Whether children are homeschooled or attend a public, private or Lutheran school, one great way to “train them in the way they should go” is to read with them at home. While Bible and catechetical reading is crucial, reading books of many genres with your children is also a great idea. As you read alongside them, you can reflect on the material with them, helping them learn how to evaluate and what to love, whom to admire and what to condemn.
To aid you in this, Kate Deddens and Leah Bromen of Classical Consultants have generously shared their list of good reads for students of various age levels. Read below their recommendations for young children. (You can also check out their lists for older children and high schoolers).
Note: Children mature at different rates and have different sensitivities, and certain families may find different sorts of content objectionable. Websites like Common Sense Media are helpful resources to ensure that the language and content of particular books are appropriate for your children.
Recommended Reading with Little Children
Church History, Theology & Apologetics
- Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland — Tomie dePaoloa
- Augustine Came to Kent — Barbara Willard
Literature
- Aesop’s Fables
- Beauty and the Beast — Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever — Barbara Robinson
- Blue Fairy Book — Andrew Lang
- Boxcar Children series — Gertrude Chandler Warner
- Charlotte’s Web — E.B. White
- The Chronicles of Narnia series— C.S. Lewis
- Corduroy — Don Freeman
- Curious George — H.A. and Margret Rey
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths and Book of Greek Myths
- Dr. Seuss books
- Emperor’s New Clothes, Ugly Duckling, Little Match Girl, Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea, Steadfast Tin Soldier — Hans Christian Anderson
- Frederick — Leo Lionni
- Grimm’s Fairy Tales
- King Jack and the Dragon —Peter Bently
- The Light Princess — George MacDonald
- Little Bear — Else Holmelund Minarik
- A New Coat for Anna —Harriet Ziefert
- Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie — Connie Roop
- King Midas and the Golden Touch — Charlotte Craft
- Leif the Lucky — Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
- The Little Engine that Could —Watty Piper
- The Little House — Virginia Lee Burton
- Little House on the Prairie series — Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Madeline — Ludwig Bemelmans
- The Making of a Knight — Patrick O’Brien
- Miss Rumphius — Barbara Cooney
- The Magic Fish — Freya Littledale
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit — Beatrix Potter
- Pinocchio — Carlo Collodi
- St. George and the Dragon — Margaret Hodges
- Stellaluna — Janell Cannon
- The Tale of Despereaux — Kate DiCamillo
- Three Billy Goats Gruff — Peter Christen Asbjornsen
- The Velveteen Rabbit — Margery Williams
- The Wind in the Willows — Kenneth Grahame
- Winnie the Pooh — A.A. Milne
- A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Poetry
- A Child’s Garden of Verses — Robert Louis Stevenson
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening — Robert Frost
Historical Fiction & History
- The Adventures of Robin Hood — John Burrows
- A Child’s History of the World — V.M. Hillyer
- Paul Bunyan — Steven Kellog
- The World of Columbus and Sons — Genevieve Foster
- Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans — Edward Eggleston
Mathematics & Science
- Along Came Galileo — Jeanne Bendick
- Archimedes and the Door of Science — Jeanne Bendick
- Euclid: The Man Who Invented Geometry — Shoo Rayner
- The Librarian Who Measured the Earth — Kathryn Lasky
- Pythagoras and the Ratios — Julie Ellis
Art
- Drawing with Children —Mona Brookes
Music
- Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin — Lloyd Moss
Image: Illustration from “The Babes in the Woods,” Randolph Caldecott, 1912.
