One of the best gifts you can give your children and grandchildren is a love of reading.
There are many amazing children’s chapter books published every year, but you cannot get much better than classic children’s literature. It’s important to read a variety of books from fiction to mystery, classics to modern, and everything in-between
Most authors write multiple chapter books for children, so if you see something you like here check out the author and see what else they may offer. Although there are several notable books for many of these authors, the list would be cumbersome if all were included. So be sure and look up the authors you enjoy.
Some classic books are quite old. You’ll find lots of differences in the way we think today. It’s healthy for children to put themselves in another person’s time, not just place, and differences in worldview make for excellent dinner conversation.
Don’t be afraid of dated vocabulary either. Kids can comprehend quite a bit through context.
So pick up a classic and spend some family time reading aloud. You will stimulate children to anticipate what happens next! This list is in no particular order!
- Ramona The Pest – Beverly Cleary Ramona is excited to go to Kindergarten, but she gets into a lot of trouble!
- The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame The cast of animals have quite distinct personalities, which make them feel like old friends the more you read this story.
- The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, Milo drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things are very different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason.
- The Chronicles Of Narnia – C.S.Lewis A spellbinding series for children unlike any other.
- The Little House Series – Laura Ingalls Wilder This is a series you will read over and over again. Classic tales about life on the frontier.
- The Water Horse – Kick King-Smith Eight-year-old Kirstie lives in Scotland. While beach-combing one day she discovers a very large, strange egg.
- The Borrowers – Mary Norton Life has its challenges, especially when you’re only six inches tall!
- The Sword In The Stone – T.H. White A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur
- Summer Of The Monkeys – Wilson Rawls Jay is scouring the Ozark mountains to capture escaped circus monkeys!
- Island Of The Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell When a twelve-year-old girl is stranded on an island she has to fend for herself, hoping her people will return for her.