May Family Book List: 10 and Under

I love to read!  I especially love to read with my kids.  I really want them to learn to like the classics, not just read the current popular books, so I created this reading list of some of the books I'd like them to read that they may not choose on their own.  I tried to pick fun classics that have great story lines and are easy to understand.  Let's admit it, there are a lot of slow classics that turn kids off to trying them again.  My older kids have read all these 10 and under books, so I know they're hits.

10 and Under
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
Little House on the Prairie or Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
Black Beaty by Anna Sewell
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

I love that a lot of the classics teach insights about God.  For example, I remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to Bronwen and Ethan when they were 8 and 6 and having Bronwen say, "Hey, Aslan [the lion] is just like Jesus.  He had to die to save the rest of them.  And then he came alive again in three days!"

And just a few months ago, I was reading Heidi with Sicily and loved reading what Grandmamma told Heidi when she was sad:

          "God is a loving Father to us all and knows what is good for us.  If we ask for something it isn't

         right for us to have, He won't give it to us, but in His own good time, if we go on praying and

         trust in Him, He'll find us something better.  You can be sure it's not that He didn't hear your

         prayer, for He can listen to everybody at once....He has been watching over you all this time --

         never doubt that...."

I'm getting carried away.  Don't you just love kids books?