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GOOD BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

This small list is not exhaustive. But it will provide teachers with something to guide students in their choice of books. Most of these books are still in print and are available at your local bookstore. If not, they can easily be ordered at your request. Many of these titles are also found in second hand shops. We hope that this list will be helpful.

Of course, children should also read the lives of the saints. We recommend the Vision series books (Ignatius Press) as well as the Mary Fabian Windeatt series (TAN Books).

CLICK ON UNDERLINED BOOK TITLES TO SEE THEIR REVIEW
* —this is a small book with pictures.  No need of a review *B* —book recommended for boys *G* —book recommended for girls
Preschool, Kindergarten,
1st & 2nd grade
  • Aesop's Fables
  • Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
  • Peter Pan by James Barrie
  • A Bad Child's Book of Beasts by Hilaire Belloc
  • Fritz and the Beautiful Horses by Jan Brett
  • Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
  • Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
  • Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney
  • The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola
  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  • Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm
  • The Big Snow by Berta Hader
  • Just So Stories —Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
  • Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
  • Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
  • Mother Goose Rhymes
  • Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault
  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and others by Beatrix Potter
  • A Child's Garden of Verses by R. L. Stevenson
  • The Huron Carol by Frances Tyrrell
  • The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward
  • The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Primary School
3rd grade
4th grade
5th grade
6th grade
7th grade
8th grade  
  • The Fairy of the Snows and others by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
  • The Secret Garden, The Little Princess and Curdie and others by George McDonald
  • Kidnapped and The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Little Women, Little Men and others by Louisa May Alcott
  • Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Brink
  • The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
  • The Red Keep and others by Allen French
  • King Solomon's Mines by H.R. Haggard
  • Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
  • Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

  • The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

  • The Song of Swallows by Leo Politi
  • The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings
  • Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
  • Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
  • Heidi and others by Joana Spuri
  • Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  • Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
  • Son of Charlemagne and others by Barbara Willard
  • Swiss Family Robinson by Johaness Wyss

  • Princes, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
High School
9 — 12 grade
  • Pride and Prejudice and others by Jane Austen
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  • The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc
  • Come Rack, Come Rope, The Kings Achievement, By What Authority, and others by Fr. R.H. Benson
  • The 39 Steps and The Hostages by John Buchan
  • Death Comes to the Archbishop, My Antonia, Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
  • Father Brown’s Stories and The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton
  • Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans by Fenimore Cooper
  • David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  • Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles and others by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  • The Masterful Monk and others by Fr. Owen Francis Dudley
  • The Count of Montecristo by Alexander Dumas
  • The Writing on the Hearth and others by Cynthia Harnett
  • Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hemon
  • Kon Tiki and Ra by Thor Heyerdahl
  • Iliad and Odyssey by Homer
  • The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
  • Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
  • The Mass of Brother Michel by M. Kent
  • Endurance by Alfred Lansing
  • The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London
  • Guns of Navarone and others by Alistair McLean
  • Moby Dick by Herman Melville
  • My Friend Flicka and others by Mary O'Hara
  • Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
  • A Soldier’s Pilgrimage by Ernest Psichari
  • Ivanhoe and Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
  • Shakespeare
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Master of Ballantrae by R.L. Stevenson
  • Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
  • The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and others by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Rose Round and others by Meriol Trevor
  • Trianon and Madame Royale by Elena Maria Vidal
  • The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von le Fort
  • The Virginian by Owen Wister
Series books which may be read
  • Famous Five, Secret Seven and St. Clare’s School by Enid Blyton
  • Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer
  • Billabong by Mary Bruce
  • What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
  • Hardy Boys by Franklin Dixon
  • Black Stallion by Walter Farley
  • Biggles by Captain W.E. Johns
  • Nancy Drew (but not modern ones —check dates) and Dana Girls by Carolyn Keene
  • Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
  • Little Britches by Ralph Moody
  • Encyclopedia Brown detective series by Donald J. Sobol
  • Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
  • Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Happy Hollisters by Jerry West
  • Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Series books not to read
  • Animorphs by K.A. Applegate
  • Animal Hospital by Steven Attridge
  • Pony Pals by Jeanne Betascourt
  • Saddle Club by Bonnie Bryant
  • Thoroughbred by Joanna Campbell
  • Freshman by Linda Cooney
  • The Gymnasts by Elisabeth Levy
  • Babysitters' Club and Babysitters' Little Sister by Ann Martin
  • Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins and Unicorn Club by Francine Pascal
  • Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (cf. this article, "Harry Potter" for details)
  • Goosebumps by R.L. Stine
  • Penpals by Sharon Wyeth