Read Aloud Hall of Fame #14: IF I BUILT A SCHOOL by Chris Van Dusen

You need a book. A can’t miss book. A read aloud that will cast a wide net and pull everyone in. This is the idea behind The 100 Scope Notes Read Aloud Hall of Fame.

In each post I’ll share a read aloud that has never let me down. Some will be obvious and popular. Others lesser-known. All will be story time gold.

Click here to see all the Read Aloud Hall of Fame inductees.

If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen

I know that the first book in this series, If I Built a Car won an actual read aloud AWARD, but I think this sequel is even better.

It’s a wish fulfillment-palooza as a kid daydreams about the perfect school. Hover desks! Zip lines! PUPPIES! The array of inventive and jaw-dropping amenities is out of control, brought to midcentury modern life by Van Dusen’s crisp Technicolor artwork.

The rhyming text bounces along, with a number of clever couplets (Van Dusen’s pairing of “thinkin'” and “Abraham Lincoln” is especially inspired). I find myself never getting tired of reading this text – that’s high praise.

It’s also a book that can work for so many different reasons. Maybe you read it because it’s the beginning of the school year. Maybe you read it because you’d like to do a project where kids design their own schools. Or maybe you read it because you want a sure-fire storytime winner. Because that’s what If I Built a School is.

Filed under: Read Aloud Hall of Fame