Good Books For Children
Ranked #1,932 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #81,166 overall
Some of my favorite books for children
I'd heard that some parents were reading books to their children - and not just picture books. They were reading long novels - not only children's novels but sometimes novels meant for adults as well. When I started reading to my youngest during his preschool years in 1995, I wasn't ready to do that. We often sat together on the couch and read through educational books or picture books, but that was all.
About a year into homeschooling he started asking me to read short novels. It began with two Goosebumps books. That wasn't too terrible - I could finish them in three or four sittings, and Goosebumps weren't as bad as some people said. It didn't take long to see they all followed the same type of pattern - two siblings, a scary problem, and chapter endings that left you on the edge of your chair needing desperately to read more. Great formula for early readers!
My son was dyslexic and there was no way for him to experience great literature unless I read it to him. I knew eventually I'd have to start, but I was in no hurry. Then one day during a trip to the local library he picked up a children's novel showing a picture of two children next to a cave. He was intrigued and insisted I read it to him. This was longer than a Goosebumps book and took some effort on my part. The most difficult thing was making time for it.
After that we settled into a pattern of reading novels together as a family tradition, right before bedtime. I decided to use the Newbery Medal book list. At that time I hoped to read all those books to my children. That, I discovered, was too much of a challenge, but we got through quite a few of them.
My two youngest children who went through this reading adventure with me are now 18 and 19. I know that reading brought us closer together as a family and they'll remember the books I read them for the rest of their lives.
Great children's books I've read and loved
...these are my recommendations.
Everyone has different tastes, and there are many different reasons for choosing books. If you are lucky enough to find a book that fits your child's interests plus teaches something, you'll have a willing listener. My children managed to stay interested in a great variety of different types of novels, and we enjoyed many wonderful hours of reading together over the years.
For fun stories and articles for children, see Literature For Kids.
For Young Children
Some outstanding classic picture books
...for the very young, or the very young at heart.
I still love all these books. They are short classic picture books - and every one is an entertaining learning opportunity for young children. Starting early, you can build on your children's love for literature. These books are great for preschool aged children, but even older children would enjoy the precious stories.
It was hard to pick only a few books. There are so many others I love, love, love! But that would entail making a much longer lens. One of these days, I'll do it.
Novels for very young children
...shorter, simpler children's novels.
The novels in this first section are ideal for reading to your children if you're just starting out on the novel reading journey. They are shorter and simpler, and yet very entertaining top quality children's novels.
If your child is older, you might still want to consider these. Older children enjoy a shorter read once in a while. I'm an adult and still loved reading these books.
Along Came a Dog
by Meindert Dejong
Along Came a Dog (Harper Trophy Books)
Amazon Price: $2.16 (as of 05/31/2012)
Product Description
The friendship of a little red hen and a homeless dog who appoints himself her protector 'is treated by the author with delicacy and strength in lovely and lucid prose'. (Quoting the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.)
From the Horn Book: "A moving story, full of suspense."
The Family Under The Bridge
by Natalie Savage Carlson
The Family Under the Bridge
Amazon Price: $2.14 (as of 05/31/2012)
Product Description
This is the delightfully warm and enjoyable story of an old Parisian named Armand, who relished his solitary life. Children, he said, were like starlings, and one was better off without them.
But the children who lived under the bridge recognized a true friend when they met one, even if the friend seemed a trifle unwilling at the start. And it did not take Armand very long to realize that he had gotten himself ready-made family; one that he loved with all his heart, and one for whom he would have to find a better home than the bridge.
Armand and the children's adventures around Paris -- complete with gypsies and a Santa Claus -- make a story which children will treasure.
Mr. Popper's Penguins
by Richard and Florence Atwater
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Amazon Price: $2.65 (as of 05/31/2012)
Amazon.com Review
More than 60 years have not dated this wonderfully absurd tale--it still makes kids (and parents) laugh out loud. Poor Mr. Popper isn't exactly unhappy; he just wishes he had seen something of the world before meeting Mrs. Popper and settling down. Most of all, he wishes he had seen the Poles, and spends his spare time between house-painting jobs reading all about polar explorations. Admiral Drake, in response to Mr. Popper's fan letter, sends him a penguin; life at 432 Proudfoot Avenue is never the same again. From one penguin living in the icebox, the Popper family grows to include 12 penguins, all of whom must be fed. Thus is born "Popper's Performing Penguins, First Time on Any Stage, Direct from the South Pole." Their adventures while on tour are hilarious, with numerous slapstick moments as the penguins disrupt other acts and invade hotels. Classic chapter-a-night fun. (Ages 5 to 10) --Richard Farr
Sarah Plain and Tall
by Patricia MacLachlan
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Amazon Price: $2.41 (as of 05/31/2012)
MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children--Anna and Caleb--advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb--whose mother died during childbirth--is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.
Fantasy
Fantasy novels for children
...take a trip to another world.
The Gammage Cup
by Carol Kendall
The Gammage Cup: A Novel of the Minnipins
Amazon Price: $0.17 (as of 05/31/2012)
This is a witty, epic tale about a race of people called the Minnipins - tiny folk who become epic heroes. The novel contains a map of the hidden valley the Minnipins live in, and plenty about their history and current living conditions.
A reviewer at the New York Times Book Review said this novel is "Highly imaginative, amusing and thought-provoking."
The Twenty-One Balloons
by William Pene du Bois
The Twenty-One Balloons
Amazon Price: $2.45 (as of 05/31/2012)
Book Description
Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions. Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure is now available in a handsome new edition. "William Pene du Bois combines his rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell a story that has no age limit." -- The Horn Book
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
Still I often read rave-reviews from people of all ages. I even read one by a second grade teacher who said she read it out loud to her class; she said they loved it. Still, my opinion is that this is fine for teens but not for younger children. Your mileage may vary.
The Giver
Amazon Price: $2.63 (as of 05/31/2012)
Product Description
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
Amazon Review
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.
A Wrinkle In Time
by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet)
Amazon Price: $3.61 (as of 05/31/2012)
Product Description
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
Contemporary
Contemporary novels for children
...children in the modern world.
Holes
by Louis Sachar
May I repeat? Well worth reading.
Holes
Amazon Price: $1.25 (as of 05/31/2012)
Amazon.com Review
"If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. No matter that his conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!" Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly enmeshed in the Camp Green Lake routine: rising before dawn to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter; learning how to get along with the Lord of the Flies-styled pack of boys in Group D; and fearing the warden, who paints her fingernails with rattlesnake venom. But when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character--that in fact the warden is seeking something specific--the plot gets as thick as the irony.
It's a strange story, but strangely compelling and lovely too. Louis Sachar uses poker-faced understatement to create a bizarre but believable landscape--a place where Major Major Major Major of Catch-22 would feel right at home. But while there is humor and absurdity here, there is also a deep understanding of friendship and a searing compassion for society's underdogs. As Stanley unknowingly begins to fulfill his destiny--the dual plots coming together to reveal that fate has big plans in store--we can't help but cheer for the good guys, and all the Yelnats everywhere. (Ages 10 and older) --Brangien Davis
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
The Westing Game (Puffin Modern Classics)
Amazon Price: $2.70 (as of 05/31/2012)
Book Description
When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will . . . and what a will it is!
A Booklist reviewer wrote: "A supersharp mystery . . . Confoundingly clever, and very funny."
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Amazon Price: $2.25 (as of 05/31/2012)
Product Description
Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped -- right into a mystery that made headlines!
Amazon.com Review
After reading this book, I guarantee that you will never visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or any wonderful, old cavern of a museum) without sneaking into the bathrooms to look for Claudia and her brother Jamie. They're standing on the toilets, still, hiding until the museum closes and their adventure begins. Such is the impact of timeless novels . . . they never leave us. E. L. Konigsburg won the 1967 Newbery Medal for this tale of how Claudia and her brother run away to the museum in order to teach their parents a lesson. Little do they know that mystery awaits!
Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee
Amazon Price: $3.35 (as of 05/31/2012)
Amazon.com Review
Maniac Magee is a folk story about a boy, a very excitable boy. One that can outrun dogs, hit a home run off the best pitcher in the neighborhood, tie a knot no one can undo. "Kid's gotta be a maniac," is what the folks in Two Mills say.
It's also the story of how this boy, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, confronts racism in a small town, tries to find a home where there is none, and attempts to soothe tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town.
Presented as a folk tale, it's the stuff of storytelling. "The history of a kid," says Jerry Spinelli, "is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball." And for this kid, four parts of fun.
Maniac Magee won the 1991 Newbery Medal.
Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
Walk Two Moons
Amazon Price: $3.56 (as of 05/31/2012)
Amazon.com Review
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother. Walk Two Moons won the 1995 Newbery Medal.
Your comments are welcome
...what are some of your favorite books for kids?
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cmoneyspinner
May 17, 2012 @ 10:03 am | delete
- Glad you included "A Wrinkle in Time" on your list.
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Jan 18, 2012 @ 11:53 pm | delete
- When you read to kids, you are the commercial for reading. Great list of books. The Westing Game is one that takes a skilled reader. It can be a confusing read trying to keep all the characters straight.
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mihgasper
Dec 27, 2011 @ 5:36 pm | delete
- People who love reading are more sensitive and responsible and they can make world better. Reading to a kid is great for bonding too. So - thumbs up!
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goo2eyes
Dec 6, 2011 @ 7:21 pm | delete
- you are doing it right. reading to kids make them develop their sense of fantasy.
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Godsgraciousgift
Dec 2, 2011 @ 6:38 pm | delete
- Nice Lens!!!
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The Cat Who Went To Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
Amazon Price: $1.95 (as of 05/31/2012)
My children loved this book about a little cat named Good Fortune. The cat, who lived in a Japanese painter's house, watches her poverty stricken master work on a very important commissioned painting.
Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
Catherine, Called Birdy (Newbery Honor Book)
Amazon Price: $5.42 (as of 05/31/2012)
A very entertaining fictional diary of a 14-year-old medieval girl. One cannot help but enjoy reading this one.
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
The Westing Game (Puffin Modern Classics)
Amazon Price: $2.70 (as of 05/31/2012)
Fun! You're introduced to a zany band of apartment house residents and throughout the novel, try to solve the mystery of who killed a millionaire. This novel is memorable and 'different'. It includes a measure of interactivity with the joy of novel reading. It will definitely keep you guessing.
