I LOVE to read, and so I have listed quite a few of my favorite books here. Most of this list is made up of the children’s books/authors that I love. If you would like to know more of what I am reading currently, including a lot more adult books, I have a GoodReads profile, and would love to add you as a friend. Happy Reading!!
Choose and Read Good Books
Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but I know that it isn’t everyone’s favorite. However, I have found the key to enjoying reading, is finding the right books. (Even I don’t like reading if it is something I don’t enjoy.) Some of the ways I use to find the “right books” are:
· Favorite Authors – I have a few favorite authors, and I read almost every book they publish, just because I trust I will enjoy the book and I like their writing style.
· Favorite Books – I am always up for rereading an old favorite.
· Suggestions from friends, family, and teachers – Some of my favorite books were introduced to me by other people who had read and loved them. This is also a great way to find out about good children’s books, as teachers are usually up on what’s new and worthwhile.
Favorite Children’s Picture Books:
Favorite Picture Book Authors: (I listed my favorite book from each author, but all their books are great)
Kevin Henkes (Julius, Baby of the World)
Laura Numeroff (If you Give a Mouse a Cookie)
Russell & Lillian Hoban (A Baby Sister for Frances)
Bill Peet (The Wump World)
Dr. Suess (Horton Hears a Who)
Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man)
Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
David Wiesner (The Three Pigs – wordless books)
Marcus Pfister (Just the Way You Are)
Audrey & Don Wood (The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear)
Steven Kellog (Pecos Bill)
Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are)
James Marshall (Little Red Riding Hood)
Jannell Cannon (Stellaluna)
Jane O’Conner (Fancy Nancy)
Simms Taback (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly)
Jan Brett (The Mitten)
Patricia Palloco (Thank You, Mr. Falker)
Lio Lioni (Swimmy)
Ted Arnold (Parts)
William Steig (Sylvester, and the Magic Pebble)
Judith Viorst (Alexander, and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day)
David Shannon (A Bad Case of the Stripes)
Mercer Mayer (There’s a Nightmare in My Closet)
Tomie de Paola (Strega Nona)
Mo Williams (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus)
Favorite Picture Books:
Harry the Dirty Dog, Zion
Inside a Barn in the Country, Alyssa Capucilli
Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type, Doreen Cronin
Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
Martha Blah Blah, Meddaugh
A Big Fat Enormous Lie, Sharmat
Hooway for Wodney Wat, Helen Lester
Little Bear, Minarix
Guess How Much I Love You, McBratney
Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs, Judy Barret
Froggy Gets Dressed, Jonathan London (Froggy books)
Leo, the Late Bloomer, Robert Kraus
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, Patty Lovell
The Web Files, Margie Palatini
Owl Moon, Jane Yolen
The Kissing Hand, Audrey Penn
Tiki Tikki Tembo, Mosel
What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best, Laura Numeroff
Miss Nelson is Missing, Harry Allard
Madeline, Bemelmans
Curius George, Rey
Olivia, Falconer
Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann
Weslandia, Paul Fleischman
When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry, Molly Bang
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin
Toot and Puddle, Holly Hobbie
The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups, David Wisniewski
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Christlelow
The Snowy Day, Keats
What Moms Can’t Do, Douglas Wood
Silly Sally, Audrey Wood
Corduroy, Don Freeman
Rumpelstiltskin, Zelinsky
Rapunzel, Zelinsky
King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, Wood
Tops and Bottoms, Jannet Stevens
A Story for Bear, Dennis Haseley
Bootsie Barker Bites, Barbara Bottner
All the Places to Love, Patricia MacLachlan
Do You Have My Quack, Faulkner
The Relatives Came, Cyntia Rylant
Falling for Rapunzel, Leah Wilcox
Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly , Alan Madison
Farmer Duck, Martin Waddell
Fortunately, by Remy Charlip
The Seven Silly Eaters, by Marla Frazee
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed, by Emily Pearson
Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch)
Picture Books About School:
First Day Jitters, Danneburg
The Frog Principal, Stephanie Calmenson
Miss Alaineus, Frasier
What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Mark Teague
The Incredible Shrinking Teacher, Passen
The Recess Queen, O’Neill
A Fine, Fine, School, Sharon Creech
Picture Books About Science, Math, Dinosaurs:
Seymour Simon (Storms)
Cole & Degen (The Magic School Bus series)
David Antram – illustrator (You Wouldn’t Want to Be an Egyptian Mummy)
Pallotta/Bolster (Hershey’s Math Series)
A Drop of Water, Walter Wick
Sir Cumference & the Round Table, Cindy Neuschwander
The Grapes of Math, Greg Tang
The Gummy Bear Counting Book
Rock It, Sock It, Number Line, Bill Martin Jr.
Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun With Math & Money, Amy Axelrod
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, Shields
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Barbara Kerley
Patriotic Picture Books:
We the Kids, Catrow
So, You Want to Be President, Judith St. George
Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women, Cheryl Harness
Liberty, Lynn Curlee
A is for America, Scillian
John, Paul George and Ben, Lane Smith
Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (And What the Neighbors Thought), Kathleen Krull
America: A Patriotic Primer, Lynne Cheney
Holiday/Seasonal Picture Books:
Mouse’s First Valentine, Lauren Thompson (series for different holidays)
Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, Diane deGroat
Monster Goose, Judy Sierra
Room on the Broom, Julia Donaldson
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, Linda Williams
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, Jackson
A Plump and Perky Turkey, Bateman
Great Joy, Kate DiCamillo
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, Wojciechowski
How Murray Saved Christmas, Mike Reiss
Olive the Other Reindeer, Vivian Walsh
Who Is Coming to Our House, Joseph Slate
A Night Without Darkness: A Nephite Christmas Story, Timothy Robinson
Auntie Claus, Elise Primavera
The Polar Express, Chris Van Alsburg
Red Ranger Came Calling, Berkeley Breathed
The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza, David Shannon
The Night Before Christmas, (illustrated by Jan Brett)
Merry Christmas: Big Hungry Bear!, Audrey Wood
Poetry Books & Authors (Picture book and larger form)
Shel Silverstein (A Light in the Attic)
Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block)
Commotion in the Ocean, Giles Andreae
Polkabats & Octopus Slacks, Calef Brown
Walking the Bridge of Your Nose, Michael Rosen
Sometimes I Wonder If Poodles Like Noodles, Numeroff
Never Take a Pig to Lunch, Westcott
Take Me Out of the Bathtub, and Other Silly Dilly Songs, Alan Katz
Favorite Younger Children’s Chapter Books
Authors: (I listed my favorite book from each author, but all their books are great)
Roald Dahl (The Witches)
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
Beverly Cleary (Henry Huggins)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (On the Banks of Plum Creek – Little House books)
Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn Dixie, Tale of Despereaux, etc)
Favorite Chapter Books:
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers
*Amelia Bedilia, Peggy Parrish
Cheaper By the Dozen, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.
Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh
Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Betty MacDonald
The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles, Andrews
Mr. Poppers Penguins, Atwater
The Word Eater, Mary Amato
The Cricket in Times Square, George Seldon
*Horrible Harry series, Suzy Kline
The Indian in the Cupboard, Banks
The Boxcar Children (The first one), Gertrude Warner
*Lady Lollipop, Dick King Smith
*The Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne
*Nate the Great, Marjorie Weinman
* For beginning readers
Favorite Older Children’s Chapter Books:
Authors: (I listed my favorite book from each author, but all their books are great)
Louissa May Alcott (Little Women)
Sharon Creech (Walk Two Moons)
Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted)
Andrew Clements (Frindle)
Richard Peck (A Long Way From Chicago)
Louis Sachar (Holes)
Lois Lowry (The Giver)
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Lloyd Alexander (The High King – part of a fantasy books)
Gary Paulsen (Hatchet)
Favorite Chapter Books:
The Penderwicks (series), Jeanne Birdsall
Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko
The Girl Who Could Fly, Victoria Forester
The City of Ember (series), Jeanne DuPrau
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
Fablehaven (series), Brandon Mull
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson
Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
Old Yeller, Fred Gipson
Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli
Everything on a Waffle, Polly Horvath
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
A Single Shard, Park
The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth George Speare
Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
A Light in the Forest, Conrad Richter
The Westing Game, Helen Raskin
The Great Good Thing, Roderick Townley
The Whipping Boy, Sid Fleischman
The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black
The Invention of Hugot Cabret, Brian Selznick
The Sisters Grimm (a series), Michael Buckley
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
The Year of Miss Agnes, Kirkpatrick Hill
The Princess Academy, Shannon Hale
Inkheart, Cornelia Funk
My Favorite Young Adult Books
Young Adult Authors:
L.M. Montgomery (Rilla of Ingleside – Anne of Green Gables series or the Emily of New Moon series)
Elizabeth C. Bunce (A Curse Dark as Gold)
Robin McKinley (The Blue Sword)
Shannon Hale (Goose Girl)
Stephanie Meyers (Twilight)
Patricia Wrede (Sorcery & Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot)
Eva Ibbotson (A Countess Below Stairs)
Chris Wooding (Storm Thief)
Jessica Day George, (Princess of the Midnight Ball)
Young Adult Books:
The Color of My Words, Lynn Joseph
The Changeling Sea, Patricia McKillip
The Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins
The Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith
The Amaranth Enchantment, Julie Berry
Mortal Instruments series, Casandra Clare
Mira, Mirror, Mette Ivie Harrison
Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mickaelson
The Oracle Prophecies series, Catherine Fisher
Snow Walker, Catherine Fisher
East, Edith Pattou
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L’Engle
Sign of the Crescent, Debbie Federici
My Favorite Adult Books and Authors:
Church Novels:
Authors:
Susan Evans McCloud (For Love of Ivy)
Dean Hughes (The Children of the Promise series)
Chris Heimerdingher (Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites)
Gerald Lund (One in Thine Hand)
Robert Marcum (Mary and Joseph)
Jack Weyland (Charly and his other early books).
Memiors/Nonfiction
Authors:
Aline Countess Romanones (The Spy Wore Red)
Books:
32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching, Phillip Done
The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Stolen Lives: 20 Years in a Desert Jail, Malika Oufkir
The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Historical Fiction:
Authors:
Zane Grey (The Man of the Forest – Early 1900’s Westerns)
Leon Uris (Exodus)
Bodie Thoene (The Zion Chronicles or The Zion Covenant series)
Baroness Orczy (The Scarlett Pimpernel)
Deeanne Gist (A Bride Most Begrudging)
Books:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Anne Shaffer
Christy, Catherine Marshall
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
These is My Words, Nancy E. Turner
Two From Galilee, Marjorie Holmes
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
Mrs. Mike, Benedict Freedman
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns
The Heretic’s Daughter, Kathleen Kent
Romance
Authors:
Jane Austin (Pride and Prejudice – classic literature)
Books:
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella
These Three Remain – Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, #3, Pamela Aidan
Little Lady Agency, Hester Browne
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Authors:
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit – fantasy)
Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time series – fantasy)
Timothy Zahn (Star Wars books)
Books:
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
Adventure/Suspense/Mystery
Authors:
John Grisham (The Runaway Jury)
Clive Cussler (The Chase)
Daphne Du Maurier (Rebecca)
Tasha Alexander (Lady Emily Series)
Books:
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
A Long Fatal Love Chase, Louisa May Alcott
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McKall Smith
Dying for Chocolate, Diane Mott Davidson
Other Good and Favorite Books:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
A Redbird Christmas, Fannie Flagg
The Hindi-Bindi Club, Monica Pradhan
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
The Nanny Diaries, Emma Mclaughlin
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos
The Ultimate Gift, Jim Stovall
The Sunflower, Richard Paul Evans
