Raising Readers
Books for Reading Aloud as a Family
The True Confessions of Charlotte
Doyle
Avi
NB Avi
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.
Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
X Babbitt
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger share their secret about a magical spring of water.
Frindle
Andrew Clements
X Clements
When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.
Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
NB Curtis
Ten year old Bud, a motherless boy living in Michigan during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes is his father.
Matilda
Roald Dahl
X Dahl
Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and helps her favorite teacher out of trouble.
Because of Winn Dixie
Kate DiCamillo
NB DiCamillo
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in a new town and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
The Great Brain
John D. Fitzgerald
X Fitzgerald
The exploits of the Great Brain of Adenville, Utah are described by his younger brother, who is frequently the victim of the Great Brains schemes.
My Side of the Mountain
Jean Craighead George
NB George
Thirteen-year-old Sam Gribley, leaves his family and crowded New York and sets off to live by himself in the Catskills. He must rely on his knowledge of nature and his wits to survive.
Letters from Rifka
Karen Hesse
X Hesse
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her familys flight from Russia in 1919 and her experiences when she is left behind in Belgium.
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You
Mary Ann Hoberman
E/H
A delightful choreography of rhythm, rhyme, and repetition that begs to be read aloud in tandem by children and adults, or by any pairing of beginning readers.
Redwall
Brian Jacques
X Jacques
Young mouse Matthias is determined to keep the evil rat Cluny from taking over the peaceful Redwall Abbey. First in the Redwall series.
Ella Enchanted
Gail Carson Levine
NB Levine
Based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against a childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.
A Long Way from Chicago
Richard Peck
NB Peck
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
Where the Red Fern Grows
Wilson Rawls
NB Rawls
A young Oklahoma boy uses his own savings to buy two hunting dogs, which he grows to love.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
J.K. Rowling
X Rowling
Rescued from the neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches. First in the Harry Potter series.
The Cay
Theodore Taylor
F Taylor
When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage and love from his old companion.
Charlotte's Web
E.B. White
X White
Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.