100 of Our Favorite Books

Our family is crazy about books.  True fact. 

It's rare to find someone in this house without a book in their hands.  Okay, okay we probably would need to count electronic devices in that too, but it's safe to say that we are always reading!!  We try so hard to all have dinner together as a family but there is always someone (usually the youngest) that just can't put down the book because "I just got to the best part!".   I admit we usually end up with a quiet dinner while everyone reads their own book of choice.   I've heard it said that if kids see their parents reading, they will develop their own love of reading as well.  Making sure your kids have good, rich, character-building literature is an excellent way to help your kids grow up in this crazy world with a bit better sense of self and with strong character formation.    If they start out early with rich literature, that is what they develop an appetite for.  

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." Oscar Wilde 

I believe that reading aloud to your kids is one of the best ways you can spend time with them.  Not only is it time spent together, but it is also a great conversation starter.  I absolutely love when someone will quote some wonderful line from a shared book we have read together.  Our latest one I love is from "The Count of Monte Cristo" - anytime we come upon something chaotic or crazy one of us will blurt out "What is this fresh new disaster???!!!!"  It's such a fun way to connect with your kids through the day to day.  You just simply have more to talk about when you are sharing in great ideas and great stories together.   It will open up new worlds and big ideas.  Your kids will develop a life long love of learning and reading.  It is crucial that our kids develop a love of reading that which is true, good and beautiful.  Letting them read fluff (in the words of Charlotte Mason) is much like letting your kids get their nourishment from junk food instead of rich wholesome nourishing healthy food. I let my kids check out whatever they want from the library (within reason) and soon found that after they read the fluff, eventually they lost an appetite for it.  Kids long for adventure, their imagination is just waiting to be fed and fueled.  When their imagination grows, so does their mind, then so does their spirit and their soul.  Don't be afraid to let them ponder over what may seem scary or gruesome in classic literature.  They need to encounter big ideas in thought-provoking literature at every stage they are in and form their own opinions on them.  We tend to want to spoon feed them the underlying message - but don't! Letting them figure it out for themselves is where the richness lies, while also leaving room for the Holy Spirit to do His work in the hearts of our children. 

"As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells... and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower, both strange and familiar."  Cornelia Funke 

There is just nothing as rich and educational as classical literature.  Introducing it to young children carefully is important.  Several of our classics are the children's abridged versions for younger readers.  Giving young ones a big picture of what a story is about can lead to a great love of the original version later as they grow. 

One of my favorite times of the day is that early morning hour, as we are waking up with our hot tea and nibbling on some breakfast, I read aloud to Boo from a favorite book.  I usually have three dogs on my lap keeping me cozy and warm, which lends itself to my not wanting to get up and get moving - which makes us read aloud even longer!  Reading aloud to your kids every day - even if it is just for ten minutes - adds up to over sixty hours in a year.   Plus, that time becomes almost sacred - we hardly miss a day - we love it so much.  Sometimes we go through a phase when our read-aloud happens at bedtime.  During different times of the year, such as the upcoming Advent season - we will even read aloud at dinner time. 

One of our family traditions that has gone on for probably ten years now is Sunday night reading.  It doesn't happen every Sunday night, but we try hard to make it happen as often as we can.  We try to shut out all the noise of the week and light some candles and get cozy while listening to Dad read to the entire family.  I know this isn't easy - we have three kids at three very different stages of life so choosing something that will interest everyone is always a challenge.  It has become a treasure to us and the kids will often ask for it themselves.  When it's nice in the summer we will throw pillows and blankets on the deck and enjoy reading as we watch the sun set.  In winter we snuggle around the fireplace with hot chocolate.  Letting little ones play quietly with small toys or coloring is very helpful for them to be able to listen.  My girls had so much fun helping me come up with a list here.  It just shows again their love for reading.  Here is a list of just SOME of the books we have enjoyed together as a family. 

For Younger Children

Milly Molly Mandy

The Boxcar Children

Little House on the Prairie (series)

The Penderwicks (series)

The Wizard of Oz

The Blue Fairy Book

Grimms Fairy Tales

Pippi Long-stocking

The Secret Garden

The Green Book

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

A Little Princess

Greek Myths - A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls 

The Swiss Family Robinson

Treasure Island

Charlotte's Web

Anne of Green Gables (series) 

Island of the Blue Dolphins

The BFG

The Hedge of Thorns

The Chronicles of Narnia (series)

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

Where the Red Fern Grows

 Harry Potter (series)

Percy Jackson (series) 

A Series of Unfortunate Events (series)
Bridge to Terabithia

The Classic Collection of Winnie the Pooh

Number the Stars

Little Women

The Wind in the Willows

Stuart Little

Redwall (series)

The Borrowers

My Side of the Mountain

The American Girl Historical Series

Mary Poppins

The Dragon of Lonely Island

The Dragon Returns

Wonder

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Across Five Aprils

Black Beauty

Caddie Woodlawn

The Hundred Dresses

In Grandmas Attic (series)

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

My Book House (series)

Strawberry Girl

The Door in the Wall

The 21 Balloons

A Cricket in Times Square

Out of the Dust

The Happy Prince 

The Call of the Wild 

King Arthur

The Three Weavers

Favorite Poems Old and New 

The Shakespeare Stealer 

For Older Children

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Iliad and The Odyssey 

Pilgrims Progress

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

Emma

The Grapes of Wrath

Buried in the Snow

Sense and Sensibility

The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings (series)

Animal Farm

The Help

The DaVinci Code

A Basket of Flowers

The Lamplighter

The Princess Bride

The Great Gatsby

Stepping Heavenward

A Wrinkle in Time

Tale of Two Cities

Frankenstein

Gilgamesh

Night

Julius Caesar

The Hiding Place 

The Diary of Anne Frank

Mara Daughter of the Nile

Gullivers Travels
To Kill a Mockingbird

1984

Wuthering Heights

Don Quixote 

A Christmas Carol

Inkheart 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Catcher in the Rye 

Great Expectations

The Portrait of a Lady

“Perhaps there's another, much larger story behind the printed one, a story that changes just as our own world does. And the letters on the page tell us only as much as we'd see peering through a keyhole. Perhaps the story in the book is just the lid on a pan: It always stays the same, but underneath there's a whole world that goes on - developing and changing like our own world.”
Cornelia Funke