| Thank You, Mr. Faulker by Patricia Polacco  I cry every time at the end of this book about a teacher who helps a little girl who has dyslexia. |
| If… by Sarah Perry Open the world of imagination with this creative, unique book! Your kids will love this! |
| Ish by Peter Reynolds If you have a little perfectionist in your home, this is a good book to read together! |
| People by Peter Spier  Profusely illustrated book about cultural geography. So much to look at and discuss! |
| Wonder by R.J Palacio My kids loved this book about a boy with a facial disfigurement who decides to go to middle school. Helps build sensitivity to those who are “different.” |
| The Napping House by Audrey Wood Great book for babies and toddlers! |
| The Aesop for Children by Aesop Be sure to get a version illustrated by Milo Winter! This book is on every Classical and Charlotte Mason book list. Not to be missed! |
| A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home by Henry Cole I have such great memories of reading this aloud to my kids. They colored in the Dover Audubon coloring book while I read. We all remember it fondly. |
| Eloise Wilkin Stories by Golden Books Cute Vintage golden books illustrated by Eloise Wilkin! |
| The Empty Pot by Demi Great lesson about living with integrity. |
| The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald My teens bring Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books with them when they babysit. It calms kids right down – they are so enthralled with the stories. Warning: don’t read the chapter “The Selfishness Cure” aloud. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! |
| Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine Every girl I know has loved this book! Excellently done on audio by a child narrator! |
| How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World by Faith McNulty A picture book about the layers of the earth. Kids always love this one! |
| Twenty and Ten by Claire Hutchet Bishop Introduces elementary aged kids to the idea of Jewish children having to hide from German soldiers. May be too scary for sensitive kids. Great book. |
| A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World by Shirley Climo This book was pulled off the shelf often! A great multicultural book for your little princesses! |
| The Llama Who Had No Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman Cute poems that kids love. |
| Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher This book is a hidden gem. It takes a bit to get into it, but push through and you will be SO glad you did! This is the perfect book for fearful/shy children or overly controlling parents. (We’ve got both here!) Beautiful story. |
| National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry by J. Patrick Lewis STUNNING photography paired with excellent poetry. This is one to keep on your shelf and read often! |
| The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Classics that you don’t want to miss. Start with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. End with The Last Battle. Perfect for a wide range of ages. Some parts may be scary for sensitive children. |
| A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park This book impacted my middle daughter so much that she wrote a letter to the author and sent money to an organization that helps provide water for people in impoverished areas of Africa. |
| Elephant and Piggie: The Complete Collection by Mo Willems These books are worth your shelf space. Toddlers love listening to them. Early readers love practicing with them. Older kids love reading them to younger kids. We even did some literary analysis on one of them during middle school. Clever. Cute. Not your average kids’ books. |
| Thomas Edison, Young Inventor by Sue Guthridge Thomas Edison’s mother must have been a saint! All the scrapes he got into were hilarious. We all remember this book fondly.Get all the books in this series! Kids eat them up! There are even more in the vintage set. |
| The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald This book was so captivating that even our neighbor kids listened in! Ages 8+. Look for other fairy tales by this author. |
| Pooh’s Library by A.A. Milne YOU NEED THESE BOOKS! Tippy top #1 read alouds in my opinion for any age! Milne was a genius. These books speak truth. |
| Boynton’s Greatest Hits by Sandra Boynton This author and these books are great for babies and toddlers! So funny! |
| The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt This is a great middle school author! We used this book for literary analysis during school, and it went great! |
| Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Excellent biography of a young woman who gave up her comfortable life to work with orphans in Africa. Not written specifically for children but mine loved it. |
| Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien Really cute book. Even my 14 year old enjoyed hearing it. I’m so impressed at the effort Tolkien put into these letters and drawings/paintings. What a great dad! |
| Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo, Ann Leonori (Translator) This one really made an impression on my children. It made them aware of the issue of child slavery in an age appropriate way. Good book for middle schoolers. |
| The Green Ember by S.D. Smith Great adventure series! |
| A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Difficult language (it’s Dickens!), but we all enjoyed this book. I think it helped that the kids had watched the old Disney cartoon already, so they knew the story line going into it! |
| Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen, Bahija Fattuhi Lovejoy I read this aloud to my 13, 11, and 9 year old daughters. It is a captivating story set in a faraway place and time, and we all loved it. I did skip several parts that I felt were too mature/inappropriate for them. Not sure I’d hand it to them to read, but it was a wonderful read aloud! |
| Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher Spellbinding. The kids reread this many times after I read it to them aloud. |
| D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingri d’Aulaire, Edgar Parin d’Aulaire Years later, my children still smile when this book is mentioned. Great illustrations! Try other books by these authors, too! |
| Music of the Hemispheres by Michael Clay Thompson Excellent introduction to a deeper study of poetry for late elementary or middle school (or beginners of any age). |
| The 13 Clocks by James Thurber  Beautiful language. Odd book. Memorable! |
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 13, 11, 9 year old and I laughed our way through this. One scary scene (for young kids) in the graveyard. Well done on audio! |
| William Shakespeare’s: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Retellings, #2) by Bruce Coville This series of picture book retellings of Shakespeare plays is a wonderful way to introduce children, or even older beginners, to Shakespeare! |
| Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton, Herman Viola My children begged for more every time I read to them from this book. Definitely one of the most memorable (especially the circumcision chapter! Yikes!). |
| A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer My kids were so-so about this book at first, but after we had been reading it for a while they decided they loved it! (Ages 6+) |
| Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin Excellently done on audio! My 10 and 12 year olds listen to this over and over again. |
| The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1) by Maryrose Wood Cute. Clever. Filled with great vocabulary. My Classical/Charlotte Mason educated kids loved all the references to Latin, literature and poetry! And they were captivated by the story, too! Excellent read aloud for the whole family. The audio is fantastic! |
| Little Men by Louisa May Alcott One of our favorite read alouds ever! (Ages 14, 12, 10) What a delightful bunch of characters and stories! This is one of those books (like Winnie-the-Pooh) that makes you nod and think, “Yes, this is exactly the way life is. This is truth.” It doesn’t matter that the setting is over a hundred years ago. Children are the same. Like when we read Anne of Green Gables, there were so many points where we laughed together and found favorite lines to quote. Wonderful author. Wonderful book. |
| The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson The kids love this one so much! Cute Christmas read for the whole family. 2nd read (2018): This book is just as delightful as the first time – maybe even more so because we now go to a traditional (Presbyterian) church, so it is more relevant to my kids lives. |
| A Taste of Chaucer: Selections from the Canterbury Tales by Anne Malcolmson Great for middle or high school students. Gives a feel for the time period. |
| The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths by Padraic Colum My 10 year old and I enjoyed this book together. Great stories. Strong vocabulary. Great for building cultural literacy. |