by Headmaster Rich Cali
C.S. Lewis said, “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” You can imagine that with 9 children, my wife and I have had to re-read books countless times. Some books, I can’t stand reading again—in fact, I didn’t enjoy them the first time I read them. Some books I love to re-read to my children, and I would even read them if we didn’t have kids. Thus, with a parent’s interest in mind, please use the following recommendations for your family’s benefit:
Young Children, 3-6:
What we have found with our children is that starting young, our children have cultivated the discipline of sitting and listening. Here are a few that I love to read, again and again:
Are You My Mother? P.D. Eastman
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Little Critter: Just Me and My Dad, Mercer Mayer
Little Critter: Just Me and My Mom, Mercer Mayer
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Dr. Seuss (My first book when I was a child.)
Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss ABC Book, Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss Foot Book, Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (The fish is the hero of this story.)
Fox in Socks, Dr. Seuss (Kids love hearing adults getting tongue-tied.)
Old Hat, New Hat, Stan and Jan Berenstain*
The Berenstains’ B Book, Stan and Jan Berenstain
Bears on Wheels, Stan and Jan Berenstain
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendack
Frog and Toad, Arnold Lobel
Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
The Bee Tree, Patricia Palocco
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (and others), Virgina Lee Burton
Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (This is a chapter book, above the level of the previous list, and may not be the best summer book. I mention it only because this book is so funny; my kids roll on the floor laughing when we read it out loud.)
Popular young children’s books that I purposefully do not read:
Curious George—The monkey is portrayed as a child who is undisciplined. Often his curiosity gets him into trouble, but more often it seems, he is mischievous and should be punished. I don’t like this example for my young children.
*Berenstain Bears—Not all Berenstain Bears books are created equal. Some of these books disrespect the father of the story by making him look like a buffoon. He is selfish, immature, and foolish, and I don’t think this is the best thing to display to young children. For example, the Berenstain Bears The Bear Scouts, shows the kids as being smarter and wiser than the father.
Elementary recommended reading (for summer):
This is a list of books that I love and recommend for students to read in addition to their school reading lists. They are pleasurable but also thoughtful. These are books that they can read on their own or listen to as audio recordings. At this level and above, conversation, even a brief one, is important follow up.
Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson
All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sydney (Sally Darling does a great audio reading for Recorded Books.)
The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Wyss (My sons have listened to this on tape over 20 times!)
Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Brink
Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray
Secret Garden, Francis Hodgson Burnett (I thought this was a “girl book” when first introduced to it. I was pleasantly surprised. It is now one of my favorites!)
My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
Old Yeller, Fred Gipson
Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
The Cat of Bubastes, G.A. Henty (Henty books are formulaic, and once you’ve read one or two, that’s enough. This happens to be one of my favorites of his. All of them have an incredible vocabulary.)
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The King’s Fifth, Scott O’Dell
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan (This is a great introduction to mythology for contemporary readers. My kids love these!)
Some Shakespeare not in the curriculum, Charles and Mary Lamb version
High School recommended reading (for summer):
These are titles of books that I love and recommend, but have not found a place in the high school curriculum at home or school. These are great reads for summer. Like high school movie recommendations, you MUST have had “the talk” with students by this level. Discussion for any of these books would include questions such as: What are important themes? What is the author’s world view? How should we evaluate this according to Scripture?
Bruchko, Bruce Olson
Peace Child, Don Richardson
Run with the Horseman, Ferrol Sams
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz
Ben Hur, Lew Wallace (Written by a Civil War general who has a fascinating tale all his own, the first three chapters of this book are worth the read. The movie is not faithful to this story.)
Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The Call of the Wild, Jack London
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas
Paradise Lost, John Milton
The Last of the Mohicans, James Fennimore Cooper
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain
Killer Angels, Michael Shaara (About the battle of Gettysburg, but a pretty fair treatment of the perspectives for the Civil War.)
