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Literature for the Early Elementary years
This is not an exhaustive list of good books for the early elementary years. These are books that we have enjoyed with our own children and with many children whom we have taught over the years. They provide a good foundation in the joy of reading and listening to stories and set the stage for the appreciation of many great classical epics in later years.
Early Reader Books:
· Frog and Toad Books
· Little Bear Books
· Owl at Home and other Arnold Loebel books
· Dr. Seuss books
Fairy Tales and Folk Tales:
The original fairy tales are generally much better than the versions that are heavily adapted for children. Many of these will be too difficult for young children to read on their own but they will enjoy listening to the stories and benefit from the beauty of the language used as well. You’ll be amazed how much better the originals are than the Disney versions!
· The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona and Peter Opie
· Fairy Tales and Fables (The first volume of Collier’s Junior Classics 10 volume set. The whole set is wonderful.)
· Folk Tales by the Brothers Grimm
· Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
· The Fairy books by Andrew Lang
Myths and Fables:
· D’Aularies Book of Norse Myths
· D’Aulaires Book of Trolls
· D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths
· Aesop’s Fables
· Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
· Arabian Nights (ed. Andrew Lang)
· Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott
· Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
· Gilgamesh: Man’s First Story by Bernarda Bryson
· Saint George and the Dragon, by Margaret Hodges
Animal Stories:
· My Father’s Dragon
· The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh
· Paddington Bear
· Wind in the Willows
· Dr. Dolittle
· Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
· Charlotte’s Web
· The Velveteen Rabbit
· Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling
Fantasy:
· The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
· The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
· The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
· Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Class by Lewis Carroll
Poetry:
· The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse in America
· More Coming Soon!
Longer Books:
· Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
· Heidi by Johanna Spyri
· The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
· Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
· Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
· The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
· The Great Brain (the series by Fitzgerald)
· Little House on the Prairie (the series by Laura Ingalls Wilder)
· Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
· Homer Price by Robert McCloskey