Literature

MY LIST OF THE BEST BOOKS FOR CHILDREN BY AGES (infants to high school)

NOTE: Books are categorized for content appropriatness as well as reading level (as I have found that many books that are readable by children of a certain age do not always have appropriate content for that age) Unlike movies and TV programs, books are not yet rated. Thus just because they are capable and its on paper not on the screen doesn't make its appropriate. 

"Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?"   ~St. John Bosco on reading bad literature

Babies and Toddler

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
Pat the Puppy by Dorothy Kunhardt
Pat the Cat by Dorothy Kunhardt
Tickle the Pig by Dorothy Kunhardt
Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton
Counting Kisses by Karen Katz
Good Night Moon by by Margaret Wise Brown


Pre-school

All books by Eric Carle



By Audrey and Don Wood
The Tickle Octopus
King Bidgood is in the Bathtub
The Napping House
The Hungry Bear
Quick as a Cricket


The ABZ book by Shell Silverstein
A Giraffe and a Half by Shell Silverstein


The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Horton Hears a Who
Horton Hatches the Egg
The Lorax
Hop on Pop
The Foot Book
ABC

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
A Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
The Pet Show by Ezra Jack Keats

All Books by Robert Munsch  


By Laura Numeroff


Early Elementary (K-3)
All the Madeline books

Magic School Bus series by Johanna Cole
Amelia Bedelia books Peggy Parish
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachan
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
Motorcycle Mouse by Beverly Cleary
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shell Silverstein
The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein

Upper Elementary (3-5)

 All The Little House books
along with the Little House Cookbook

Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Cricket in Time Square by: George Selden
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell
Mr. Popper's Penguin by Florence Atwater
Miss. Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
The Bard of Avon by Diana Stanley

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Stuart Little by E.B. White

Runny Babbit by Shell Silverstein
Light in the Attic by Shell Silverstein
The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shell Silverstein

Sir Cumference Math Aventure Series     

Middle School (5-8)

All books by Karen Cushman

The Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
A Swifly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Gearge Speare

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone byJ.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (6th grade and up)
* A note on the Harry Potter Series--a very good adult friend of mine who loves this series put it best, "the a child should be the age of Harry as he/she reads each books."  In other words as Harry grows up the content becomes appropriate for children of that age.  Thus in the first book he is a young boy of 10 turning 11, in the second 11 turning 12, in the last book he is 17 some romance issues that began in 4th book increase and more dark tones in the content. 

Tales of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
The Shakespeare Scribe by Gary Blackwood


High School (9-12)
Midsummer's Night's Dream by William Shakespeare  
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
The Tamming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemminway
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Story of Liberty by Charles C. Coffin
The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

The Lord of the Rings Series by J. R. R. Tolkien