2 and older

No one can match Nash for his wonderful poetic folly, his facility with the language, his ability to find just the right word to rhyme without ever writing sing-song prose. If only more authors could learn and appropriate that style, we'd have less doggerel and more really poetic fun. Readalouders will love portraying the "realio, trulio little pet dragon" to listeners 2 to 102.

The Traveling Musicians of Bremen
Retold by P.K. Page
(Little, Brown and Company 1991)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Ages 2 and older

This is a terrific rendition of a favorite familiar to older generations. The book begs to be read aloud, preferably by the uninhibited. Complete with hee-haws, meows, and cockle-doodle-bow-wow-wows, told partly in prose, partly in rhyme and occasional song, it's a book that is fun for ages 2 to 92.

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter
By Diane Stanley
(Morrow Junior Books 1997)
Reading Time: 17 minutes
Ages: 3 and older

The heroine outsmarts the ruler and in so doing devises a plan to feed the Kingdoms hungry. When the King offers her the traditional role of Queen, our heroine turns down the proposal, requests and receives appointment as his Prime Minister, and the people of the kingdom are happily ever after. To be read with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

Cloudland
By John Burningham
(Dial Books for Young Readers 1996)
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Ages: 4 and older

A modern happily-ever-after fantasy where a young boy's accident turns into an adventure- a whole new world among the cloud children, and ultimately – when severe homesickness hits – turns him home. Reassuring to youngsters who may dream about life afar but prefer the security of home and family. The readalouder can alter pace and volume with each new phase of adventure and misadventure.

The Carousel
By Liz Rosenberg
(Harcourt, Brace and Company 1995)
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Ages: 4 and older

Mystical, magical carousel rides are the theme of both this and a similar title Returning Nicholas by Deborah Durland Desaix published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1995 (reading time 6 minutes). In both books, mystical, magical carousel rides are points of departure from ordinary to extraordinary events, when painted horses take off and fly through fields and air; and in both books persons long gone are very much part of the story. The readalouder can read each book quietly and calmly: the events of the stories create their own excitement for children ages 4 and older.

The Sweetest Fig
By Chris Van Allsburg
(Houghton Mifflin 1993)
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Ages: 4 and older

This sure-to-become-a-classic modern day fable of retributive justice enables the readalouder to play the most unsympathetic, cruel-to-his-animal, selfish antihero, Monsieur Bibot, with great flourish to laughing listeners ages 4 and older.

Enchantment in the Garden
By Shirley Hughes
(Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books 1997)
Reading Time: 22 minutes
Ages: 5 and older

Tells a magical tale of a lonely little girl and her statue-playmate who is turned to life, then turned back to statue. Yet whether made of stone or of flesh her playmate's magic remains, and with it the theme of reuniting. The author transmits the belief that someday, somewhere, somehow once again the two will be together in life, implying a classic fairy-tale happily-ever-after ending. A book to be read with wonderment; the little girl in a quiet, questioning voice; the statue-boy with sureness and resonance.

The Changeling
By Selma Lagerlof
(Alfred A. Knopf 1992)
Reading Time: 8 minutes
Ages: 5 and older

That this book reads with an unusually well-developed cadence is no accident. The author was the first woman winner of a Nobel Literature Prize (in 1909), and though this book was recently translated from Swedish to English, translator Susanna Stevens kept its meter and its charm intact. The story of a wicked troll who exchanged her own ugly, troublesome son for the beautiful son of a farmer and his wife, Lagerlof gently spins a tale of love, compassion and kindness which win out over the forces of evil.

The Irish Cinderlad
By Shirley Climo
(Harper Collins 1996)
Reading Time: 13 minutes
Ages: 5 and up

Blarney it's not. In her Cinderella research, Climo has found a male bigfoot cinderlad, and retold the tale with much gusto. What fun for the readalouder to alternate reading the very wicked stepmother and sisters with the calm well-intentioned cinderlad and sweet lass of a princess. Besides them, the cast includes a dragon, serpent and a magical fairy godfather Bull.

The Korean Cinderella
By Shirley Climo
(HarperCollins 1993)
Reading Time: 20 minutes, including excellent author's note
Ages: 5 and older

To Koreans, our western version of Cinderella is the variation; but to most Americans, the Korean tale of Pear Blossom, her wicked stepmother, one stepsister and the tokgabis (spirits) is a variation on the Cinderella familiar to us. Pear Blossom's story is far less glamorous; with no fancy dress ball or beautifully fairy godmother. It's more elemental, taking place in home, fields and culminating at a village festival. Nonetheless, the fundamental theme of good and virtue triumphing over evil prevails. The author provides an interesting note theorizing that the tokgabis, spirits of the dead, are the spirits of Pear Blossom's mother come to rescue her. To be read to children over 5 with an air of excitement and expectation.

By Tom Paxton
(Morrow Junior Books 1996)
Reading Time: 11 minutes
Ages: 5 and older

A charmingly told and beautifully illustrated original tale in which we finally get the scoop on the tooth fairy's origins. The readalouder can read the parts of the fairy child and the mortal child with enthusiasm, while the Fairy Queen can be read with an aura of infinite patience and understanding. A good springboard for discussion of friendship, to be sure, but basically it's the simplicity and originality of this tale that makes it so special.

Edmund and the White Witch
Adapted from the Chronicles of Narnia
By C. S. Lewis
(Harper Collins Publishers 1997)
Reading Time: 19 minutes
Ages 6 and older

An easy picturebook introduction to the adventures of four siblings when they go through the wardrobe and arrive in Narnia. It can be read with mystery and excitement as enchantment becomes a possibility. A springboard for discussion of issues as wide-ranging as when to trust that things are what they seem, when to trust a stranger, and when to trust the imagination and have a good time doing so!

Here Come the Aliens!
By Colin McNaughton
(Candlewick Press 1995)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Ages: 6 and older

While the illustrations intentionally range from the repulsive to the revolting, it's a gem of a text. The readalouder can entertain listeners of all ages by reading rhythmically, without singsong, and emphatically concentrating on the refrain. Though it stands alone as first-class entertainment, McNaughton has created a terrific springboard for discussion of group difference and culturally determined standards of appearance.

Cinder-Elly
By Frances Minters
(Viking Press 1994)
Reading Time: 13 minutes
Ages: 8 and older

A modern Cinder-Elly finds her prince on the basketball court while he finds her by her class sneaker. A stand-up comedy act for the readalouder whose opportunities to contrast the cruel stepmother and sisters, with the "god-mother" abound. Stripped of fairytale setting and dialogue, and placed in a contemporary mode, Cinder-Elly more clearly than ever becomes a triumph of the forces of good. However, because it's set in high school and is clearly a parody, this version seems more appropriate for children 8 and older than for younger children.