Chapter books for elementary-aged children

Oh, this seems like such an impossible task to start narrowing these down, but try I shall! Please note that this is certainly not an exhaustive list and is based solely on books that I actually own--there are a gazillion amazing books out there, but these are just the ones I love enough to have searched them out and purchased them and made space for them on our shelves.

Something really important: most of these are books that I still love enough to reread as an adult. I pre-read as much as I can of the books my kids are reading, but I also feel like when you read a book, you are making a lifelong friend of that book, and so I want my children to be introduced to MY friends that I still love as an adult. I'm not doing the best job of explaining this, but I do not think that these are just children's books. They are classics for everyone! 

These books are all ones that my children have read or that I consider them old enough to read. As I write this, my five-year-old is reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, my seven-year-old is reading Martin the Warrior, and my ten-year-old is rereading Jurassic Park so that's where we are today in terms of interest levels and abilities (so about a second-grade reading level up through eighth grade. Give or take).

Many of these books are the first in the series or one among many by a particular author. I generally have my kids read the one listed here and then they're hooked and want to read everything by that author, so this is my gateway book, so to speak. For some authors I have listed more than one if I think they're truly exceptional and not to be missed; I have also noted some books about which I have reservations by an author that I otherwise love.

I have also tried to list these by level of difficulty. This is an awesome site which tells you the reading grade level of a specific book, and I have gone through most of our books and noted the level inside the front cover. Keep in mind that most of these increase in complexity and difficulty as the series progresses--so, for instance, five-year-old Isaac can happily read the first few Harry Potter books, but I don't anticipate that I'll find him curled up with Deathly Hallows anytime soon.

Please note that my kids also read their fair share of Magic Treehouse, Warriors, etc., and their list of must-read books would probably look very different from mine! I do require that they read a certain number of books from MY list every so often (depending on what time of year we are in and how busy they are with school--often I require them to read the first three chapters of the book I've picked before they start anything else, and then they're hooked and they're ten chapters in and they've forgotten about the other book). We talk quite a bit about junk-food fun books vs. feast-for-your-mind books, and how it's good to maintain a balance that will nurture your mind. And I do still reserve the right to refuse to let particularly gory, rude, or gross books into our home.

Over the summer, the older children are each reading ten books from my list in addition to everything else they are picking on their own; at this point, they're almost done with my lists, but have added a lot to it by reading everything else that author has written after they finish my picks.



Absolute must-read series to be a human being walking this planet: 

• the Little House books (the ones by Laura Ingalls Wilder are far superior to those written later)
• Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
• The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
• The Dark is Rising sequence (Susan Cooper)
• The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander--I read The Castle of Llyr first and was utterly hooked, so that's how I've started my kids. I think The Book of Three is a little less accessible.)
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkein)
• Anne of Green Gables & Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery)

Fun series that you and your children should read at some point, but your life will not be over if you don't get around to them...

• Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief and the Kane Chronicles (note: not the same level of gorgeous writing as many of these others, but they got my kids completely and utterly hooked on Greco/Roman & Egyptian mythology, so I think they're worth it! Authored by Rick Riordan)
• Fablehaven (Brandon Mull)
• The Enchanted Forest Chronicles--Dealing with Dragons, etc. (Patricia Wrede)
• Redwall books--they get a little repetitive, but kids love them (Brian Jacques)
• Inkheart trilogy (Cornelia Funke)
• The Thief (Attolia quartet) (Megan Whalen Turner)
• A Wrinkle in Time, etc. (Madeleine L'Engle)

General books that everyone should read:

• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L. Koningsbury)
• The Girl Who Owned a City (O.T. Nelson)
• Holes (Louis Sachar)
• Indian in the Cupboard (Lynne Reid Banks)
• Harriet the Spy (Louise Fitzhugh) 
• Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry)
• Matilda (Roald Dahl--I know a lot of people love Roald Dahl but I think he's very macabre. I have my kids read this one and if they want to read more, fine, but I don't push Dahl)
• Caddie Woodlawn (Carol Ryrie Brink; look for the Trina Schart Hyman illustrations!)
• Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell)
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare)
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Howard Pyle)
• King Arthur and His Knights (Knowles)
• Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls)--bawling your eyes out to this one is a childhood rite of passage
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi)
• Catherine Called Birdy (Karen Cushman)
• The Giver and Number the Stars (Lois Lowry)
• Shadow Spinner (Susan Fletcher)
• Banner in the Sky (James Ramsey Ullman--I literally read this book a dozen times one year)
• Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes)
• James Herriot books--start with All Things Bright and Beautiful
• Cheaper by the Dozen & Belles on Their Toes (Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth--these are some of my absolute all-time favorites)
• The Story Girl  (L.M. Montgomery)
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (Margaret Sidney)
• Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
• Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie; look for the version illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman!)
• Watership Down (Richard Adams)
• Heidi (Johanna Spyri)
• Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
• Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)
• The Jungle Book, etc.  (Kipling)

Fairytales/mythology/fantasy:

• Princess of the Midnight Ball, my girls also love the Dragon Slippers and Castle Glower series (Jessica Day George)
• The Hobbit (Tolkein)
• The Goose Girl, Princess Academy (Shannon Hale)
• Vodnik (Bryce Moore)--one of my close friends from grad school but I'd still say it was good even if I didn't know him personally. I also went to grad school with Brandon Sanderson--it was a talented bunch down there in the carrels! This book is an absolute favorite with both of my girls. 
• Charmed Life, Howl's Moving Castle, Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm (Dianna Wynne Jones--basically you can't go wrong with anything by Wynne Jones)
• Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine)
• Five Children and It (E. Nesbit)
• Entwined (Heather Dixon)
• Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbitt)
• Puck of Pook's Hill (Kipling)
• Wildwood Dancing (Juliet Marillier)
• Tamora Pierce (note: her first quartet [Alanna books] are more risque than later stuff. So I would start with the Keladry books, then Daine, then Tricksters, then Alanna. The Circle of Magic books are also intended for a younger audience and age with the characters. I really like Pierce for her heroine-centric books, but just do the later books first). 
• The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword, Outlaws of Sherwood, Beauty, Rose Daughter, Spindle's End (Robin McKinley--I LOVE McKinley, but her earlier stuff is definitely better than her later stuff. Deerskin and Sunshine are absolutely not appropriate for younger readers; Dragonhaven is terrible, and Pegasus, Shadows, and Chalice are sadly weak when compared with early McKinley)

So there's some of my favorites--what are yours? What ones have I left off that you would absolutely add to this list?

Why hello!

I have a few minutes more to keep icing my foot post-run and the most effective way to do it is if I sit down and roll a frozen waterbottle under my arch while I'm thinking about something else (because ice is soooo fun!). So I've finished up all the available grading and whatnot...time for my poor neglected blog.

• I have a goodly number of pictures from some adventures over the last couple of weeks that I've promised myself will go up at some point this weekend. Hopefully. 
• Life is so busy. I have thought about a dozen times this week that it might be time for my blog to kiss the Internet goodbye, but then I think that it's the only way I'm preserving a lot of the good memories, so...
• One of those good memories is the day a couple of weeks ago that Abigail came home from school with a goose egg on her forehead. As I was exclaiming over it she explained that it came from running into another kid in her class while they were playing Bats and Moths at recess. Further questioning revealed that when you're a bat you have to close your eyes as you chase the moths, because bats use echolocation rather than eyesight. Turns out that there was a LOT of playground bat-smashing-bat going on. Love those high-ability kids...book smart, but not always street smart. 
• I am really having a hard time with the kids & school right now. No details (thanks, public forum!) but goodness golly am I struggling with each of them in very different ways. Some of them are good struggles, as struggles go, and some of them are not. Homeschooling can't be as delightful and lovely as it looks, can it?
• Natie is saying lots of new words these days--he is sooo in love with bringing everyone their "sss-ewww-ss" (shoes). Which means that there are shoes ALL OVER MY HOUSE all the time and nobody can ever find their shoes when they're getting ready to go somewhere. The ones that Nate can reach most easily (when they're put away) are Luke & Isaac's shoes, which means that poor Luke is in a perpetual state of stress about his shoes and whether he will be able to find them when he needs them.
• Speaking of shoes, today I gave away a whole bunch of stuff that my kids have outgrown. 95% of me was thrilled to pass on things that we have loved so much & that are now just taking up space. 5% of me was weepy and holding tiny little baby socks to my heart.
• I am sort of running again. Not like I used to or wish to (no racing this fall, which absolutely devastates me if I think about it!) but this week I was able to do three 4-mile runs, one of them on trails(!!!!), and I was able to walk around afterwards and not be hobbling and miserable and up all night with the pain. Who knew that plantar fasciitis could be such a nightmare?! It's been almost three months and while I'm getting better, it sure is a slow process. Tonight I finally hit the point where the pain eased out and I actually felt better when I was sprinting (typically one of the symptoms is that the pain picks up when I go faster) and oh, it was so glorious to do some speedwork!!!
• I spent pretty much all my available free time this week working at my quote-unquote "real job." I do not like working like that. Just for the record. My eyes were aching today and I hated the fact that the kids were outside having fun with Neil and I was stuck inside editing (this week is my biggest grading week of the semester and I had a private editing project I'd contracted to finish next week and I wanted to get it out of the way. I'm not good at procrastinating...is that a thing? Basically I'm miserable and mopey and no good to anyone if there is something I need to do hanging over my head, which is why on grading weeks I have to limit myself to a certain number of papers per day so that I can mentally check out when I'm done).
• I've been abnormally tired lately. I've been totally off antidepressants for a couple of months now and I feel like my emotions are leveled out again, which is wondrous and amazing, but I wish that the fatigue had gone with them. Probably the result of lying awake at night worrying about things I can't control. 
• This weekend one of my goals was to bake a pumpkin bundt cake because it felt appropriate for fall (Neil has been mulling cider all the time and the cider smell just needed a pumpkin accompaniment). So I made this cake  and it was just as enticing as it promised to be! I also realized that when I am overwhelmed (grading) I tend to bake a lot. Since Tuesday I've made pumpkin muffins, whole-wheat bread, banana bread, and sourdough bread. Plus that cake. 
• Speaking of being overwhelmed, earlier this week my kids had the stomach flu--the really bad kind where you are all kinds of sick. I realized during that whole debacle that I've never had a toddler before who was sick like that, and it made me very very grateful for all the times my sick kids have been old enough to tell me what's going on in time to get something there to catch it. And also I am SO GRATEFUL for my Bissell cleaner, and I am sort-of-but-not-really sorry about taking pictures of everything and emailing them to Neil all day long. Just felt like somebody should be applauding my valiant efforts, ya know?
• Aaannnd my email just dinged and I have those last two things to grade that I've been waiting for, so this is me, over and out.

today...

• was a perfect example of Midwest weather. Blisteringly hot and horrendously muggy in the morning. Giant thunderstorm in the evening (our power went out for an hour). Clear and breezy and so beautiful in the late evening. The only thing we needed to make it really Midwestern was a tornado, but thankfully that did not happen (although my poor kids are so used to it that they said, "Thunderstorm on a hot day...we're dumping all of our lovies in your closet and bringing in the bike helmets").
• we went on an evening walk (post-rainstorm) and we heard Pomegranate crow six times before we even got to the corner. Oh man.
• we ate sandwiches by candlelight for dinner. It was crazy dark (no power + thunderstorm) and we literally needed candles to see! Fun way to shake things up and make it a more exciting meal than it would have been otherwise (always fun trying to make dinner when there is no electricity).
• Neil didn't come home for dinner since he was running experiments. Around 7 pm I let the kids watch a movie before bed (I needed to put Nathan down and I'd promised a trip to the library that evening before the power went out and everyone was super bummed when we couldn't go) and they were so excited (hurray! a movie! such a rare treat!) that Luke literally wet his pants while he was sitting on the couch. Yay.
• I spent a solid hour just picking up little things. Our house is usually pretty tidy but somehow there is always about an hour's worth of little things stashed on bookcase shelves or wedged against the molding or hidden behind doors...you know, Legos, K'nex, hair elastics, action figure accessories, scraps of paper, etc. Those are the kinds of things that drive me crazy because I am the only one who bothers to pick them up, but I always notice them and they make everything feel so cluttered even if everything else is put away. So right now my house looks lovely to me!
• Luke and I took a nap together today. He was soooo sleepy and grumpy when I was reading to him (lots of yawns and pouty faces) but I knew if I put him down he would go crazy, so I asked him if we could snuggle on my bed for awhile. He cuddled right up to me and wrapped his arms around my neck and every so often he would give me these super loud sticky kisses on my cheek and giggle as he snuggled back down again. I watched his long lashes drift up and down and finally he fell asleep and we stayed like that for a good hour or two (poor Tottles woke up during this and I heard him on the monitor and wasn't awake enough to actually go get him for probably another 45 minutes...naps always make me so groggy).
• I washed Nathan's high chair today. Sad that it's blog-worthy, but it is. Maybe "scrubbed" is a better word because he likes to make a glorious sticky mess of Greek yogurt and banana and then rub it everywhere he can reach and that stuff is like glue once it dries.
• I've been pulling together a Chicago getaway with Neil--just the two of us. I booked our hotel earlier today and I'm so excited! We're staying in the River North district, which will be a fun change, since we usually tend to stay near Grant Park or the Loop. Good times and I can't wait!

bullet list

I feel like I have so many disparate blog posts running around in my head, but I don't actually have time to upload all the pictures and whatnot, so...whatever.  Here is a five-minute post of what I'm thinking about right now.

• Last week I picked lettuce leaves from my garden that were as big as my face.  We've had tons of rain (flooding our lawn completely and all the kids ran out and got soaked) and it's been good for the longevity of the lettuce.  Hurray!
• I'm trying to break Isaac of his pacifier.  And I need to break Luke of only wanting to sleep in my arms at night (he'll sleep in his swing for one nap during the day, but that's it).  Please, baby, sleep in your own bed!  And take a pacifier while you're at it.  
• I've taken the kids to the library every week for the last three or four weeks.  I love the library.  The kids are moderately contained, I can feed Luke while we read some new books, and we go home with new books to keep everyone further occupied (although today I had to carry out boneless Isaac who didn't want to leave; that was awesome).
• Last night I went to the grocery store with just Julesie.  I really enjoy running errands with just one kid--we always have a good time.  We splurged a little and bought a fruit that we could not identify just to try it (yellow and prickly-skinned), brown eggs because I always think they are so beautiful (I need to find someone around here who's selling free-range eggs; anybody know of a good source?), masses of grapes, and some flowers.  I really love flowers and I can't wait until my gladiolus start blooming!
• Speaking of eggs, I love poached eggs.  My mom loaned me her special little poaching pan, which is great because I'm not very good at poaching them neatly without it, and Isaac and I are kind of addicted to poached eggs on toast.
• Yesterday I worked out my training schedule for the next 13 weeks (prepping for a 10K).  I want to build up my weekly mileage and get faster, and I am so excited to have something new to work towards!  I also need to get some new shoes, since I've put 600 miles on these babies, but today I broke the 9-minute-per-mile barrier (still doing my standard 4 miles) and I was so excited!!
• And now I have to go because the girls are bickering and I need a shower post-run.  The end. 

weekend

We've had such a lovely weekend here.  Highlights:

• Neil came home!!  Hurray!!  With presents for all.  Such a thoughtful man, and SO lovely to see him again.  We weeded the garden and flowerbeds together after the kids were in bed and it was wonderful to talk and laugh and tease him again.  
• Prepping for vacation--I did a HUGE shopping trip yesterday morning to prepare for our 9 days of camping and cooking over a fire.  We spent several hours packing up and I feel much better about our status of preparation.  This kind of thing always seems like such a huge organizational feat to me, and I've got lists all over the place. 
• Best part of the day:  "family date night" with the kids.  We went out to our favorite Indian restaurant (seriously, our kids love this place).  I was having so much fun that everything seemed hilarious to me, from Juliet yelling, "I ATE MY PANEER!" at the top of her lungs to Abigail's agonized dart for the bathroom after her third glass of water (spicy spicy!!).  Nonstop giggling.  (To make your own Indian feast at home, check out my recipe list here).  We all ate soooo much and did not regret it for a moment.  When we got home, we watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which we've been reading out loud together (we did do a fair amount of judicious fast-forwarding).  The kids were completely entranced (not hard when they see movies once in a blue moon).  Abigail kept up a (literally) nonstop flow of questions throughout the ENTIRE movie.  Jooj curled up in the nearest lap and squealed happily every time she saw Aslan. 

It was a perfect weekend--productive, but quality memory-making time as well.  And the best part?  It's only ten AM on Sunday morning.  We've still got a whole day together.  

things I wish I'd known earlier

Some things I thought of while I was cleaning up after lunch today.  Mostly things that I am learning/have learned are important in making my life as a mother smoother and more joyful. 

• Get up before everyone else.  There just isn't any other way to ensure a smooth start to your day.
• Clean the bathroom while the kids are in the tub.
• Good or bad stage, chances are that it will be over as soon as you a) fully appreciate it or b) figure out how to discipline it.
• Two kids are always easier than one—the exception is at the grocery store.  Or anywhere that you’d like them to be well-behaved.
• Wear an apron.
• Sometimes it's more important for you to take a time-out than to send your kids there.
• Exercise is imperative, for everyone—we all need a chance to blow off steam (or metabolize stress hormones, if you want to get technical).
• Good food is worth the effort.
• Read together every day.  There is no better opportunity to cuddle your children while you’re building their brains and your relationship.
• 
  
  Don't mistake things that are urgent for things that are important.
• Drink lots of water.
• Lunchtime is a great time to prep ingredients for dinner—this gives you something to do besides say, “Please hurry up!”
• Communicate love.

What would you add?

some thoughts

• Yesterday was one of "those" days--everything combined to make it really rough (question of the year:  will Isaac ever outgrow the need for nebulizer treatments?!).  I was SO glad I had a frozen lasagna to pull out for dinner.  I made 13 freezer meals before Isaac was born and I'm thinking I need to spend a few hours some Saturday morning filling up the freezer again--I love having those backups for crazy days.  I used this recipe for the one we had last night (I also layered in some leftover roasted vegetables--eggplant, mushrooms, carrots, onions, and asparagus).  And I'm not exaggerating when I say that the tofu + nutritional yeast totally tastes like ricotta.
• Neil surprised me with a potted orchid yesterday.  I found a little home for it on my desk, and I love it.  It's the perfect note this room needed to finish it off.
• After my run this morning, I felt so energized that I started looking up marathon dates for the next year.  Too bad I only ran four miles and that's why it felt so good!
• Our bathtub tomatoes are about a foot tall.  I have to transplant them to new containers today--still 3 weeks before they can go outside!
• Speaking of the garden, I love looking out the window and seeing all the green leafy things.  It's gorgeous.
• I think I'm going to do some dandelion painting with the kids today.  We certainly have enough of them...

Wish list

I keep getting asked about gifts that we would like, and I can never think of any at the time. So I am going to keep a little log here--for myself as well, because I always think of things and forget them. I think I will just add to it periodically--I don't know how to make it a seperate tab!

1. The CDs from the Classical Kids Collection: Mr. Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mr. Bach Comes to Call, Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, A Journey Through Mozart's Magic Flute. I remember these as tapes, but now the CDs are on Amazon! Hurrah!

2. Socks. For everyone in the family.

3. Plastic food and dishes for Abigail's little kitchen.

4. Garden tools like rakes, hoes, shovels, etc.

5. Games: Catchphrase, Carcassone Discovery, Settlers of Cataan.

6. Pants for Abigail.

Bandwagon!

In the words of the friend who I stole this from, yes, I am bandwagon-jumping, but I have been having fun reading other people's and guessing which one I might be. Plus, it's also really fun to write and be all cryptic about it!

You may tell 11 people whatever you want.

No names. Just say how you feel.

1. You are the sunshine in my day. Nothing is better than a good-night kiss from you, and we will read stories and draw pictures forever.

2. I am so worried about you. I haven't seen you in a long time, but I think about you almost every day and pray that you make choices that will keep you happy.

3. I hope we can become better friends. I really look up to you a lot and you seriously crack me up, but I don't know if we'll ever develop the kind of closeness I hope for.

4. You were part of some of the best years of my life. You really shaped a lot of who I am today and our friendship is the one that I measure others by. Plus--I never look at chocolate muffins without thinking of you and our discovery of their outward acceleration when a car is moving over 100 mph. Whatever happened to that road trip journal anyway?

5. Honestly, I don't know what's up. I'm really not trying to be rude, but I don't think this thing is in either of our best interests. I think it's time to let go and let bygones be bygones, but I'll never get up the nerve to actually say it.

6. It's interesting--we said we were best friends, but we never had anything to say to each other. What's up with that?

7. I love you to pieces. Remember the pool drain episode when I'd known you like...two days? Honestly. You are crazy, woman. I miss you so much!!!!

8. The older I get, the more I idolize you (in a good, non idol-worshipping way). You really do have all the answers, and I call you all the time just to feel assured that someday I will, in fact, turn out okay.

9.It's sad when I look back and think about the whole thing. It took me so long to get over the whole mess, and for what? I really don't know. Don't judge the book by its cover.

10. It's one of those things where I smack myself in the forehead and say--why? Yes, I can understand to a certain extent. But really, you should have known better.

11. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me. What would I do without your level-headed sense of reality and responsibility? Sure, I miss the good ol' days of 2 am movies, but you've really stepped up to the plate in a way that blows me away. I love you for that and a million other things.