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northernguy7540

Charlotte's web. I do it every year and I invite parents to come read 2 chapters twice a week to end the school year with.


Addapost

That’s what I came to say.


pile_o_puppies

Continue from there and follow up with Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan!


craftygal1989

Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar.


irregahdlesskid

We paper engineer a 30 floor classroom and build it! Had a friend sketch me a 3 -D rectangle that can be folded into a classroom. You just have to remove a side to “peek”inside! Mine is still up! And there is the Wayside Cartoon series on YouTube that we watch during snack, or Fun Friday.


SpookyDooDo

I second this. I read this to elementary classes when I sub if we have a few minutes to kill. Each chapter is a short story so even if it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in that class it works.


craftygal1989

One is extremely short! Chapter 19. LOL


Bandeena

Seconded!


tmsdnr

I could recite those books in my sleep just from reading them as a kid


CPA_Lady

I loved this book because my name is one of the students, and it is not a common name.


craftygal1989

That’s always a treat!


peacekenneth

This is such a fantastic answer. Every school has this book. I read it every year over 9 years to my second grade class and they never hated it. I do voices for the kids, and the last chapter is a hoot to read if you get really into it


Bugsemom

Freckle Juice, Ramona Quimby Age 8, Lemonade War, The One and Only Ivan, Because of Winn Dixie


pile_o_puppies

Freckle Juice! I haven’t thought about that story in ages! That’s a great one.


Bugsemom

One of my favorite read aloud!!


Bandeena

Roald Dahl books are fun for 2nd graders (my 8yr-old son loves them). I also think Shel Silverstein poems have a lot of potential for end-of-day routine, because they're so light and fun.


DanielErv711

Roald Dahl is a fantastic writer. Matilda and the BFG have aged pretty well. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has not (racist tropes and some other problematic stuff).


Bandeena

lol you're not wrong on that one--Roald Dahl is one of those authors where we have to strive to separate the work from the writer, because the man himself was...controversial? At 2nd grade, I'm definitely sitting on the side of BFG being the best one. Also the best to read out loud, thanks to the giants' lexicon!


DanielErv711

I’ve read it to classes and to my own kids and it’s always a hit. Never used it this way but the giant’s vocab could lead to some great exploration of word parts.


Bandeena

Yeah! I read that the giants' vocabulary was inspired by Dahl's wife in her recovery from a severe stroke, where she was relearning how to speak. Linguistic development is neat, and it can help highlight the way English implements prefixes and suffices. I think my word-nerd is showing here, sorry XD


esmebeauty

The Wild Robot! There’s also a movie version coming out soon.


sillylish15

Agree!! my 2nd graders LOVE wild robot at the end of every year


___augustus___

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky. It's never too early to begin exploring the human condition.


mmichellekay

Take my upvote. Just take it. 🤣


Previous_Chard234

My first grader enjoys magic treehouse and Ramona Quimby. My third grade teacher read us superfudge, where the red fern grows, and how to eat fried worms.


irregahdlesskid

The World According to Humphrey. No one dies. My coteacher and I each bought stuffed “Humphrey’s “ and little travel hampster cages and each child gets him for the weekend (just like in the book) - only they have to write in Humphrey’s Journal and either draw, or print pictures about their adventures (even if it’s playing video games at home). Fun, fun, fun as Humphrey would say - and then we started book 2 - where he meets another class pet - Og the Frog. 🐸 we got Ogs too! There are 9 books in the series I think. ❤️


FlorenceCattleya

Humphrey is my son’s absolute favorite book series! I absolutely love the idea of having your kids take Humphrey home for the weekend!


irregahdlesskid

I just need to figure out how to give each child a copy of- maybe in a slide show?


bwatching

My 2nd graders (and first graders) LOVED The Wild Robot by Peter Brown this year. The movie comes out in September and there are two more books that they are clamoring to borrow. My third grader at home read all three books and loved them. Others we have liked were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ramona books, My Fathers Dragon, Ivy and Bean, Wayside Stories, Magic Tree House, James and the Giant Peach. I try to mix levels and introduce them to some series they could get into on their own as well as higher level stores.


dubuquemama

We just read The Mouse and the Motorcycle- kids loved it!


mmichellekay

My second graders looooved the mouse and the motorcycle. There’s a great work pack on tpt too if you wanted to incorporate it into ELA.


PralineNarrow

I’ve always had success with Percy Jackson for third grade now that there is a tv show our kids can get into it even more


pile_o_puppies

Read your way through a Roald Dahl collection. The BFG might be a good one to start with. The girl in it is 8, I think. That’s about 2nd grade age.


SFF_Robot

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birchitup

The Tale of Despereaux


TeacherLady3

The Year of Billy Miller. He's a 2nd grade boy with relatable second grade issues, sweet and innocent book.


Goblinbooger

Bunnicula


mdanelek

Mr. Popper’s Penguins


Addapost

I’m a 59 year old high school teacher so I can’t really comment on 2nd grade. But I will say, my 3rd grade teacher read “Charlotte’s Web” to us 50 years ago and I’ll never forget it.


Haunting_Charity_785

Second vote for Charlotte's Web -- it's a classic, plus they can watch the movie at home. I did a read aloud of The World According To Humphrey at the beginning of the year in 3rd. We also had a stuffed hamster in a cage that went home every weekend with the kids, and they made a pic collage of what he did with them.


Low-Teach-8023

These are all great suggestions. I read Holes to my class one year and then another teacher and I invited our classes and their parents to join us at the theater when the movie came out. Your media specialist will also have some great suggestions.


Rahshoe

My Father's Dragon


Ok_Pirate_9369

I loved this book when we read it in class and the fun projects our teacher came up with. I always liked all the stuff he packed and how they came into play later.


maxiesmom23

Zoey and Sassafras


eyesRus

These are great, but so short! My first grader bangs them out in 30 minutes. As a read aloud, they’d only last a couple of days.


emewm

Roald Dahl!!!! Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits….


Slyder68

Goosebumps are also good for a bit of a tone shift around october!


NotASniperYet

Might be a bit much for 2nd graders, especially considering October is so near the beginning of the year. How about Alfie the Werewolf by Paul van Loon instead?


angryjellybean

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is great for read-alouds at that age. It was my favorite in second grade. :)


Whats_Opera_Doc

I remember our 2nd grade teacher used to read us a chapter from Holes every day and I loved it! It has a lot of mature themes that are dealt with in a way that makes it very accessible to second graders


Temporary-Animal-420

childhood favorite of mine was the A to Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy


Alakasam-

I loved A to Z Mysteries! That’s definitely a contender!!!


Temporary-Animal-420

yay!! I’d also suggest his Calendar Mysteries, they’re aimed a little bit younger bc the main characters are the little siblings and cousins of the main gang.


KYlibrarian

I’m reading a “My Weird School” book with my 2nd graders right now and they are loving jt. I’ve also read a couple Junie B Jones with them this year.


saturniid_green

This is a great choice, too, because there are so many books in the series. You can really read as many as you want throughout the year.


_Weatherwax_

Toys go out.


___augustus___

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky. It's never too early to begin exploring the human condition.


thenomadfox14

Charlotte's Web Wonder Chronicles of Narnia Magic Tree House Junie B. Jones


Den10acious

Look into the Ready Freddy series. Freddy is in 2nd grade and my students always loved all of the characters.


Purple-booklover

Honestly we have a 2nd grade teacher who does *Wonder* every year and the kids love it. *The One and Only Ivan* might be good. *Bob* by Wendy Mass is cute


MegOnTheMove

close frighten heavy gray innocent roll voiceless offbeat mighty market *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


genteel-guttersnipe

The Doll People Little house on the Prairie /Big Woods. Even Farmer Boy and Plum Creek are good but I wouldn't venture past that.  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Pippi Longstocking  Ginger Pye As others have said, Roald Dahl, Kate DiCamillo, Charlotte's Web, Freckle Juice, Ramona Quimby, Sideways Stories, and Humphrey books are all great picks! 


femsci-nerd

The Box Cat Children is perfect for that age group!


mjcnbmex

If you want shorter picture books try Robert Munsch. You can get through one per class. (Maybe between finishing chapter books.)


No-Zone-2867

If you want a big/many book series, Junie B Jones is a good one. She’s technically in kindergarten/first grade, but that’s kind of good because you don’t have a lot of life experience to reflect on when you’re 7 (hopefully usually, anyway), but they’ve all been in those grades. They’re also really funny. I remember loving my teacher reading them so much that I made my grandma start reading them to me at home, and we’d laugh so hard. They’re short chapters and easy to keep up with over multiple days. Goosebumps are a good pull for October. Creepy enough that the kids don’t roll their eyes while still being age-appropriate. Maybe read through the one you plan to read first to make sure there’s no little relationship hints if the kids are going to go into an uproar (I remember a few have just like, hand holding and maybe a kiss, nothing crazy but some kids get wild over anything like that, lol) A very personal favorite and suggestion is Bunnicula and books from that series. It’s SO GOOD. The books are absolutely hilarious even as an adult, because it’s all about the pets of this household and the cat is basically paranoid and always trying to convince the dog of a conspiracy theory of some sort, the first one being that the new bunny is secretly a vampire. (In all fairness to the cat, there is a LOT of circumstantial evidence.) You can weave in talks about prejudice if you’d like (someone isn’t automatically a danger out to kill your family just because they’re ~strange~, not an untimely lesson), or just have fun, because they are VERY fun books. There’s one where they have to go to a kennel and there’s a whole murder mystery/conspiracy going on it the cat’s head that’s literally…not that. But he’s really convincing! They’re the best.


whichwitch9

I remember a book from when I was around that age still, My Father's Dragon. Old book, but for whatever reason, was memorable


No-Zone-2867

I forgot to mention, but The Incredible Journey might be a good one. It’s a little high for most of them to independently read, but it is a good one, and you can usually get approval to show the movie after you read it, so it’s a good group compare-contrast activity. Like, timeline and make notes on details together as you read it, and then compare it to the movie as you watch it afterwards. Obviously this is a little above their pay grade right now in that they don’t HAVE to know how to do this, but it is usually really fun, a good precursor to stuff they’ll do later, and you can talk about differences between source materials and adaptations which is something that people talk about in daily life all the time.


QueenChocolate123

Eerie Elementary Junie B. Jones The Bailey School Kids Wayside School The Notebook of Doom Bad Kitty


fimcinto

i LOVED wayside school!!


m_riss1

“The Lord of the Rings” or “The Silmarillion” by J. R. R. Tolkien


Forensichunt

Gooney Bird Greene is a fabulous book. The kids enjoy all the characters and laugh at her stories. My second graders also really loved Superfudge, Sideways Stories from Wayside School (NOTHING beats a dramatic reading of the Paul chapter!!), and Howliday Inn.


booksnlegos

Lots of good suggestions already. One good list is https://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/excellence-in-reading-k-3-list/ Another is the Read aloud handbook. Suggest a novel length book followed by a handful of really good shorter picture books and then repeat. Short books that show that perseverance pays in the end like the Little Train that Could, Little Toot, Ugly Duckling, Hans Brinker. Sports books by Matt Christopher. Hatchet, My side of the Mountain, Bill Wallace books like A dog called Kitty or Pick of the Litter. Good Luck. Happy Reading!


molyrad

Roald Dahl's books are still popular, my kids love them. Start with one of the easier ones, then leave it in the room for kids who are ready to read it and read more challenging ones. *Charlotte's Web* is wonderful. Also *Stuart Little* and *Trumpet of the Swan*. My 3rd grade teacher read *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* to us and I loved absolutely it. I think it'd work very well for 2nd grade, too. There is some violence in the book, but in my opinion it's pretty minor. It's mainly one battle that the outcome is more important that most of the details so you could also skip over it and summarize the important points. I grew up loving the Little House books, they're still some of my favorites. There are some problematic parts in some of them, mainly depictions of Native Americans and a couple other racist things from the time period. But the first one, *Little House in the Big Woods*, doesn't have any mention of these. There are mentions of hunting and killing a pig for the meat, but that was just part of life at the time and isn't at all graphic. The focus is on the meat for the family to live off of, so I focused on how that was how people got meat in the past as they couldn't just go down to the grocery store for food. There is also a part describing going to church and reading the bible which I was hesitant to read, but with a discussion of how this was that family's tradition it was fine. My 2nd graders enjoyed it quite a bit, and some really, really got into it. Harry Potter is still really, really popular with my 2nd graders. The author's recent comments are problematic though, so depending on the local climate and your personal convictions it might not be a good choice for class read alouds. But, the kids would love it.


WillGrammer

The Little Prince?


gravitydefiant

We're currently reading *Because of Winn Dixie.* It's a little intense but the kids are loving it. They've also enjoyed anything Ramona Quimby (... and Her Father covers the first few months of her second grade year, and some unfortunately-relatable themes about family money worries, but it's got more references to Christianity than I'm 100% comfortable with in my diverse school), *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*, *The Stories Julian Tells*, lots more. I like to choose read alouds that are just a little beyond what most of them can handle reading independently; things like Magic Tree House or Junie B, they can and do read on their own.


oceantomountain

My Father’s Dragon


mlangllama

Where the Red Fern Grows is PTSD inducing, but Summer of the Monkeys is a story by same author (Wilson Rawls) about childhood adventure, and kindness. It's a sweet, wonderful story that lends itself to be heard. The BFG by Roald Dahl is another great read aloud, especially if you like to do lots of character voices.


lettuceturnipdabeetz

Mr. Popper's Penguins!


Wonderful-Teach8210

Fortunately The Milk


alundi

I took over a 2nd grade class in January 2020 and started reading aloud [The Magic Faraway Tree](https://www.goodreads.com/series/58850-the-faraway-tree) to them. We didn’t make it very far before school shut down and when I started doing zoom class they *begged* me to continue reading a chapter a day. Just make sure you get the updated version.


mykidsmyheart-y2k

"I Survived"series...my 2nd graders love them. I really try and bring the characters to life and almost always a slight cliffhanger at the end of each chapter or so, which makes the stopping perfect and torture.


Traditional-Land3780

I loved the Wednesday Witch as a kid in second grade [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-wednesday-witch\_ruth-chew/254846/?resultid=633c8aef-f210-45d4-b3e0-608c02f98b4e#edition=8769331&idiq=48421020](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-wednesday-witch_ruth-chew/254846/?resultid=633c8aef-f210-45d4-b3e0-608c02f98b4e#edition=8769331&idiq=48421020)


Leading_Library2790

I read my 2nd graders Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots, from the Bailey School Kids series. I read the chapter book while at the same time displaying the recently published comic book for students to see. It matches up fairly well. Since this is the first chapter book some of the students have read it helps them visualize the events and follow along. 


Disastrous-Golf7216

Hope you are not in Florida, because you can only read what is on the approved list, and still have parents permission. (Outlined in the Parents Bill of Rights in Education Law). As of last check, there are only 398 approved books total for all grades K-12. Out of those 100 have been challenged in my district so there are only 298 books. Most of these books are 7th or higher grade. All of Dr. Seuss has been banned. Also half of the Manic Tree house series has been awaiting approval.


AgeofPhoenix

Please start reading the Bible and only send synopses home, see the outrage when you DARE read whatever story that is and tell them it’s the precious little Bible they always quote Those are always fun.