2020 Reading Recap – Read Aloud Edition
As 2020 is coming to a close, it’s always fun to assess our reading over the year. I keep a log of all the books Claire and I read together – whether it’s for school or just for fun. I tallied up the chapter books we read together in 2020. Our grand total was 34! Most of them fell into the classic or fantasy genre, but we also read some mysteries, contemporaries and funny books.
Claire and I looked our list over and thought it would be fun to share our top 10 favorite read alouds of 2020. I’m including the books in the order we read them, rather than a countdown. We couldn’t agree on the order, so this is much simpler.
(This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase a product from a link on this page. To read more about this, check out our disclosure page here. Thanks for supporting Beautiful Minutiae!)
Those of you who’ve regularly read my reading posts know that I absolutely love Cornelia Funke. Inkheart is one of my all time favorite middle grade books. So I really enjoyed reading Igraine the Brave with Claire.
Igraine’s parents are magicians, but Igraine doesn’t want to follow in their footsteps. She wants to be a brave knight! When their magical castle comes under siege and her parents are incapacitated, can Igraine save the day?
You’re probably already familiar with the plot of A Little Princess, but in case you aren’t … Sara Crewe has always stayed with her father in India, but he decides that she is old enough to go to a boarding school. He wants his little princess to become a proper lady and get a good education in England. But when Captain Crewe tragically passes away and all the finery she has been accustomed to is taken away, can Sara still behave like a princess? This is such a beautiful story of kindness and resilience.
Sharing A Little Princess with Claire was one of the highlights of my reading year. It was a book I absolutely loved as a child. Claire’s kind, imaginative spirit reminds me so much of Sara. We read it over the course of a few days when she was sick with the flu and it was a great way to spend her recovery.
Alice loves her Aunt Polly. She spends every waking moment at her aunt’s bakery, helping and just spending time with her. Aunt Polly’s pies are famous throughout the entire country! When Polly dies, Alice is devastated. Even worse, Polly has left her secret pie crust recipe to her cat, Lardo. How can you leave a recipe to a cat? Can Alice find the truth?
This was a family read aloud. Afterwards, we had a book club party with lots and lots of pie. It was a bright spot during shelter in place earlier this year.
Emily’s parents are determined to live in every single state in the country, so Emily is used to change. The one constant in her life has been Book Scavenger – an online game where people leave clues as to where they’ve hidden books. So when her parents announce they are moving to San Francisco – the home of Book Scavenger’s creator, Garrison Griswold – Emily is over the moon. However, when Mr. Griswold is shot and Emily stumbles upon what she believes is his latest game, things get quite mysterious. Can Emily and her new friend James discover the answers?
We listened to this on audiobook on our way to visit my parents. I’d recommend the physical copy over the audiobook (didn’t enjoy the narrator), but it was still a wonderful story! Lots of literary references, ciphers, secret codes and more!
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
Emmy is a really good kid. She gets good grades and tries her hardest to be as good as possible. Maybe then her parents won’t travel so much and she’ll get to see them more. But one day, Emmy discovers she can understand what their classroom pet (a rat) is saying! It changes Emmy’s life forever.
I can’t give a whole lot of information about this book without giving away spoilers, but this book was a lot of fun! It was so unique, funny, and a bit strange. We read it together in June and still quote it to one another often.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Minli lives in a poor village at the base of Fruitless Mountain. Her greatest joy is the stories her father tells her in the evenings. Her mother gets fed up with all of the nonsense, but Minli believes that if she can find the Man in the Moon from her father’s tales, he can change her family’s fate.
If I could choose an all time favorite book for this year, it’s probably this one. It expertly weaves the plot with Chinese legends and manages to tie them all together in the end. Minli is a wonderful, brave protagonist and her adventures are exciting.
The man has a lot of chickens, but the little red hen is his favorite. When her toes freeze and fall off, the flock no longer accepts her. A big black dog is looking for a home with a kind master and he, too, is drawn to protect and love the little red hen.
This book is slow paced, but it’s such a sweet tale of friendship. We absolutely fell in love with the big black dog in this story.
I’m fairly certain this book is out of print, but you could probably find it used somewhere or just borrow it from your library.
The Adventures of Miss Petitfour
Miss Petitfour loves adventure! Whenever the wind blows, she uses her tablecloth as a sail and travels through the air … trailed by her 16 cats. Each chapter in this short book is an adventure they go on.
This book was silly, heart warming and so fun! I particularly loved the way they tied in information about stories within the story (such as explaining digressions while going into one). When we finished this book from the library, I immediately went online and ordered a copy. I have never done that before, but this book was so good, I just knew we had to own it! If you’re a cat lover, this book is a must read.
Nim lives on an island with her dad and her best friends – a seal and an iguana. When her father doesn’t return from a scientific exploration and a storm is on the way, can Nim save the day?
This is a short book, but it’s packed full of adventure! Claire was on the edge of her seat during the last portion of the book and kept begging, “one more chapter!” The descriptions of the island are so colorful and bring the story to life.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car
When the Pott family finally has enough money to buy a car, they have their heart set on a very unusual looking car. After some fixing up, the family learns that the car is magical and dub her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This book details the adventures they go on and how Chitty Chitty Bang Bang helps save the day!
This was one of our last read alouds of the year and it was a really fun one! Interestingly enough, this book was written by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame). It lives up to his name with lots of explosions, a heist, some villains and a pretty cool car. I’ve never seen the Disney movie based on the book, but I highly recommend the book. It’s a lot of fun!
What were some of the books you and your kiddos enjoyed this year? I’d love to hear it in the comments below!
4 Comments
Kayla
These all sound good and we haven’t read any of them. There are a couple I haven’t heard of either. Thank you for sharing!
admin
I’m glad it was helpful! We read a lot of good ones this year! What was your favorite read aloud this year?
Kayla
We have definitely read more picture books than chapter books. Their attention levels only hold still for a chapter at a time, but I’d have to say Charlotte’s Web. It was neat getting to share that with them since I loved it when I was a kid.
admin
Charlotte’s Web was the first chapter book I read to Claire and she loved it. It’s one of my favorites … even though it makes me cry at the end 😂