Book List

Parenting and Education (Other) Homeschooling
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Here is a list of children’s books that we are using now or will start using in the next year or so
Enjoy

Muse’s all-time favorite books
The Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint Exupery

What Is A Whispery Secret?
by Lois Hobart

The Original Flower Fairies Books
by Cicely Mary Barker

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Tale of Peter Rabbit (and others by Beatrix Potter)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne

Becca Backward, Becca Frontward
by Bruce McMillan

Excuse Me!
by Karen Katz

Poetry

Poems to Read to the Very Young
Eloise Wilkin

A Child’s Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Favorite Poems Old and New
by Helen Ferris (Editor)

When We Were Very Young
Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne

A Child’s Book of Poems
art by Gyo Fujikawa

Art books

Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children
by Gladys S. Blizzard

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
by Kim Solga and MaryAnn F Kohl

Drawing with Children
by Mona Brookes

Georgia O’Keeffe
by Nancy Frazier

Katie Meets the Impressionists
by James Mayhew

Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought)
by Kathleen Krull

Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series
by Mike Venezia

Mary Cassatt
by Sophia Craze

The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel
by Anders Shafer

Math books (not textbooks)

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On
by Lois Ehlert

A Pair of Socks (MathStart Series, Matching, Level 1)
byStuart J. Murphy

Quack and Count
byKeith Baker

Anno’s Counting Book
by Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Magic Seeds
by Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Math Games
by Mitsumasa Anno

Each Orange Had 8 Slices
by Paul Giganti

Math Appeal: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles
by Gregory Tang

The Grapes of Math
by Gregory Tang

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
by Cindy Neuschwander

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
by Cindy Neuschwander

Music books

Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Early Years
by Opal Wheeler
(all the books in this series)

Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought)
by Kathleen Krull

Classic Literature

Bambi: A Life in the Woods
by Felix Salten

Blue Fairy Book
by Andrew Lang

Charlotte’s Web
by E. B. White

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
by James Herriot

Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling

The King of the Golden River
by John Ruskin

Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie

Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi

Stories of Robin Hood, Told to the Children
by H.E. Marshall

The Light Princess
by George MacDonald

The Trumpet of the Swan
by E. B. White

The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams

The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum

Mary Poppins
by Mary Shepard

The Courage of Sarah Noble
by Alice Dalgliesh

Language Arts Books

English for the Thoughtful Child
by Cynthia A. Shearer (Editor), Mary F. Hyde (Author)
(Uses wonderful pictures to stimulate the child’s imagination and lead him into writing, with grammar introduced as necessary to the writing task. Also contains memorization assignments, oral composition, written composition, and practice exercises.)

Language Lessons for the Very Young
by Sandi Queen

Simply Grammar: An Illustrated Primer
by Karen Andreola

Nature Study

Handbook of Nature Study
by Anna Botsford Comstock

Nest: An Artist’s Sketchbook
by Maryjo Koch

The Burgess Animal Book
by Thornton W. Burgess

The Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess

History books

Our Island Story
by H. E. Marshall

Pompeii . . . Buried Alive!
by Edith Kunhardt

Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution
by Jean Fritz

Viking Tales
by Jennie Hall

What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?
by Jean Fritz

Where do you think you’re going, Christopher Columbus?
by Jean Fritz

Augustus Caesar’s World
by Genevieve Foster

Columbus
by Ingri & Edgar Parin D’Aulaire

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Thanks for sharing this!

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DadDude

i know you read a lot with your son
do you have any books to recommend?

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I have posted a few different lists…I wish I had the lists handy, they’re buried in the archives of this site. I can cut and paste in this book list from my essay though:

Some books I read to my son before his fourth birthday
Including chapter books, some poetry, and some other bedtime reading

We read many more books than this, of course, but these include some of the “chapter books” we read as well as some more advanced and “literary” material like the poetry of Edward Lear and R. S. Stevenson. We started many more chapter books than this, which my son nixed. Most of these we read when he was three years old, primarily at bedtime, for 30-45 minutes per session, but not infrequently at other times as well.

Amery, Heather. Greek Myths for Young Children.
Atwater, Richard. Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Beowulf. Usborne illustrated classic edition.
Carroll, Lewis, adapted by Lesley Sims. The Usborne Illustrated Alice. Usborne illustrated classic edition.
Collodi, Carlo. Adventures of Pinocchio. (Read twice in a row.)
Dalgliesh, Alice. The Bears on Hemlock Mountain.
Dicamillo, Kate. Mercy Watson to the Rescue. And the next two Mercy Watson books.
Earth & Space. Question and answer format encyclopedia.
Gannett, Ruth Stile. My Father’s Dragon. Then Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland.
Illustrated Classics for Girls. Usborne illustrated classic edition, features greatly simplified, 65-page versions of The Railway Children, The Wizard of Oz, Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, Little Women, and Heidi. (“For boys” not available until summer 2010…)
Illustrated Classics from Dickens. Usborne illustrated classic edition; five novels greatly simplified.
Lear, Edward. Complete Nonsense. Read all of the limericks and most of the poems.
Le Guin, Ursula. Catwings.
Le Guin, Ursula. Catwings Return.
Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh. And selections from other Milne books.
O’Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm.
Osborne, Mary Pope. The Magic Tree House: #1-30 & 35.
Prelutsky, Jack, ed. Read-Aloud Poems for the Very Young.
Stevenson, R. L. A Child’s Garden of Verses.
Warner, Gertrude. Boxcar Children.
Wilder, Laura I. Farmer Boy. Halfway through at fourth birthday.
Wilder, Laura I. Little House in the Big Woods.
Wild, Wild World. Question and answer format encyclopedia of animals.
White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web. (Read twice.)
White, E.B. Stuart Little.
White, E. B. The Trumpet of the Swan. (Halfway through a second reading at fourth birthday.)
Wyss, Johann. Swiss Family Robinson. Adaptation.

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WOW! Those are some great lists. I’m hoping to get my son there soon. Right now chapter books are not in his attention span. However I do have some with pictures on almost every page, maybe I should give some of those a try.
I’m saving my swagbucks points for more amazon.ca gift certs. Hopefully when I have another one I’ll get some of those Art books you mentioned tatianna.
Thanks for sharing you guys :slight_smile:

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Wow, these are impressive lists, Tatianna and DadDude!

I just wanted to ask if you (or anybody on this forum) could recommend any quality books for “beginner level”? My daughter is delayed in speech and communication, so her interest starts wandering off if I start reading anything more than 5 sentences per picture :), as she does not have the necessary language understanding. At the same time I am reluctant to stick to baby-books and would like to give her some more exposure to quality literature. Did you come across any very basic adaptations with many pictures? Thanks in advance!

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I’ve got a ginormous list of beginner books that I posted…

Found it! http://forum.brillkids.com/product-discussions-and-reviews/recommendations-for-good-books-for-preschool-children/msg20304/#msg20304

See also: http://forum.brillkids.com/coffee-corner-general-chat/book-buying-strategy/

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Thanks, DadDude! I will print it out and take to the library!

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Here’s a list of books for even smaller kids, which I just dug up:

  1. Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    Our favorite ABC book, and we have many. Very entertaining, unlike most.

  2. There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! (Dr. Seuss’s Book of Ridiculous Rhymes) by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    My boy loves the rhymes. He looks for the nink in the sink.

  3. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (Beginner Books(R)) by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    This one seems to have caught my son’s imagination.

  4. The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    One of my son’s all-time favorites.

  5. Fox in Socks (Beginner Books) by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    Nonsensical but great fun, and good for teaching rhymes and language generally.

  6. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
    A classic with good reason. Great fun.

  7. Go, Dog. Go! (Beginner Books) by Philip D. Eastman
    One of my boy’s absolute favorites. Simple, yet blissfully free of the artificialities and inanities of so many “beginning reader” books.

  8. Hop on Pop (Beginner Books(R)) by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    Another of the simplest Seuss…careful, your tot may take the title’s advice to heart.

  9. Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
    We may have read this one more than any other book, period. A perennial favorite. Very simple, but with a clear and understandable plot and very kid-satisfying ending.

  10. Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books) by Theodor Geisel - Dr. Seuss
    Another true Seuss classic that we have read many times, although not so much anymore, now that he’s getting a little older.

  11. The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition by H. A. Rey
    Every single one of the Curious George stories, without exception, is wonderful. My boy loves them all, and we have read all of them dozens of times. The ABC book and the hospital story are a little different from the others, but they are good as well.

  12. Mad About Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
    The best of the Madeline books are the original and Madeline’s Rescue, but the others are good as well. We’ve read them all many times as well. They’re drawn perhaps a little strangely, but I think that is part of their appeal to kids.

  13. The Poky Little Puppy (A Little Golden Book) by Janette Sebring Lowrey
    My boy’s favorite Little Golden Book. Annoyingly repetitious but somehow also charming.

  14. Scuffy the Tugboat and His Adventures Down the River by Gertrude Crampton
    Another great Little Golden Book. Excellent story. Not so sure about the moral of it though.

  15. Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev. W. Awdry
    A big fat Thomas collection. After my boy started watching the videos, he would request as many of these as I had patience to read. Like, six in a row. We’ve read over a hundred pages of this in a few weeks. Also, accept no imitations. Go for the original stories! I just wish the illustrations were larger.

  16. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
    Bizarre but very interesting to our boy (and evidently lots of other kids). We like lots of Margaret Wise Brown’s books.

  17. My World by Margaret Wise Brown
    Companion book to Goodnight Moon. Maybe not quite as good, but equally trippy. These books are actually very subtle and thoughtful in their own way.

  18. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
    A great little story about how a bunny wants to run away from his mommy by becoming a bird, ship, or whatever, but his mommy always says she’ll come after him. My boy loves this one.

  19. The Color Kittens (A Little Golden Book) by Kathi Ember
    An excellent (and also trippy) Little Golden Book by Margaret Wise Brown. The two color kittens, Brush and Hush, make all the colors of the world. Excellent intro to color.

  20. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis
    Our boy was crazy about this for a long time. He’s outgrowing it now, but definitely highly recommended for 1-2 year olds.

  21. Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough
    Another obsession of our boy’s–very funny and entertaining. Wonderful rhymes, wonderful illustrations. The duck is a bad un, but you can explain that to the kid…

  22. The Potty Book - For Boys by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
    This was great for potty training. Our boy really got into it and seemed to have taken the message to heart. It really seemed to help!

10

Just checked the library online catalogue. They have got quite a few from your list. Thanks again!

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I’m not surprised, most of them are classics.

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Updating the “jury’s still out” list (the jury’s back in!). The following are definitely winners:

Brunhoff, Jean de. The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant. – The first two installments of this series were greatly loved by my boy.

dePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona.

Gag, Wanda. Millions of Cats.

Leaf, Munro. Manners Can Be Fun (and other Leaf “fun” books). – Definitely advanced for this age, however.

Lear, Edward. A Book of Nonsense. - Also somewhat advanced for this age.

Lobel, Arnold. Fables. – Really excellent but, again, advanced for this age (not unlike Aesop). My boy wasn’t totally excited about it (not unlike Aesop). We did finish it. I liked it.

McClosky, Robert. Blueberries for Sal.

Pulley, Kelly. The Beginner’s Bible. – We enjoyed this. Not too devotional. Works well as a storybook.

Rosen, Michael. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Swift, Hildegarde H. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray
Bridge.

Also, I’m updating an item on the following.

On some lists, but not on ours:

Guarino, Deborah. Is Your Mama a Llama? – Turns out we liked it well enough but by the time we read it he had more or less outgrown it. Good for earlier ages.

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OH, I can not thank you enough tatianna and Dad Dude for this enourmous list of books. You even classified them. Excellent reference.

I read it very fast but am going to copy for future reference out of internet. My grandson also enjoy “Is your Mama a Llama?” and me too especially beiing LLamas and animal from the mountains of Peru where I happened to be born and lives.
I didn’ t see Good Night Moon which we also enjoy.
For me excellent because both of them comes with CD that i use after reading once because it is better than my pronunciation.

Karma to both of you.

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At the end of each year, The New York Public Library publishes
Children’s Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing,
a popular book list, which parents and children’s literature enthusiasts look forward to and share every year:

http://kids.nypl.org/reading/100_books_2010_nypl.pdf

Enjoy!

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Thanks everyone! I love books. And if you can’t purchase them or find them at your local library there are some websites that have them to download to read online or an mp3 file as well, just a thought.

16

Thanks so much for these lists! I will get busy right now requesting some from my library. Reading is our very favorite activity and I see a lot of our favorite books on these lists already.

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Very useful lists, thank you all, too! Had no idea which were the books in English good for children.

Andrea

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Great. …i was figuring out booklist for both of my kids of different age group.Atlast i found them here. Thank you soo much.

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