Books to Build Great Americans (Ages 3-7)
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." - Frederick Douglass
Please note: This post contains affiliate links and three PDF files with Amazon affiliate links to about 140 different books. I hope you find them useful.
A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. You can and should read as many books as you’re willing to read to your children, but can I plug one that I feel every parent should go through with their child first? I wish it wasn’t necessary, but prevailing teaching practices mean your child may not learn to read in elementary school. Luckily, we have Siegfried Engelmann’s expert help in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I’ve purchased two copies, so if you have more than one child, you might want to buy the spiral-bound version.
On to the book lists.
I divided up the attached files into three types of book:
Anthologies of Stories and/or Poetry,
Picture Books, and
Chapter Books
While I have my favorites, I’m sure you’ll see some of yours too, so I organized them alphabetically by author’s last name rather than in order of my preference. Please know that none of these books are babyish. They treat children with respect. Some of them deal with heavy topics; I still tear up when I read The Velveteen Rabbit. It’s always a good idea to read a picture book on your own before presenting it to your child.
Anthologies will give you the best bang for your buck as they’ll contain lots of stories and information. If you’re very tight on funds, E.D. Hirsch’s What Your _____ Needs to Know is a great place to start for a variety of stories, poems, idioms, and nonfiction texts in science, history, art, music, math, and geography.
Picture books tend to be better for bedtime reads with smaller children. The pictures draw them in and the words echo for years and years.
Chapter Books are where the rubber meets the road. Older kids have more patience for a story drawn out over several sessions, but younger kids love them too. Don’t hesitate to read to your children when they’re drawing or eating or doing other (non-screen) things; they’re still listening. These stories are so good, sometimes they won’t want to stop for anything.
I wouldn’t be a teacher if I didn’t also offer you a way to assess what your children are learning from these books. Here’s a very simple way to know if the lessons in these stories are getting through. Ask the following questions at points in the reading you find appropriate:
(For Picture Books) What do you think will happen next when you see this picture?
Do you like (this character)?
Would you have made the same choice as (character)? Why or why not?
Tell me about the most exciting/interesting part of what we read?
And a cautionary note: If you start reading a book and it’s just not your family’s cup of tea, don’t hesitate to abandon it and find something else. There were books I thought I could read to all my children at the same time, only to find out one wasn’t the right fit for one of my kiddos. Sometimes that meant we kept reading, other times we chose to move on to something else. Keep in mind that sometimes a book that a kid deems boring at 7 becomes un-put-down-able at 8.
I’m working on two more lists that should be coming pretty quickly on the heels of this: one for kids from about 9-12 and one for teenagers. But it’s also okay to read some of these books to older kids; these are widely loved classics for millions of readers, regardless of age.
I am so thankful for the great men and women of the Western tradition who bequeathed us all such unbelievable beauty. I am also deeply grateful I have the opportunity to pass it on.
Happy Happy Thanksgiving, America (and Canada, ey). Tonight, I’ll toast to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for us all.
You rock as always! I’ll keep you posted on my speaker invitation for Tuesday night on collectivism, socialism and communism in the new VA “social studies skills” standards of learning- kindergarten civics? “Sharing for the collective well being of others”. NO LIE.
Amazing list. Thank you!