Here are some of the books our boys have enjoyed most during their early elementary years. Some have been reread multiple times. Others have lines or characters that have weaved themselves into our family culture.
My recommendation is to take this list and reserve about 5-7 on hold at the library. Then let your son pick which he’d like to start with. Some kids like to read one at a time, some like to have several going at once. I always encourage my kids to get through the first 2-4 chapters before they can decide to pass on it. For your more independent children, just have them look at this list, take it to the library or search on Amazon, and they can order/reserve them on their own.
First Chapter Books
- Eddie and His Valuable Property (Carolyn Haywood) and other Eddie Books
- Beverly Cleary series (Henry, Ralph, etc.)
- Stuart Little (E. B. White)
- Little Pear (Eleanor Lattimore
- Boxcar Children Series (books 1-19)
- Charlotte’s Web (e.b. White)
- Sword in the Tree, etc. (Clyde Robert Bulla)
- Pippi Longstockings (Astrid Lindgren)
- Poppy (etc.) (Avi)
Longer Books
- Old Mother West Wind (Thornton Burgess) (and all others by Burgess)
- On the Banks of Plum Creek, etc. (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
- Half Magic, etc. (Edward Eager)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl)
- The BFG (Dahl) and all his other shorter books
- Trumpet of the Sawn (E.B. White)
- Paddle to the Sea (Holling C. Holling)
- The Story of Dr. Doolittle (Hugh Lofting)
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Richard Atwater)
- Five Children and It, etc, (Edith Nesbit)
- A Wonder Book (Nathanial Hawthorne)
- Brighty of the Grand Canyon (Margeruite Henry)
- Mountain Born (Elizabeth Yates)
- My Side of the Mountain (Elizabeth George)
- Ginger Pye (Elenor Estes)
- The Cricket in Times Square (George Seldon)
- Homer Price (Robert McCloskey)
- The Railway Children (Edith Nesbit)
- The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
- Henry Reed, Inc. (Keith Robertson)
- The Kite Fighters (Linda Sue Park)
- Shoes for Everyone (Barbara Mitchell)
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
- Sounder (William Armstrong)
- King of the Wind (Marguerite Henry)
- Caddie Woodlawn (Carol Ryrie Brink)
- Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif (Rick Riordon)
- The Wheel on the School (Meindert de Jong)
- The Saturdays, etc. (Elizabeth Enright)
- The Bears of the Blue River (Charles Major)
- Lawn Boy, etc. (Gary Paulsen)
- Mysterious Benedict Society set (Trenton Lee Stewart)
Great Read-Alouds
- Just So Stories (Kipling)
- James Herriot’s Treasury
- Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)
- Robin Hood (Howard Pyle)
- Jungle Book (Kipling)
- The Princess and the Goblin (George MacDonald)
- Children of the New Forest (Frederick Marryat)
- Tanglewood Tales (Nathanial Hawthorne)
Sonya Dalrymple 