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1 | Family Read-Aloud - 2026-2027 School Year | |||||
2 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range or Edition | |
3 | Q1: The Angel Knew Papa and the Dog | Douglas Kaine McKelvey | Without Mama, life in the log house at the forest's edge can be lonely for a little girl. But there's Papa for company, and the two mules, Bartholomew and Thaddeus Frisco, and the big old dog that mysteriously showed up at the end of winter. Everything about her little homestead seems sheltering and secure--that is, until an ominous storm settles over the valley and threatens to take it all away. As the flood waters rise and separate the girl from her Papa, will there be anything that can save her? The Angel Knew Papa And The Dog is the lyrically-told, frontier wonder-tale of a little girl's faith, courage, and amazing survival in a harsh wilderness. Like a cross between Sarah Plain and Tall and the tales of George MacDonald, The Angel Knew Papa and the Dog has often been described as "a children's story for all ages," and "the perfect family read-aloud." | |||
4 | Q2: The Family Under the Bridge | Natalie Savage Carlson | The heartwarming and memorable Newbery Honor-winning book about finding family in the unlikeliest places, featuring artwork by beloved illustrator Garth Williams. This classic middle grade novel is a welcome and meaningful read, especially at Christmastime. Armand, an old man living on the streets of Paris, relishes his solitary life in the beautiful city. He is happy with his carefree existence, begging and doing odd jobs to keep himself warm and fed. With simple pleasures and no cares, what more could he need? Then one day just before Christmas, Armand returns to his favorite spot beneath the bridge to find three cold and hungry children. Although he has no interest in children, Armand soon finds himself caring for the small family. It does not take Armand very long to realize that he must do whatever it takes to get them a real home. | Newberry Honor Book | ||
5 | Q3: At the Back of the North Wind | George Macdonald | At the Back of the North Wind follows Diamond, a gentle London stable-boy who befriends the North Wind—an ethereal, compassionate spirit who carries him on nightly journeys across city slums, moonlit oceans, and into a mysterious country “behind” the wind itself. Blending dreamlike fantasy with Victorian realism, George MacDonald uses Diamond’s adventures to explore themes of suffering, self-sacrifice, and the ultimate benevolence of divine love. Part fairy tale, part spiritual allegory, the novel invites readers of all ages to glimpse a world where hardship is woven into a larger, consoling design. | |||
6 | Q4: The Last Battle | C.S. Lewis | During the last days of Narnia, the land faces its fiercest challenge—not an invader from without but an enemy from within. Lies and treachery have taken root, and only the king and a small band of loyal followers can prevent the destruction of all they hold dear in this, the magnificent ending to The Chronicles of Narnia. | This is the last book of The Chronicles of Narnia. This will be the theme for our last-day-of-school Narnia party! | ||
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9 | Family Read-Aloud - 2025-2026 School Year | |||||
10 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range or Edition | |
11 | Q1: Brambly Hedge OR Rabbit Hill | Jill Barklem Robert Lawson | Brambly Hedge: The mice of Brambly Hedge made their first appearance in 1980 when the four seasonal stories were published. Ever since, readers have loved exploring the miniature world of the hedgerow and meeting the families that live there. In this collection the mice have many adventures, but they always have time for fun and relaxation too. Whatever the season, and whether they are by the sea, in the High Hills, or simply at home by the fire, there is always someone ready to lend a helping hand. Rabbit Hill: It has been a while since Folks lived in the Big House, and an even longer time has passed since there has been a garden at the House. All the animals of the Hill are very excited about the new Folks moving in, and they wonder how things are going to change. It’s only a matter of time before the animals of the Hill find out just who is moving in, and they may be a little bit surprised when they do. | Rabbit Hill is a Newbery Award winner. | Brambly Hedge is best suited for the younger grammar student (1st/2nd). 3rd or 4th graders may enjoy Rabbit Hill more. Both selections are relatively short, simple, and engaging. | Suggested edition |
12 | Q2: Treasures in the Snow | Patricia St. John | Annette and Lucien are enemies. After Annette gets Lucien into trouble at school, he decides to get back at her by threatening the most precious thing in the world to her: her little brother Dani. But tragedy strikes. Annette is so filled with rage that she sets out to alienate and humiliate Lucien at every turn. As Lucien seeks to repent and restore, light floods both of their dark hearts and Christ proves that He makes all things new. | |||
13 | Q3: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon | Grace Lin | In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. | Newbery Award Honor book This selction connects to our 1st-4th grade history time period of the ancient world. | ||
14 | Q4: A Horse and His Boy | C.S. Lewis | On a desperate journey, two runaways meet and join forces. Though they are only looking to escape their harsh and narrow lives, they soon find themselves at the center of a terrible battle. It is a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself. | Book 3 of 7 of The Chronicles of Narnia. This will be the theme for our last-day-of-school Narnia party! | ||
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17 | Family Read-Aloud - 2024-2025 School Year | |||||
18 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range or Edition | |
19 | Q1: The Light Princess | George MacDonald | A princess, cursed by a spiteful aunt, has lost her gravity. She can’t seem to keep her feet on the ground—or her mind on a serious matter. And when her aunt drains the lake where the weightless princess flourishes, the only solution is for someone to plug the hole—but at what cost? What will it take for the princess to feel the weight of the world at last? | Suggested edition: 978-1732691063 | ||
20 | Q2: The Twenty-One Balloons | William Pène du Bois | Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions. Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure combines rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell astory that has no age limit. | Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal. | ||
21 | Q3: The Witch of Blackbird Pond | Elizabeth Gerorge Speare | Sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty. | Newbery Award Winner This selction connects to our 1st-5th grade history time period of Explorers to 1815. | ||
22 | Q4: Summer of the Monkeys | Wilson Rawls | The last thing fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee expects to find while trekking through the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma is a tree full of monkeys. But then Jay learns from his grandpa that the monkeys have escaped from a traveling circus, and there’s a big reward for the person who finds and returns them. His family could really use the money, so Jay sets off, determined to catch them. But by the end of the summer, Jay will have learned a lot more than he bargained for—and not just about monkeys. This is a memorable adventure novel filled with heart, humor, and excitement. | |||
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25 | Family Read-Aloud - 2023-2024 School Year | |||||
26 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range or Edition | |
27 | Q1: The Great Good Thing | Roderick Townley | Fiction-Sylvie has been a twelve-year-old princess for more than eighty years, ever since the book she lives in was first printed. She's the heroine, and her story is exciting -- but that's the trouble. Her story is always exciting in the same way. Sylvie longs to get away and explore the world outside the confines of her book. When she breaks the cardinal rule of all storybook characters and looks up at the Reader, Sylvie begins a journey that not even she could have anticipated. And what she accomplishes goes beyond any great good thing she could have imagined... | |||
28 | Q2: Tuck Everlasting | Natalie Babbitt | Fiction-What if you could live forever? Is eternal life a blessing or a curse? That is what young Winnie Foster must decide when she discovers a spring on her family’s property whose waters grant immortality. Members of the Tuck family, having drunk from the spring, tell Winnie of their experiences watching life go by and never growing older. But then Winnie must decide whether or not to keep the Tucks’ secret―and whether or not to join them on their never-ending journey. | |||
29 | Q3: A Place to Hang the Moon | Kate Albus | Fiction - A story about the importance of family: the one you're given, and the one you choose. Filled with rich, sensory prose, allusions to classic children's stories like A Little Princess, Mary Poppins, and The Story of Ferdinand, this cozy tale with a classic feel is sure to warm your heart. | |||
30 | Q4: Adam of the Road | Elizabeth Janet Gray | Historical Fiction - Eleven-year-old Adam loved to travel throughout thirteenth century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his dog, Nick. But when Nick is stolen and his father disappears, Adam suddenly finds himself alone. He searches the same roads he traveled with his father, meeting various people along the way. But will Adam ever find his father and dog and end his desperate search? | These selctions connect to our 1st-5th grade history time period of Medieval England. | ||
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33 | Family Read-Aloud - 2022-2023 School Year | |||||
34 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range or Edition | |
35 | Q1: Island of the Blue Dolphins | Scott O'Dell | Historical Fiction - The story of Karana, a young Indian woman who is left alone on a small island. Year after year she survives on her own as she waits for the return of the boat to restore her to her people. Based on a a true story. | .Newberry Winner | Recommended Edition | |
36 | Q2: Black Ships Before Troy OR Q2: The Golden Fleece | Rosemary Sutcliff Padraic Colum | Ancient Greece - Mythology, Retelling of Homer's Illiad Ancient Greece - Mythology, The story of Jason and his Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece is interwoven in story form with other Greek myths. | These selctions connect to our 1st-5th grade history time period of Ancient Greece & Rome. Incoming 5th graders will have already read Black Ships Before Troy, so feel free to choose either option. | Recommended Edition | |
37 | Q3: At the Back of the North Wind | George MacDonald | Fiction - An allegorical tale about a man who befriends the North Wind, and finds that though she brings change, that change is ultimately for good. | Recommended Edition | ||
38 | Q4: The Yearling | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | Fiction - Young Jody adopts an orphaned fawn he calls Flag and makes it a part of his family and his best friend. | Recommended Edition | ||
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41 | Family Read-Aloud - 2021-2022 School Year | |||||
42 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
43 | Q1: The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | Fiction - For more than a century, the endearing protagonists - Mole, Mr. Toad, Badger, and Ratty - have enchanted children of all ages. Whether the four friends are setting forth on an exciting adventure, engaging in a comic caper, or simply relaxing by the River Thames, their stories are among the most charming in all English literature. | Sterling Illustrated Classics edition illustrated by Robert Ingpen preferred. | ||
44 | Q2: A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | Fiction - Charles Dickens' much-loved tale of the covetous old miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his meetings with the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future has lessons for us all about kindness, generosity, second chances, and redemption. | Abridged edition illustrated by Robert Ingpen preferred. | ||
45 | Q3: The Cat of Bubastes | G.A. Henty | Historical Fiction - A young Egyptian accidentally kills a sacred cat and must flee from an angy mob. Set in 1250 B.C., this thrilling adventure also features fascinating details about Egyptian religion, geography, farming, and burial. | |||
46 | Q4: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | E.L. Konigsburg | Fiction - Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away....so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped - right into a mystery that made headlines! | |||
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49 | Family Read-Aloud - 2020-2021 School Year | |||||
50 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
51 | Q1: A Wrinkle in Time | Madeleine L'Engle | Fantasy - Meg and Charles' father disappears while working on the government tesseract project, investigating the fifth dimension of time and possible wrinkles in time. Meg and Charles and their friend Calvin must travel through time to try to rescue him. | Newbery Medal Winner There are four sequels to this book. | ||
52 | Q2: The Little Pilgrim's Progress | Helen L. Taylor | Fiction - Retelling of John Bunyan's classic allegory tale in language easier for young readers. | |||
53 | Q3: The Wheel on the School | Meindert de Jong | Fiction - Lina, a young girls in the Dutch town of Shora, wonders why the storks no longer come there to nest. So she writes an essay about this for school, which leads all the children on a mission to bring the storks back. Soon, the whole town is working together to bring the storks back. | Newbery Medal Winner | ||
54 | Q4: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM | Robert C. O'Brien | Fiction - The widowed Mrs. Frisby (a mouse) must move her children, including very ill Timothy, to their summer home urgently. The highly intelligent Rats of NIMH step in to help her. | Newbery Medal Winner | ||
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57 | Family Read-Aloud - 2019-2020 School Year | |||||
58 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
59 | Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse | Anna Sewell | Fiction - The story of a horse that is sold from place to place, meeting different people and different horses along the way, all who treat him differently. | |||
60 | The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | Fantasy - A pilot crashed in the Sahara Desert and meets a small boy. The boy is a prince from the asteroid known as B-612, and has journeyed far to reach earth. The Prince tells the pilot stories of all his experiences in trying to reach earth, and leaves a tremendous impact on the man. | |||
61 | Rascal | Sterling North | Fiction - Sterling finds a baby raccoon and decides to keep it as a pet. The book follows Sterling and Rascal and he raises the baby racoon and they become friends over the course of the next year - until spring comes and Rascal becomes discontent with being held captive. | |||
62 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass | Lewis Carroll | Fantasy - The witty and whimsical story of Alice, and her adventures as she falls down a Rabbit hole and into a Looking Glass. | |||
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65 | Family Read-Aloud - 2018-2019 School Year | |||||
66 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
67 | The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane | Kate DiCamillo | Fiction - A very cold-hearted and vain porceline rabbit finds himself lost, and at the beginning of a long journey during which he begins to feel a range of new emotions, and most importantly learns the meaning of love. | |||
68 | Sounder | William H. Armstrong | Fiction - Set in the South during the time of share-cropping, this book tells the story of a boy and his coondog. The family is very poor, and even when good fortune seems to come their way, even that seems to also bring with it adversity. | Newbery Medal Winner | ||
69 | Heidi | Johanna Spyri | Fiction - Heidi is a little orphan girl sent to live with her grumpy hermit grandfather in the Alps. Heidi's kind and sweet spirit has an incredible influence on all around her. | |||
70 | Kidnapped | Robert Louis Stevenson | Fiction - Kidnapped is an exciting tale in which young David Balfour is kidnapped in a plot designed by his own uncle. What follows is an adventure involving shipwrecks, bravery, and unlikely rescuers. | |||
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72 | Family Read-Aloud - 2017-2018 School Year | |||||
73 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
74 | Aesop for Children | Aesop, Milo Winter | Fables An ancient collection of 147 stories designed to teach moral lessons | All Ages | ||
75 | The Rescuers | Margery Sharp | Fiction Miss Bianca is a beautiful and pampered mouse, who would never be suspected to be part of a dangerous and mysterious mission. | Primarily oriented towards older grammar and logic school students. | ||
76 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | Roald Dahl | Fiction The story is about Mr Fox and how he outwits his farmer neighbours to steal their food from right under their noses | Grammar school and above | ||
77 | This Country of Ours | H.E. Marshall | Historical A history of the United States for children, from the Vikings to the Civil War. | |||
78 | Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends | Opal Wheeler | Biography - Famous Musician | All Ages | ||
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80 | Family Read-Aloud - 2016-2017 School Year | |||||
81 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
82 | The Little Bookroom | Eleanor Farjeon | Short Stories Collection of silly Stories. | All ages, but primarily oriented towards late grammar and logic school students. | ||
83 | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | Fiction Mole and Rat become friends, and share adventures with many other animal friends. | Primarily oriented towards grammar and logic school, but enjoyable for all ages. | ||
84 | The Yearling | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | Fiction Young Jody adopts an orphaned fawn he calls Flag and makes it a part of his family and his best friend. | All ages. | ||
85 | Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia | Opal Wheeler | Biography - Famous Musician | All Ages | ||
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87 | Family Read-Aloud - 2015-2016 School Year | |||||
88 | Book | Author | Description | Notes | Recommended Age Range | |
89 | James Herriot's Treasury for Children | James Herriot | Short Stories - A collection of stories set in rural England. Told from the perspective of the author as the local vet, attending to the farm animals and their owners. | Oriented towards younger children, but enjoyable for all ages. | ||
90 | At the Back of the North Wind | George Macdonald | Fiction - An allegorical tale about a man who befriends the North Wind, and finds that though she brings change, that change is ultimately for good. | Grammar school and above. | ||
91 | Just David | Eleanor Porter | Fiction - The story of a boy raised in a remote cabin, instilled with a great love for nature. When his father dies and other people come into his life, David's character has an impact on those he meets. | From the author of Pollyanna. | All Ages | |
92 | Our Island Story | H.E. Marshall | Historical - A history of England up to Queen Victoria's death. Includes historical facts and legends, told in story form intended for children. | All Ages | ||
93 | When We Were Very Young | A.A. Milne | Poetry - Poetry written by AA Milne for his son. | All ages. More oriented towards younger children. | ||
94 | Handel at the Court of Kings | Opal Wheeler | Biography - Famous Musician | All Ages | ||