5 Great Books to Read Aloud at the Family Dinner Table

One of my favorite things to do is share stories with my family at the dinner table. A few years ago when I was reading Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series my boys asked me each night at dinner to tell them what had happened to Captain Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin. It gave me a chance to share the joys of reading with my sons, and it also encouraged me to keep reading.

Another great way to encourage reading in your kids is to read to them at the beginning of dinner. Reading to your family at dinner has several benefits:

  1. Everyone has to be quiet while you read.
  2. The stories give you something to talk about as a family.
  3. You get the chance to model good reading skills.
  4. You create family memories that last a lifetime.

Reading at the dinner table should be brief, for three reasons: (1) kids have short attention spans; (2) you need time to talk about what you’ve read; and (3) you need to eat.

Here are several titles that contain short readings that are perfect for reading aloud at the dinner table (Be sure to preview each story before reading it to your kids–some of these books contain stories that would launch the kind of discussion you may not be ready for, if you know what I mean):

You can also read from your favorite saint book, Aesop’s fables, or chapters from books like the Magic Treehouse series.

Deacon Nick

Nick Senger is a husband, a father of four, a Roman Catholic deacon and a Catholic school principal. He taught junior high literature and writing for over 25 years, and has been a Catholic school educator since 1990. In 2001 he was named a Distinguished Teacher of the Year by the National Catholic Education Association.

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