This booklist is made up entirely of a selection of suggestions from readers of a little blog called Posie Gets Cozy, who generously recommended their favorite children’s titles for inclusion here. It has no particular rhyme or reason, other than that these books are books that Somebody Somewhere loves.
Some of these books are old, some of them are new, some of them are out-of-print, some of them you may only be able to find if you look very hard in secret places (I’ll leave that to you). All of them certainly sound delightful, from what I can tell, but I myself have only read a handful, so of course you (and your mom or dad) must use your own judgment about whether a book on the list is appropriate for you.
With the help of some Very Trusty Librarians [named Sian, Flora, and Andrea, and who are THE BEST — thank you ever so much, you guys], I’ve organized these titles according to age groups, but I have no doubt you will find things that overlap. If an author is very popular, she or he may have lots of great books out there, but I’ve limited the number of titles I’ve included for any particular author to just about three. If a book is part of a series, I’ve listed the first title in the series followed by an asterisk (*), so you’ll know to go back and read more if you find something you like. When you finish a book, you can put a sticker in the first column, right on top of the blue thing (you'll see what I mean when you see the list). And then you’ll always know which books you’ve read. I also left a little room at the end of each section for you to add a few favorites of your own.I think it’s going to take us many summers to read all of these books, so you might even punch holes in the pages and put them all in a nice binder to take with you when you go to the library or bookstore.
Have fun, and happy reading!
Your friend,
Alicia P.
Love your book list - even though I'm 55 & my only child is off to college, I plan to read a few again for myself. Last night I read a condensed version of the Secret Garden that I found in the $ spot at Target. So fun out on the deck dreaming of my own secret garden. Thanks for the memories!
how fantastic is that lovely header! ( i don't know if that's a question or a statement, but it really is lovely!). thanks for the booklist, ideas and all the pretty things here :)
~ ana
If you ever decide to add to that list, the Kate Seredy books The Singing Tree and The Good Master should not be missed, as well as anything by Edith Nesbit, particularly FIve Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and The Story of the Amulet. I'm amazed those didn't get mentioned before!
Wonderful list! ... but Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher really must be added. All of my favorites made the list except that one. :)
Lovely!! FYI, Susan Cooper's series The Dark is Rising is AWESOME. Shiver-inducing in such a good way for the nine and up category. Not really scary but mysterious and very good v. evil. (Merlin is real in this and is in modern times - well, the 1960s or 70s, anyway. Super awesome.)
Thank you! I'm happily building a library for my soon to arrive little one and this is perfect! I'm not sure what it says about me that the items I'm most excited to buy for the baby are books!
Thank you so much for making this list! You are making it SO EASY for us to just print it and check off the books we're reading to our little girl! Thank you SO MUCH! Even though she's only 10.5 months old, and we read to her a few times a week, we thought she wasn't paying attention, because she climbs on us and is more interested in eating the books, we KNOW she does, because she will sit with her own books and talk to them and giggle. It's the cutest thing, and it makes you feel SO GOOD. Can't wait to find new books to read!
I read the Milly Molly Mandy stories as a child and my daughter (now 22)also read them, in fact she still has the books. They are wonderful! I so enjoyed the little map of the village at the beginning of the book, I so wanted to live there!
Vivienne x
thanks for putting this together!
@Haley, I almost forgot all about Understood Betsy (and also, Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce). I think my granddaughter has already used up almost all the extra spaces on that book list just going through Nana's library of must-reads! Maybe if we all come up with enough additional titles, Alicia might be persuaded to consider a revision sometime in the future? ;)
Wonderful List... you worked so hard on it! Thank you! I mentioned 'Gypsy Rizka' but it wasn't added :( Sad because it is so good, another write in for the 7-9 age range! Happy summer reading! I cant wait to revisit some of these!!!
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom is actually part of a series. I would add the Lois Lenski (Farmer Small, Engineer Small, etc.) books for the youngest set.
Olivier Dunrea's Gossie (Gossie and Friends) series for babies - preschool; an absolute favorite in my household.
Alicia, you make me weep with joy. I am going to move to Portland and be your best friend.
Thank you so much for putting together this WONDERFUL summer reading list! Yeah, this will be so helpful when going to the library. Such a GREAT reference to have! Enjoy your reading :)
Just noticed, the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells didn't make it on the list either. She has a couple of great books about starting kindergarten too. Not only is her writing immensely appealing to children (big kids included!), her artwork is pure eye candy too. R.W. and Ian Falconer are two of my favorite author/artists for little ones :)
YEAH :) Can't wait to get some of these books - We are going to our favorite place this weekend, The Book Barn, and I will be sure to look for some of these titles! This list is awesome and came out at the perfect time.
What a wonderful list! Thank you so much!
What a treasure!! Thank you! Thank you!
I'm a long-time lurker, emerging a bit late from the inky shadows to recommend "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. It's about a valiant little mongoose, determined to protect its human "family" from the cobras that inhabit their garden in colonial India. It's for an older child, maybe 7 or 8, but I've loved it ever since my father read it to me some 50 years ago. I recently read it to my 9-year-old niece, and she kept still for the whole 20 minutes. A wonderful book, just scary enough for a child, and so fun to read out loud.
Thank you thank you thank you! What a labor of love. I am going to get some stickers and mark all of the books I have already read (often millions of times!) and then start in reading the rest of them.
One summer I am going to work my way through all of the Newberry Award books and the Caldecott Medal books too. AND - I think I can see the beginning of next summer's book list already, just from the suggestions in the comments!
Well done, Alicia, and many happy summer hours of reading to all.
THANK YOU! This list makes me absolutely giddy.
Wonderful Job! Thanks to all involved! This is a great list!
And this, Alicia Paulson, is why we LOVE YOU TO PIECES! I can't believe you did this! This list is amazing, beautiful, and I can't wait to print it out and make it into a reading list for our boys!
Thanks Alicia and trusty librarians! I have a baby girl who's 10 weeks old who is going to be raised bilingual (Dutch and American). I'm already collecting Dutch children's books for her. I'm not very familiar with American children's books, so this one comes in very handy!