The books I read to my children

Reading is THE key to a good education. Other things matter – but reading is supreme!

A few things for parents to understand:

Children LOVE stories and reading to them is one of the very best things you can do as a parent. I read to mine from when they were very young – into their teens – pretty much every night.

Don’t limit your reading to books children can read themselves. Read to the child cognitive level for understanding. I started reading The Lord of the Rings to my oldest before he was three and he asked me to. I said I would only read it to him each night if he could tell me what happened the day before in the story. I did the same for his siblings.

EVERY child can be a reader and boys no less than girls. Sometimes the effort is in finding the right books and often a good series or set of books by an authors is what kick starts them.

My favourite non-fiction recommendation is The Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (adult/illustrated version).

Below are many of the books I read to my children. I have also read a good number of these to my classes as a teacher:

• The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Father Christmas Letters J. R. R. Tolkien
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Adventures of Tom Bombadil J. R. R. Tolkien
• Farmer Giles of Ham J. R. R. Tolkien
• Smith of Wootton Major J. R. R. Tolkien
• Leaf by Niggle J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Magician’s Nephew C. S. Lewis
• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis
• The Horse and His Boy C. S. Lewis
• Prince Caspian C. S. Lewis
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis
• The Silver Chair C. S. Lewis
• The Last Battle C. S. Lewis
• Pilgrims Regress C. S. Lewis
• The Back of the North Wind George MacDonald
• The Princess and the Goblin George MacDonald
• The Princess and Curdie George MacDonald
• The Golden Key George MacDonald
• The Complete Fairy Tales George MacDonald
• Phantastes George MacDonald
• The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
• Tom Brown’s Schooldays Thomas Hughes
• The Enchanted Castle E. Nesbit
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
• The Tanglewood’s Secret Patricia St John
• Treasures of the Snow Patricia St John
• The Victor Patricia St John
• Rainbow Garden Patricia St John
• The Mystery of Pheasant Cottage Patricia St John
• Star of Light Patricia St John
• The Secret of the Fourth Candle Patricia St John
• In the Grip of Winter Colin Dann
• The Big Fisherman Lloyd C. Douglas
• The Robe Lloyd C. Douglas
• The Jungle Book (1 & 2) Rudyard Kipling
• Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling
• Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
• Swiss Family Robinson Jonnie Wyss
• Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
• To Kill a Mocking Bird Harper Lee
• Fantastic Mr Fox Roald Dahl
• The Minpins Roald Dahl
• James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Roald Dahl
• Revolting Rhymes Roald Dahl
• The Giraffe the Pelly and Me Roald Dahl
• Dirty Beasts Roald Dahl
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
• Esio Trot Roald Dahl
• My Year Roald Dahl
• The BFG Roald Dahl
• Boy Roald Dahl
• George’s Marvelous Medecine Roald Dahl
• Danny The Champion of the World Roald Dahl
• Going Solo Roald Dahl
• Matilda Roald Dahl
• The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Hans Andersons Fairy Tales Hans Christian Anderson
• I Am David Anne Holm
• The Silver Sword Ian Serraillier
• Peter Pan J. M. Barrie
• Artemis Fowl Eion Colfer
• Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne
• And Then We Were Six A. A. Milne
• Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
• The Little White Horse Elizabeth Gouge
• Aesop’s Fables Aesop
• White Fang Jack London
• Dragon Boy Dick King-Smith
• Babe Dick King-Smith
• Charlotte’s Web E. B. White
• Stuart Little E. B. White
• The Knight and the Squire Terry Jones
• Watership Down Richard Adams
• The Odyssey Homer
• Anamalia Graeme Base
• The Eleventh Hour Graeme Base
• The Discovery of Dragons Graeme Base
• The 27th Annual African Hippopotamus Race Morris Lurie
• The Snow Goose Paul Gallico
• Gullivers Travels Jonathan Swift
• Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
• 365 Bible Stories God
• Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
• Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll
• Alan Quartermain Rider Haggard
• Exodus Leon Uris
• The Storm Frederick Buechner
• On the Road with the Archangel Frederick Buechner
• Son of Laughter Frederick Buechner

Image credit: Kateryna Hliznitsova

Republished with permission from the author’s Substack.