Looking back on our unschooling year I realized….we’ve read a load of books! We seem to be a family of book lovers, and I am totally thrilled about this. Our son, Gabriel, managed to read 100 books between August and December of 2015! All of them just for the simple joy that reading brings him. I keep track of his books with the Goodreads App. This has been a wonderful App as it lets you scan the bar codes of books and you can file them into different folders such as Read, To Read, etc. So, without further ado here are our favorite children’s books.
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Our Favorite Children’s Books: Classics
We have the entire collection of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but we’ve only read four of them so far. Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Praire, Farmer Boy, and On the Banks of Plum Creek. Our son loved hearing these stories about how the pioneers and especially the children lived.
The Black Stallion is a wonderful adventure for boys and girls alike. Our son was sure he needed a horse after reading this book. Not that I blame him. The bond formed between The Black and Alec Ramsey is truly inspiring.
Bridge to Terabithia is a Newberry Medal winning novel. Our son found it very relatable and fell in love with the characters Jess, and Leslie. This book is filled with imagination and the power of friendship.
I’m ashamed to say that I never knew that Mrs. Fisby and the Rats of NIMH was a book. I grew up loving the movie and was thrilled to read the book for the first time with our son. Mrs. Frisby is a brave little mouse who will do anything to save her son from the farmers plow. Even risking her own life.
This version of The Wizard of Oz is a beautifully illustrated book. You just can’t go wrong with beautiful pictures and a beautiful story.
James and the Giant Peach was our fist introduction to the author Roald Dahl. This is such a fantastic book and creative read. James gets the adventure of a lifetime with 7 unlikely friends inside the world’s largest peach!
We have read White Fang before, but it is one of our son’s favorite books. The story of a part dog, part wolf pup surviving in the Alaskan wilderness.
The Call of the Wild is another favorite around here and has been read many times. The dog Buck is taken from his family in California and shipped to Alaska. There he must learn the law of Club and Fang.
I LOVED Anne with an “e” as a girl and I was thrilled when our son wanted to read about her. Anne has such an imagination and reminds me very much of our son. They are both always dreaming up interesting things, and they both talk incessantly. Anne of Green Gables is a beautiful story of an orphaned girl that never gives up on her dreams.
We are big lovers of everything to do with the “One Ring.” Our son ADORED The Hobbit this year. He even listened to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Audible...twice!
I cannot forget Aesop’s Fables. This is a book that get’s read over and over again. The children love the illustrations and stories. I love the morals.
Our Favorite Children’s Books: Fantasy
The Dragon of the Lonely Island is a magical book about three siblings on vacation. When they discover a 20,000 year old dragon, they are transported back in time to relive the adventures of the past.
We own all of the Harry Potter books, but have only read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone this year. This book was a part of our tea times with friends. All of the children enjoyed reading about Harry Potter and his magical adventures.
All of the books in the Dragonbreath Series by Ursula Vernon have been fantastic for our son. He discovered these magical books at the library and couldn’t stop reading them until he had finished the entire series. I highly recommend them for their humor, their comic book feel and adventure. This humorous adventure series is perfect for reluctant readers and children seeking early chapter books.
Our Favorite Children’s Books: Math
We have enjoyed every (Math is CATegorical) book by Brain P. Cleary that we have read. They have a wonderful Dr. Suess feel. The simple rhyming texts are humorous and explains mathematical functions in a fun way.
Geometry is explained in story form with Sir Cumference and the First Round Table.
The Multiplying Menace is a fun math adventure about multiplying. Our son really enjoyed these math stories.
The Multiplying Menace Divides is another in this Math adventure series that we highly recommend. This clever story will help children understand division.
For a child it can be hard to imagine just how much a million really is. How Much is a Million helped our son conceptualize this difficult concept.
In twelve dreams, Robert, a boy who hates math, meets a Number Devil, who leads him to discover the amazing world of numbers: infinite numbers, prime numbers, Fibonacci numbers, numbers that magically appear in triangles, and numbers that expand without. This is a super fun book that our son really loved reading before bed.
Our Favorite Children’s Books: Grammar
We have enjoyed every (Words are CATegorical) book from Brian P. Cleary. They have a wonderful Dr. Suess feel. The simple rhyming texts are humorous and help give children an appreciation for the rhythm of language.
Ruth Heller has a similar writing style as Brain P. Cleary. Her book Many Luscious Lollipops was a hit in our home when our son was obsessed with grammar.
Our Favorite Children’s Books: STEM/Science
In Violet the Pilot a young girl and her trusty canine companion are on a trial-and-error journey into the world of flight. A great book for a budding inventor.
The Most Magnificent Thing is a charming picture book that encourages children not to quit in the face of disappointment, but rather to persevere.
Why, Why, Why do Lizards Stick to Walls? is a fun amphibian and reptile trivia book that our son adored.
An Illustrated Timeline of Inventions and Inventors is a timeline filled with inventions and their inventors.
Climate is a hot topic and for a budding scientist these facts are provide a fun and informative resource. 50 Climate Questions: A Blizzard of Blistering Facts is a well loved book in our home.
Eye to Eye: How Animals See the World is a wonderful picture book that helps children discover how animals have evolved an amazing variety of eyes.
In Creature Features we get a Q & A style interview as 25 creatures offer their personal insights into why they look the way they do.
So, there you have it. While we read hundreds of books this year. These books were our personal favorites of 2015. We hope that you find something extraordinary and magical here to get your children excited about reading.
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