Book Lists for Young Lutherans: Little Children

Whether children are homeschooled or attend a public, private or Lutheran school, one great way to “train them in the way they should go” is to read with them at home. While Bible and catechetical reading is crucial, reading books of many genres with your children is also a great idea. As you read alongside them, you can reflect on the material with them, helping them learn how to evaluate and what to love, whom to admire and what to condemn.

To aid you in this, Kate Deddens and Leah Bromen of Classical Consultants have generously shared their list of good reads for students of various age levels. Read below their recommendations for young children. (You can also check out their lists for older children and high schoolers).

Note: Children mature at different rates and have different sensitivities, and certain families may find different sorts of content objectionable. Websites like Common Sense Media are helpful resources to ensure that the language and content of particular books are appropriate for your children.

Recommended Reading with Little Children

Church History, Theology & Apologetics

Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland — Tomie dePaoloa

Augustine Came to Kent — Barbara Willard

Literature

Aesop’s Fables

Beauty and the Beast — Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever — Barbara Robinson

Blue Fairy Book — Andrew Lang

Boxcar Children series — Gertrude Chandler Warner

Charlotte’s Web — E.B. White

The Chronicles of Narnia series — C.S. Lewis

Corduroy — Don Freeman

Curious George — H.A. and Margret Rey

D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths and Book of Greek Myths

Dr. Seuss books

Emperor’s New Clothes, Ugly Duckling, Little Match Girl, Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea, Steadfast Tin Soldier — Hans Christian Anderson

Frederick — Leo Lionni

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

King Jack and the Dragon —Peter Bently

The Light Princess — George MacDonald

Little Bear — Else Holmelund Minarik

A New Coat for Anna —Harriet Ziefert

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie — Connie Roop

King Midas and the Golden Touch — Charlotte Craft

Leif the Lucky — Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

The Little Engine that Could —Watty Piper

The Little House — Virginia Lee Burton

Little House on the Prairie series — Laura Ingalls Wilder

Madeline — Ludwig Bemelmans

The Making of a Knight — Patrick O’Brien

Miss Rumphius — Barbara Cooney

The Magic Fish — Freya Littledale

The Tale of Peter Rabbit — Beatrix Potter

Pinocchio — Carlo Collodi

St. George and the Dragon — Margaret Hodges

Stellaluna — Janell Cannon

The Tale of Despereaux — Kate DiCamillo

Three Billy Goats Gruff — Peter Christen Asbjornsen

The Velveteen Rabbit — Margery Williams

The Wind in the Willows — Kenneth Grahame

Winnie the Pooh — A.A. Milne

A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Poetry

A Child’s Garden of Verses — Robert Louis Stevenson

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening — Robert Frost

Historical Fiction & History

The Adventures of Robin Hood — John Burrows

A Child’s History of the World — V.M. Hillyer

Paul Bunyan — Steven Kellog

The World of Columbus and Sons — Genevieve Foster

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans — Edward Eggleston

Mathematics & Science

Along Came Galileo — Jeanne Bendick

Archimedes and the Door of Science — Jeanne Bendick

Euclid: The Man Who Invented Geometry  — Shoo Rayner

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth — Kathryn Lasky

Pythagoras and the Ratios — Julie Ellis

Art

Drawing with Children —Mona Brookes

Music

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin — Lloyd Moss

Image: Illustration from “The Babes in the Woods,” Randolph Caldecott, 1912.