These books are great to read aloud to a younger reader, and is an especially fun time for grandparents. It’s never too early to start!
Published 1970 Theme: Friendship; Easy Reader Best for: 5- 8 This is one of those books that is important not because it is great literature, but because it is possible for children to read it on their own, love it, remember it, imitate it, and feel the magic that comes from learning to read...
Published 1922 Theme: Power of Love Best for: ages 5 to 9 Five Stars That night, he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst." I feel any list of great children's literature which omitted this book would be quite remiss.
Published 1952 Theme: Friendship Best for: Ages 8 and up "After all, what's a life anyway? We're born, we live a little, we die...By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle." A simple and moving story of friendship and humane treatment of animals...
Published 1886 Theme: Power of Love and Kindness Best for: Ages 6 and up, especially boys Five Stars "His greatest charm was this cheerful, fearless, quaint little way of making friends with people. Finding this children's book, the first ever written by Burnett, was like going to the pure, unpolluted, ancient source of story itself...
Published 1908 Theme: Friendship Best for: Any Age Five Stars "At last over the rim of the waiting earth, the moon lifted with slow majesty till it swung clear of the horizon and rode off, free of moorings..."The lyrical nature of the writing alone would be enough to rave about the book. But that's just the beginning...
Published 1992 Theme: Expectations Best for: 5-6 years old "There was a man called the Thinking Man of Moha, and there was a woman called the Writing Woman of Maho, and they were friends." Thus begins this very small, simple book by Le Guin, combining fantasy and reality seamlessly...
Published 2000 Theme: Fairies Best for: 5 - 8 years old I love the Fairy Realm series, stepping from our human world into the world of the fairies, where magic, beauty, goodness, and yes, also a bit of evil, mingle together...
Published 2009 Theme: Nature Best for: ages 5 - 8 This small little children's book has the best elements of combining fiction and non-fiction into a little tale. It is lyrical, it is sensitive, it is keenly accurate, and it is accompanied by the most delicate illustrations one could find in a children's book...
Published 1988 Theme: Animal Intelligence Best for: ages 6 and up Five Stars "Mrs. Jane Tabby could not explain why all four of her children had wings."In four small children's books, Ursula Le Guin has created a very endearing set of cat characters with personality, adventure, and wisdom. This set of stories...
by E. B. White, published 1945. "Very good advice, Albert, but advice and law are not the same. Law is much more solemn than advice. Law is extremely solemn. Anybody else thing of a law for the world?"It's not hard to believe that E. B. White started as a contributor of humor to the New Yorker. His writing style even in his children's books is filled with that New Yorker sly humor that makes you chuckle. That's for the adults. For the children, he's just downright silly and gets away with it in great style. Stuart Little is a smiling, chuckling book all the way to the unexpected end. A great piece of writing by an iconic writer...
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