How do you choose your library books? Sometimes it is overwhelming to me to search the library website or browse the shelves. There are so many books, some worth reading and some not. Here are some resources I use to select books for my children.
Honey for a Child’s Heart
by Gladys Hunt If you can only afford one book, buy this one! Gladys does a great job of breaking down books by age, type, and gives a short review for most of the books.
Five in a Row website Five in a Row is a literature based curriculum and their books lists are extensive. They choose quality literature for children and some of my favorite children’s books are listed on their site.
Veritas Press website Veritas has extensive reading lists for each grade level on their website. A great site if you are looking for classic literature for your children.
1000 Good Books List This list was compiled by the Classical Christian Education Support Loop
Ambleside Online book lists This free curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason style of teaching. A great resource.
The Read-Aloud Handbook
by Jim Trelease I am currently reading this book and I love it. This should be required reading for anyone who has children. I plan purchasing this book and I am only on page 40!
During the summer months I spend many hours researching books on the internet. Using the above resources, plus a few others I put together reading lists for the school year. The reading lists serve as a guide when I check out books from the library. We don’t always read every book on the list, and we always read books not on our list, but it is a great starting point.
Here is what we are reading this week:
Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses 
by Laura Numeroff Funny story about all the things animals don’t do. My kids giggled through most of the book.
Clap Your Hands
by David Ellwand Basically, “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in book form. Fun book, my kids enjoyed acting it out.
Little Farm by the Sea
by Kay Chorao I really liked this book, especially the illustrations. A great depiction of farm life, although definitely glamorized a bit.
Pickles To Pittsburgh
by Judi Barrett The sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which I haven’t read. My kids (5, 7, 9 ) loved this book. The entire town is made up of food and food falls from the sky. It made me hungry!
Read All About It!
by Laura and Jenna Bush I admit I picked this book based on the author. Laura was a librarian wasn’t she? This book is about a boy who is “too cool” for books. The characters start to come alive and eventually the boy realizes that books are cool. If your kids think books are cool already I would skip this book. One neat thing the book does offer is that in the illustrations there are book lists which include some really great books.
One Guinea Pig Is Not Enough
by Kate Duke Good math lesson book. Basically the book adds by one starting at one and going to ten.
Moonbear’s Skyfire
by Frank Asch Story about a bear trying to put out a fire in the sky (a rainbow) and then finding a pot of gold (honey). This book left me with a “huh?” I didn’t get it and I didn’t like the fact that the bear never admits the “fire” is really a rainbow.
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread
by Kate DiCamillo Review of this one coming next week.
The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle
by Lynne Cherry I started this book with two kids on the couch who were not paying any attention. By the sixth page they were completely engrossed in the book. The artwork is excellent and the author tells the story of how a mangrove tree grows and supports many other animals. Very good book.
I am learning so much from the Read-Aloud Handbook. I hope to post my thoughts and a potential experiment idea next week.
Now it is time to link up your book basket post. Please link to the actual post and not your blog homepage so people can easily find your post. Then visit the other participants and see what they are reading!
Tracey - Girls to Grow says
Thanks for sharing your resources for finding good books for your children to read! I will definitely look into those. Another way I create book lists is from homeschool catalogs. While I am not currently homeschooling, I often find the catalogs contain lists of age-appropriate books, often with summaries or reviews so that I can determine if the subject matter would be of interest to my girls.
Michelle aka Applie says
I’ll put my list out there tomorrow. I haven’t done a summer reading list yet. I love the Read Aloud Handbook, it is my favorite. I also have Honey for a Child’s Heart. I have used 1001 booklist. I haven’t even though to using Veritas Press. Thanks for the tip. I also like Sonlight booklist.
I use to use Five In A Row, but my kids are older now. I do have several of their books, that we do read over and over. 😀
I’ll be working on our summer list next week.
Wendi says
I actually have “The Read Aloud Handbook” on my shelf – I’ll have to pull it off and re-read it 🙂
I also use “Honey for a Child’s Heart”, and the Five in a Row series…in addition to my Sonlight catalog and my Veritas Press catalog. We don’t use either of these curriculums ~ but their graded booklists are great!
Carissa says
Hello from a fellow military wife and soon to be homeschooling mom! 🙂 I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and thought I should say “hello”. I also love Jim Trelease’s “The Read Aloud Handbook” and recommend it to everyone. Great resource to have. We recently finished reading “The Tale of Despereaux” and had our own little book club party that I blogged about. Happy Reading!
Rebecca says
I have a son who is in 3rd grade but reads on a 5th grade level. He’s not much into science fiction or magic and wizards etc. so he’s not wanting to read what all his friends are reading like Harry Potter, Fable Haven etc. My library book list mostly focused on this type of genre, also we have high standards as far as lang. etc.. They had tons of options for girls but not so much for boys. I’ve noted the resources you listed, I’m not a home schooler so I couldn’t get at some of them but I am going to check out the books any other resources would be awesome. Also I would greatly appreciate a referral to any blogs your aware of that focus on only children or boys in general. I really enjoy your blog and follow it daily since I discovered it. I appreciate your positive outlook!
Thanks
Amanda says
Thanks for the list of resources – I’ve read the Hunt book and the Trelease one…the other website resources were new to me, so I’m glad you shared them!
Julie says
I just ordered my FIAR handbooks last night….can’t wait to get them!
BlueCastle says
This is really great. Thank you so much for sharing these resources. My kids are gobbling up books just as fast as I can take them to the library. I’m trying to keep up with them, while making sure the books they read are not corrupting their minds. It’s very challenging. You’ve given me a place to start. Thank you again.
Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam says
I love books as much as yard sales (and you know how much I love those). They are taking over our home…wish you were closer and I’d share them. 🙂
Amy Ellen says
I will be really interested to hear your thoughts on Despereaux… We have been reading it this week and will finish it up tomorrow. I won’t spoil any secrets if you haven’t finished it yet… but it is interesting to say the least. Like I said, I am eager to hear your thoughts.
I love Honey for A Child’s Heart and the 1000 books.
Amy says
Cloudy w/ Meatballs has a sequel!?!
Laura & Jenna Bush wrote a children’s book!?
Clearly I am out of the loop. 🙂
Great list! I love the 1000 Books list, and plan on using the Ambleside list as well. I have heard a lot about Honey for a Child’s Heart but can’t commit to purchasing yet!
Gabi says
Thanks for posting your resources! Like Rebecca, I have sons and have a hard time finding appropriate reading material for them! There are so many wonderful choices for girls out there… I have recently been doing searches, and your resources will be a great addition. We have been reading some similar selections. Thanks so much!!
I enjoy reading your posts everyday…
Tiffany says
I use all the resources you listed for compiling my book lists, and one other that I really like – How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme Codell. It is a big fat book and it is VERY useful for compiling a list around a theme. I like to do theme/unit studies with my preschoolers, and this book is so helpful. It is a secular book and some of the books listed may be questionable, of course, but it is a very good resource overall. I had to buy a copy of my own, since I refer to it so frequently.
Sara says
I don’t have a blog to list my favorites, but we just read a great one today. My kids could not stop giggling at “Skippyjon Jones” by Judy Schachner. My 4 year old was laughing so hard, I’m not even sure he heard the whole story. It even had me giggling!
Elizabeth says
You can get The Read Aloud Handbook free at Paperbackswap.com — It’s a handy resource for getting common classics and whatnot…you just have to be willing to give up a few of your books 😛
Kathleen says
My “how-I-choose-list” is identical to yours! 🙂
Lawanda says
I let my kids pick their books. They usually do pretty good. 🙂 Not to mention they don’t like to read them if I pick them. Little snots! LOL
Jenn @ Beautiful Calling says
I have been crazy busy lately and haven’t had the opportunity to join in for a couple weeks but LOVE this!
My little ones are 2 and under so though they can pick one book that catches their eye – I pick the majority of their books to match whichever theme we are working on with our learning poster. (I posted about our learning poster on my blog for those who don’t know what one is)
Amy @ Momstoolbox says
Wow. I’m surprised you haven’t had the Trelease book all these years. I remember when you asked for Honey for a Child’s Heart I just assumed you had the other. Oops. Sorry. No more assumptions!