We finished Winnie the pooh by A.A. Milne yesterday. I liked it, but I did not love it. My kids liked it but did not love it. Reading to my kids is something that I really enjoy. We read plenty of picture books but, I want to know what are some great chapter books to Read Aloud to small children.
Here is what we have read:
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, I will read this one again
Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White, my kids liked this one too!
Stewart Little by E.B. White I will read the others in this set later.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner this book kept their attention, but I think I should have read it a little down the road
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis this book was perfect for my son, he loved it
Mr. Poppers Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater which we loved and recommend for little children
Eddie and the Fire Engine by Carolyn Haywood - Loved this book and I recommend it for any and every little boy, it is very cute.
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Here is a list that I found that I think is pretty good:
This is a recommended list in the book a Thomas Jefferson Education. The ones that are bold are ones that we have read. I have noticed that we sure do have a way to go.
Classics to Read to Young Children:
Classics for you to read aloud to young children.
Aesop’s Fables - Aesop
Andersen’s Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Anderson
Beauty and the Beast
The Bible
The Blind Men and the Elephant
“Casey at Bat”
Charlotte’s Web - E. B. White
Chicken Little
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cinderella
Dinotopia series - James Gurney
Dr. Seuss series
The Emperor’s New Clothes
The Fourth Wise Man
The Gift of the Magi - Carol Lynn Pearson
The Giving Tree
“God Save the Flag”
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
Grimm’s Fairy Tales - Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm
“The Highwayman”
Hansel and Gretel
Jack and the Beanstalk
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
“Lincoln, The Man of the People”
“Little Boy Blue”
The Little Engine that Could
The Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little Red Hen
The McGuffey Readers
Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes
“Paul Revere’s Ride”
Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
The Pied Piper of Hamlin
Pinocchio, The Adventures of - Carlo Colladi
Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter
The Princess and the Pea
Puss-in-Boots
Rapunzel
Riki Tiki Tavi
Rip Van Winkle
Robin Hood, The Merry Adventures of - Howard Pyle
Rumpelstiltskin
Sleeping Beauty
The Song of Hiawatha
Snow White
Tales of the Arabian Nights
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs
The Ugly Duckling
Tom Thumb
"Twas the Night Before Christmas"
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh series - A. A. Milne
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Frank Baum
Classics for Youth
For older youth to read and discuss with their mentors.
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
The Anne of Green Gables series - L. M. Montgomery
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ - Lew Wallace
The Bible
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
The Black Stallion series - Walter Farley
The Chronicles of Narnia series - C. S. Lewis
The Collected Verse of Edgar A Guest
“Concord Hymn”
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Samuel Clemmens
The Constitution of the United States
David Copperfield
Davy Crockett Legends - Irwin Shapiro
The Declaration of Independence
The Deerslayer
Don Quixote de la Mancha - Miguel De Cervantes
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Dred Scott Decision
The Education of Henry Adams
Eight Cousins
Emily Post’s Etiquette
Ender’s Game
“In Flanders Fields”
Flatland
The Foundation series
Frankenstein
“The Gettysburg Address”
“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
The Great Brain series
Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift
Hamilton’s Mythology
Hamlet
Heidi - Johanna Spry
The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
History Reborn
Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of - Mark Twain
“I Have a Dream”
Ivanhoe - Walter Scott
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O’Dell
Joan of Arc - Mark Twain
Jo’s Boys - Louisa May Alcott
A Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne
Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
The Jungle Book
King Arthur and the Round Table - Thomas Malory
Laddie - Gene Stratton Porter
The Last of the Mohicans - James Cooper
“Let America be America Again”
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Little Britches series
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The Lonesome Gods
Lord of the Rings series
“The Man with the Hoe”
Mathmaticians are People, Too (2 volumes)
Moby Dick
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
National Velvet
Noah Webster’s Original 1828 Dictionary
North to Freedom
“O Captain! My Captain!”
“Old Ironsides”
Old Yeller - Fred Gipson
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
On Numbers
Paul Bunyan - Esther Sheperd
The Phantom Tollbooth
“The Present Crisis”
“The Road Not Taken”
The Real Benjamin Franklin
The Real George Washington
The Real Thomas Jefferson
The Robe
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel DeFoe
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare
The Sackett series
The Saxon Math series
The Secret Garden - Francess Hodgson Burnett
Shipwrecked
Soldiers, Statesmen, and Heroes
Sonnets of Shakespeare
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers
Stuart Little - E. B. White
The Summer of the Monkeys - Wilson Rawls
The Swiss Family Robinson - Johaan Wyss
Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of - Mark Twain
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Trumpet of the Swans - E. B. White
“Ulysses”
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
The Walking Drum
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
White Fang - Jack London
William Tell
The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Here are some lists that I found in my searching that gave me some new books to consider:
Aesop’s Fables - Aesop
Andersen’s Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Anderson
Beauty and the Beast
The Bible
The Blind Men and the Elephant
“Casey at Bat”
Charlotte’s Web - E. B. White
Chicken Little
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cinderella
Dinotopia series - James Gurney
Dr. Seuss series
The Emperor’s New Clothes
The Fourth Wise Man
The Gift of the Magi - Carol Lynn Pearson
The Giving Tree
“God Save the Flag”
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
Grimm’s Fairy Tales - Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm
“The Highwayman”
Hansel and Gretel
Jack and the Beanstalk
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
“Lincoln, The Man of the People”
“Little Boy Blue”
The Little Engine that Could
The Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little Red Hen
The McGuffey Readers
Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes
“Paul Revere’s Ride”
Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
The Pied Piper of Hamlin
Pinocchio, The Adventures of - Carlo Colladi
Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter
The Princess and the Pea
Puss-in-Boots
Rapunzel
Riki Tiki Tavi
Rip Van Winkle
Robin Hood, The Merry Adventures of - Howard Pyle
Rumpelstiltskin
Sleeping Beauty
The Song of Hiawatha
Snow White
Tales of the Arabian Nights
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs
The Ugly Duckling
Tom Thumb
"Twas the Night Before Christmas"
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh series - A. A. Milne
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Frank Baum
Classics for Youth
For older youth to read and discuss with their mentors.
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
The Anne of Green Gables series - L. M. Montgomery
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ - Lew Wallace
The Bible
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
The Black Stallion series - Walter Farley
The Chronicles of Narnia series - C. S. Lewis
The Collected Verse of Edgar A Guest
“Concord Hymn”
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Samuel Clemmens
The Constitution of the United States
David Copperfield
Davy Crockett Legends - Irwin Shapiro
The Declaration of Independence
The Deerslayer
Don Quixote de la Mancha - Miguel De Cervantes
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Dred Scott Decision
The Education of Henry Adams
Eight Cousins
Emily Post’s Etiquette
Ender’s Game
“In Flanders Fields”
Flatland
The Foundation series
Frankenstein
“The Gettysburg Address”
“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
The Great Brain series
Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift
Hamilton’s Mythology
Hamlet
Heidi - Johanna Spry
The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
History Reborn
Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of - Mark Twain
“I Have a Dream”
Ivanhoe - Walter Scott
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O’Dell
Joan of Arc - Mark Twain
Jo’s Boys - Louisa May Alcott
A Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne
Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
The Jungle Book
King Arthur and the Round Table - Thomas Malory
Laddie - Gene Stratton Porter
The Last of the Mohicans - James Cooper
“Let America be America Again”
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Little Britches series
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The Lonesome Gods
Lord of the Rings series
“The Man with the Hoe”
Mathmaticians are People, Too (2 volumes)
Moby Dick
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
National Velvet
Noah Webster’s Original 1828 Dictionary
North to Freedom
“O Captain! My Captain!”
“Old Ironsides”
Old Yeller - Fred Gipson
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
On Numbers
Paul Bunyan - Esther Sheperd
The Phantom Tollbooth
“The Present Crisis”
“The Road Not Taken”
The Real Benjamin Franklin
The Real George Washington
The Real Thomas Jefferson
The Robe
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel DeFoe
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare
The Sackett series
The Saxon Math series
The Secret Garden - Francess Hodgson Burnett
Shipwrecked
Soldiers, Statesmen, and Heroes
Sonnets of Shakespeare
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers
Stuart Little - E. B. White
The Summer of the Monkeys - Wilson Rawls
The Swiss Family Robinson - Johaan Wyss
Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of - Mark Twain
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Trumpet of the Swans - E. B. White
“Ulysses”
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
The Walking Drum
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
White Fang - Jack London
William Tell
The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Here are some lists that I found in my searching that gave me some new books to consider:
Colene Salley This list has a bunch of science themed books that look interesting, I don't think these are chapter books, but they still look fun.
Literacy, families and learning This s a fun list of reasons to read chapter books. There are some fun suggestions for future reading here as well.
Dragon Books This is a whole list of books for children that have dragons in them. My kids both love dragons. This will be a useful list.
Planet Esme's Shelf This is not a chapter book site, but I had to include this site somewhere. Great resource for picture books.
vintage childrens books my kid loves. Another picture book blog, but one that has books from my day. A must see blog.
Conclusion:
There are tons of great books out there. After looking at the options, I am still going to have a hard time choosing, but at least I know what direction to head. I am also aware that there are a bunch of not so good choices. Even some of the most popular books are some that I will never read aloud to my children. They can read them on their own. I must go read now, I am much to excited to blog anymore tonight.
P.S. If you have any favorite childrens chapter books to read aloud please share
