“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”

–Sir Richard Steele

I thought some of you might enjoy a list of  books that I’ve read to my kids over the years. This is incomplete, but I’ll add the rest in time. (As we remember)

My favorite resource for finding quality children’s literature, The Read Aloud Handbook.

Although all of these have been fun to read together, I’ve put *’s next to the extra special reads. They are in no particular order.

•  * Fabelhaven (5-book series) by Brandon Mull (very light fantasy fun)
• Beyonders (3-book series – in progress) by Brandon Mull
• * All Creatures Great And Small by James Harriott
• * A Series Of Unfortunate Events (13-book series) by Lemony Snickett
• * The Time Machine, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor
• The Calder Game by Blue Balliett (3-book series – great artistic link)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (3-book series)
• *The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials 3-book series) by Phillip Pullman
• *The BFG, Matilda, Danny the Champion of the World, The Twits by Roald Dahl
• *Crispin, the Cross of Lead, *Crispin at the Edge of the World,  The Book Without Words, The Seer of Shadows, *The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Poppy, The Man Who Was Poe by Avi
• The Graveyard Book, Coraline by Phillip Pullman
• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
• * Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• The Tale of Despereaux, The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
• * Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Shakespeare’s Secret, Masterpiece by Elise Broach
• * The Secret Garden by Francis Hodges Burnett (??)
• Huck Finn by Mark Twain (not a great read aloud, but nonetheless a great book)
• The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith
• The Island (series) by Gordan Korman
• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• Help I’m A Prisoner In The Library by Eth Clifford
• Time Stops For No Mouse, (4 books The Hermux Tantamoq series) by Michael Hoeye
• The Dark Hills Divide, Rivers of Fire by Patrick Carman
• The Case of The Baker Street Irregulars, by Robert Newman
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik
• Holes, Small Steps, Wayside Stories of the Sideways School by Louis Sachar
• Dragon Rider, The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
• The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
• Goose Girl, The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
• The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
• An American Plague by Jim Murphy (Great, clear non-fiction read for adults & kids)
• *A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (nice way to practice that Victorian English accent)
• Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
• *Poems by Edgar Allen Poe — excellent Halloween fun!

And of course the classic younger reader books all get *’s —

• * Dr. Seuss books
• * Winnie the Books by A.A. Milne
• * Goodnight Moon
• * All the PD Eastman books – Go Dog Go, Are You My Mother, etc.
• * Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel and all the books by Virginia Lee Burton
• ** Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burn (personal favorite)
• * Make Way For Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal and everything by Robert McCloskey
• * Beezus and Ramona (all the Ramona Book Series) Henry And Ribsy by Beverley Cleary

A few other younger reader books we enjoyed together.

• McBroom and the Big Wind by Sid Fleischman
• Walter the Farting Dog books by William Kotzwinkle & Glenn Murray (Plain silly fun)
• When Pigs Fly by Valerie Couleman
• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
• The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
• (too many more to mention)

That’s all I can remember for now. Check back from time to time and I’m sure the list will have grown.

Yesterday’s gift of time … Read another chapter of The Beyonders by Brandon Mull to my kids. One of many happy hours spent reading to my kids.