My four boys are seven, six, four, and two, and when we go to the library we check out a lot of books! We get old favorites and lots of first timers. We usually get home to find we've made some good selections and some less appealing ones, but that's ok because we're learning how to recognize what is good, better, and best as well as finding books that match each child's unique bent. When we began our ritual of regular library visits, I quickly found that going to the library is like going on a treasure hunt because not all children's books are created equal. And we're not reading just for the sake of reading.
As English Professor Anthony Esolen writes in On the Importance of Not Reading
Reading is no more to be done for its own sake than is eating. Good food can trim your waist and harden your muscles, and bad food can make you fat and slow and ready for disease. Bad reading not only wastes time; not only does it fail in its vaunted objective, to make you “well-rounded,” whatever that twinkie image is supposed to mean; bad reading makes you stupid. Assuming that if you are not reading, you must be doing something, anything, bad reading at the least steals away time you might spend planing a board or walking down by the river to search for turtles; at worst, it inoculates you against good reading.
The goal is not simply to get my kids to read more. Reading is a means to an end with the end being the cultivation of a little person's mind and heart. During the formative years of childhood if I can familiarize my children with quality literature, I hope to not only set reading patterns in motion but to have introduced them to a story's possibilities and given them a standard for evaluating their future choices.
Since beginning this search to provide my kids with "good books," I've found it really is true that when you find one you know it. It touches somewhere down deep. My seven year old enjoys the Magic Tree House series, and I think he gains some good knowledge from them. He usually picks out a couple each library visit. However I have never seen a MTH book move his emotions so viscerally as for example Black Beauty did. He experienced something real and true in Sewell's classic, and it had profound effects.
Back to the library! The key to a successful treasure hunt is a map! My book list is my map. The night before a library trip I handwrite my list that I'm going to take with me, and personally I prefer searching the online library catalog to make sure they have the book on shelf so as not to waste our time looking for a book that isn't there. Because when I take the boys to the library, we're on the clock!
The books on the list I take with me come from two sources: my Reading/Book Lists Binder that is filled with various lists I've printed off from trusted sites or from the following books:
These resources offer not only great book recommendations for various categories and ages but have shaped in me a discerning eye towards the choosing of excellent children's literature. The authors stir up a hunger that will only be satisfied with meaningful books - those that offer laughter, pain, hunger, satisfaction, love, and joy leaving the mind and soul richer. Jim Treleases's Read-Aloud Handbook is in its seventh edition, and our local library carries several copies. Trelease's classic guide inspires parents in how to teach their children to want to read. The first half of the book is evidence in support of reading aloud that will move even hesitant parents to give reading another chance, and the latter half is a treasury of read-alouds to make things as simple as possible for the busy parent. In Honey for a Child's Heart Gladys' passion for moving a child's spirit with wonder and delight through good books is contagious, and the latter half of her book also provides parents with excellent recommendations for ages 0-14.
Sometimes instead of turning to these books' treasuries, I instead open up my Reading/ Book List Binder to find other selections. Any time I come across a book list online I want to use, I print it off and stick it in my binder. A few of my lists are below, and they recommend many of the same books which is a promising sign, and if I see a title over and over, we're going to check it out!
Books for Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day (click and print)
Logos Classical School Elementary Literature List (click and print)
A Complete Classical Christian School Reading List @ Gospel Coalition (copy, paste, print)
Sonlight Read Alouds (categorized online ages 3-14; request a catalog too!)
The Center for Lit by Adam and Missy Andrews, authors of Teaching the Classics, a Socratic method for literature education that we use in our homeschool. Kindergarten and up.
These were free printable from All About Reading:
I've read aloud half the books on this list, and with each one the boys are always asking for another chapter.
Letter of the Week for Preschoolers
- PreK Letter of the Week (Confessions of a Homeschooler curriculum)
- Letter of the Week Book List (free: copy, paste, print)
Other Sources for Finding Good Books:
Five In a Row
This is a curriculum built around great books, so I take note of their selections! (book lists at bottom of page; copy, paste, print)
Before Five In a Row (ages 2-4)This is a curriculum built around great books, so I take note of their selections! (book lists at bottom of page; copy, paste, print)
Five In a Row (ages 4-8)
Beyond Five in a Row (ages 8-12)
And finally the best for last, my FAVORITE resource... Read Aloud Revival Podcast
Whether your kids are in public, private, or homeschool, Sarah MacKenzie keeps the focus on helping parents find great books to nurture the soul of their children towards all that is true, good, and beautiful. She is endearing, contagious, gracious, and radiates authenticity as a fellow mom in the trenches. The roll call of guests brings wisdom, experience, and professional insight right where I am.
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