Summer Reading: Great Books Build Great Minds

Belinda Terro Mooney shares a recommended summer reading list for families to enjoy, categorized by age group.

I have been privileged to homeschool all 7 children through to graduation. Part of my literature planning was poring through literature lists and Newbery award winners to get the best books for my children. Whether it was quiet reading time right after lunch (for the children too old to nap) or a Summer Reading Program that I created myself with my own prizes that I knew they’d like, literature was a fundamental part of our family life and learning experience.

I’d like to share with you a small taste of the fruit of all that love of literature with just a few of my top recommendations for each age group. 

Preschool Read-Alouds 

• Mother Goose (Tomie de Paola’s version is a good one) and A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stephenson  
• Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young and The Random House Book of Poetry for Children by Jack Prelutsky 
• Stars Tonight (poetry) by Sara Teasdale 
• Make Way for Ducklings, A Time of Wonder (and other books) by Robert McCloskey  
• Old Bear (series) by Jane Hissey  
• Mr. and Mrs. Green (series) by Keith Baker 
• Winnie the Pooh (series), When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six (poetry) by A.A. Milne 
• The Color Kittens (and other books) by Margaret Wise Brown 
• Frances (series) by Russell Hoban 
• Frog and Toad (series) by Arnold Lobel 
• The Shape of Me and other Stuff (and other books) by Dr. Seuss 
• Brown Bear (and other books) by Eric Carle  

Great Books for Elementary-School Students  

• Olga da Polga by Michael Bond (The antics of this adorable guinea pig are enhanced by acting out the voices of the characters).  
• Under the Lilacs (and other books) by Louisa Mae Alcott (This precious story of a 10-year-old boy is my favorite of her books). 
• The Moffats (series) by Eleanor Estes 
• The Melendy Family (series) by Elizabeth Enright  
• Billy and Blaze (series) C.W. Anderson 
• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (series) by Betty MacDonald 
• Caddie Woodlawn by Carol R. Brink 
• Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White  
• Red Fairy Book, Blue Fairy Book (series) by Andrew Lang 
• All of a Kind Family (series) by Sydney Taylor 
• The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis 
• King of the Wind (and other books) by Marguerite Henry 
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 

Great Books for Middle-School Students

• The Good Master (and other books) by Kate Seredy 
• The Children of Green Knowe (series) by L.M. Boston 
• Rangers Apprentice (series) and The Brother Band Chronicles (series) by John Flannigan 
• The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge 
• Freckles, Freckles comes Home, and A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (Freckles is so special!)  
• Little Women, Little Men, and Short Stories by Louisa Mae Alcott 
• Watership Down by Richard Adams 

Reads for the High-School Years  

• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (and all other books) by J.R.R. Tolkien (His world-building, creation of languages, and poetry are fantastic) 
• John Carter of Mars (series) by Edgar Rice Burroughs 
• Out of the Silent Planet (series), Mere Christianity, and Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis 
• Sense and Sensibility, (and all other books) by Jane Austen 
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 
• My Antonia by Willa Cather 
• The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by John Fox, Jr.  
• Poems by Emily Dickenson 
• Poetical Works by William Wordsworth 
• The Poetry of Rober Frost by Robert Frost 

Great Books to Read Aloud as a Family  

• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Freckles and Freckles Comes Home by Gene Stratton-Porter (Freckles is so special!) 
• A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
• Under the Lilacs by Louisa Mae Alcott 
• The Harp and the Laurel Wreath collection of poetry edited by Laura Berquist 

Books to Help you Teach Virtues to Your Children:  

• Character Building: A Guide for Parents and Teachers by David Isaacs
• Growing in the Virtues of Jesus by Quentin Hakenewerth, S.M.
• Virtues and Vices: Defending the Interior Castle of the Soul by Pope Saint Leo IX 

Happy reading with your family! 

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Copyright 2024 Belinda Terro Mooney
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