Systems :: Kids' Books

Books are a big part of our everyday lives. We have time to read aloud and to read privately every single day.

So many books, so little time?

That's what I used to think before I realized that not all books are created equal. The more we read, the more discriminating I become. Some books are what I call fluff. Others are really GOOD books with really GOOD artwork. This is important because with homeschooling I want to make sure we are spending our precious time only on the best and not just wasting it consuming fluff. I think everyone will define fluff differently (and some may not define it at all which is fine) but this is what works for us.

When Evan was a baby I was a book scavenger. I bought a lot of little board books and kids' picture books. Most of it was fluff and most of it we never used at all for Chloe.

Now, we exclusively use the library. I don't buy anything. I started a master list that I refer to so I can choose which books I want to put on hold on the library's website for pick-up. There are actually two lists -- one for Chloe's age and one for Evan.


This is our list of favorite picture books (for ages 3-5)

A Garden for a Groundhog --Ballan

Billy and Blaze series --Anderson

Blueberries for Sal --McCloskey

Caps for Sale --Slobodkina

Chanticleer and the Fox --Chaucer/Cooney

Chestnut --McGeorge

Choo Choo --Burton

Cock-a-Doodle Dudley (and others) --Peet

Ferdinand --Leaf

Grandaddy's Place --Griffith

Harry the Dirty Dog (and others) --Zion

House for Hermit Crab --Carle

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet --Seuss

James Herriott's Treasury for Children --Herriott

Katy and the Big Snow --Burton

Katy No-Pocket --Payne

Lentil --McCloskey

Little Farm by the Sea --Chorao

Make Way for Ducklings --McCloskey

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel --Burton

Millions of Cats --Gag

Miss Rumphius --Cooney

Mr. Putter and Tabby series --Rylant

My First Little House series --Wilder

One Morning in Maine --McCloskey

Owl Moon --Yolen

Ox-Cart Man --Hall

Pancakes, Pancakes --Carle

Roxaboxen --McLerran

Seven Silly Eaters --Hoberman

Stone Soup-- Brown

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble --Steig

The Little Engine That Could --Piper

The Little Fir Tree --Brown

The Little House --Burton

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers --Gerstein

The Mitten --Brett

The Story About Ping --Flack

Tikki Tikki Tembo --Mosel

When I Was Young in the Mountains --Rylant

Where the Sidewalk Ends --Silverstein

And this is the one for Evan (for ages 6-7) which is mostly chapter books:

A Child's Garden of Verses -- Stevenson

Charlotte's Web -- White

James and the Giant Peach -- Dahl

Just So Stories -- Kipling

Pippi Longstocking -- Lindgren

Stuart Little -- White

The Aesop for Children -- Winter

The Velveteen Rabbit -- Williams

Winnie-the-Pooh -- Milne

James Herriott's Treasury for Children -- Herriott

Little House in the Big Woods -- Wilder

Farmer Boy -- Wilder

The Trumpet of the Swan -- White

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- Dahl

I have ongoing lists of books to read for the upcoming years but that's a bit much to put here and I don't know how to link my Word document to this post...

We go to the library once a week to pick up books I have on reserve and return ones we are done with. There is one bookshelf in the house for all library books so we don't lose track.

On the left are the read-alouds. On the right are the informational type of books. My books are above on a different shelf -- I usually have three or four of my own.

Since it is nearly impossible to stop a kid from picking out his own books in the library we just set a one book limit unless we are trading ones we are done with. All books are subject to my approval ;-)

Read aloud time is usually in the morning around breakfast, again around naptime (sometimes Chloe doesn't want a book but I will read to Evan while she is resting), more when dad's home and is asked to read, and always at bedtime for twenty minutes.

Most kids watch tv; we read :-)