Which books are essential reading?

My kids (ages 19 months through 14 years) love to read, and I've been trying to remember all the books I loved and all the books I wish I'd read. What books do you guys think are must reads?

Hmmm, 14? Lord of the Rings, Eragon, Lord of the Flies, Catch 22, all the Dune books, if you can convince him to read Shakespear, that can be great.

For the 19 moth old, I love Goodnight Moon and the Kiss that Missed.

I don't know the kissed that missed! I should have mentioned that I have a whole range of ages because I have 4 kids. 14 (boy), 11 (girl), 3 (girl), and 19 month (boy). And they all love books, although the baby would rather eat them than read them.

I have 3 boys, ages 12, 10, and 8. So....I'm kind of spread out myself.

For your 11 year old, you MUST get her Little Women and Little Men! Awesome, awesome books!

We have a small library in the house. Several complete series. My 10 year old is collecting all the Magic Tree House series, he read Dragon Slayers Academy, any sports books.....

Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden.. for the 11 year old..

I read them along with my daughter. along with Litte Women.. that was a good suggestion..

oh! And from day one on and many times over we read Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling...none better...
I give that as a gift to new moms.. they look at me as if I have lost my mind... but it is always a good read with kids..

When my girls were young they loved RL Stein's Goosebumbs and also The Babysitter's Club series.

I LOVE the Boynton Board Books for toddlers/preschoolers. Mine and my daughter's (23 months) favorite is Barnyard Dance. Others in her age group are of course Goodnight Moon, Love you Forever, and the Very Hungry Caterpiller.

My 11 year old daughter enjoys ghost stories and loves the auther Mary Downing Hahn. I've tried to get her to read a lot of the books that I enjoyed at her age like The Little House series, Anne of Green Gables, and The Chronicles of Narnia but she doesn't have any interest in them.

14 (boy)--Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mocking Bird
11 (girl)--Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3 (girl) --Cat in the Hat (all of Dr Seuss books)
19 month (boy) --Run Away Bunny

My son enjoys:

LionBoy 1-3
Charlie Bone series
Chocolate Fever
Harry Potter
Eragon
Magic Treehouse series
Holes
Hatchet

Mine loved the Boxcar Children Series when young.
By the time I was 14 I was really into ghost stories, classics, and sci-fi. The Haunting of Hill House was great. For a boy specifically I'd recommend:

Journey to the Center of the Earth
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Time Machine
Dracula
Redwall series
Kurt Vonnegut might be pushing it but I was that age when I read Vonnegut

Some of those suggestions will only apply if he's patient enough to get past the language changes that have occured in the last, oh, hundred years or so.

for little kids? Click clack moo

hilarious

Oh man... my oldest is 10, and she's been reading some amazing, yet odd books. I would've never thought she'd pick what she picked (and neither did her teacher, for that matter). She loved Holes, and there's an author out that writes predominately about animals... De something. I'll have to peak at her books tomorrow and find out what it is. She's asleep right now.

Junie B Jones is a funny series for the younger kids.

thebutlerdidit wrote:Mine loved the Boxcar Children Series when young.
By the time I was 14 I was really into ghost stories, classics, and sci-fi. The Haunting of Hill House was great. For a boy specifically I'd recommend:

Journey to the Center of the Earth
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Time Machine
Dracula
Redwall series
Kurt Vonnegut might be pushing it but I was that age when I read Vonnegut

Some of those suggestions will only apply if he's patient enough to get past the language changes that have occured in the last, oh, hundred years or so.

Actually, those sound just right for him. He already reads the Redwall books. He reads a lot. He never goes anywhere without a book, and if he's going to be somewhere overnight, he takes two. He can read a 350 page book in less than a day. He could probably read 2 or 3 in a day, but we insist that he actually make eye contact with another human on a daily basis. We had to make a rule because of books, LOL. I think he could probably read Vonnegut. He reads Michael Crichton, Anne McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, and even a little Shakespeare.

Oh, and the baby loves books, too. Just prefers to eat them. I have a video of him eating a board book. He holds it lovingly, smiles, says, "BOOK!", looks at the first page, then eats that page. Spits out the pieces, turns the page, looks at the pictures and smiles, says, "BOOK!" and eats that page, etc. He gets offended if I try to read it to him. But he likes them so much that we all hunt for board books on sale and give them to him to watch him eat them.

Lots of fiber in his diet!

thebigscott wrote:


Oh, and the baby loves books, too. Just prefers to eat them. I have a video of him eating a board book. He holds it lovingly, smiles, says, "BOOK!", looks at the first page, then eats that page. Spits out the pieces, turns the page, looks at the pictures and smiles, says, "BOOK!" and eats that page, etc. He gets offended if I try to read it to him. But he likes them so much that we all hunt for board books on sale and give them to him to watch him eat them.

Oh, too funny! Glad to see another book lover evolving. At least one book will keep him busy a long time!

I would also say that Sherlock Holmes is a must-read for your son who reads alot. Others I loved when I was younger:

The whole Oz series
Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
The Velveteen Rabbit
Anything by Roald Dahl
The Shoe Books by Noel Streatfeild
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Where the Wild Things Are
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler

and so many more. Let me know if you need more recommendations.

I will! I'm going to jot these down for the next trip to the library. The older two each read a book every day or two, and I've been encouraging them to read to the little ones (who don't like it when I do it, but love it when their brother and sister do). So we go through a lot of books.

Favorites at our house are;
for the little ones
Tiki Tiki Tembo
Blueberries for Sal. This is a beautiful book about a bear and her cub and a mother and daughter out picking blueberries.
Peter Rabbit
Angelina Ballerina

My 8 year old likes
The Chronicles of Narnia (this are my 'desert island' books)
The Magic Faraway Tree

I was around 13 when I first read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and to this day it is still a favorite. Baby-sitters Club, Sleepover friends, Sweet Valley Twins (or High), Nancy Drew, and Little House on the Prairie were favorites growing up. Charlotte's Web, Trumpet and the Swan, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Outsiders... Books I had to read in school that I still love.

King Bigood in the Bathtub.. classic for the younger aged ones. The Stinky Cheese Man. Um... goodness, I am trying to remember the books I was read to in grade school. Those 2 were favorites in our class, so much I want to try and find them to read to my son!

The 19 month old would love the books that have the touch me things. My son has one about cats and he still reads it.

I found Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet in a box when I was 12. I loved it. There Is a River is even better. I have read many Cayce and ARE books and think of them as essential.. for kids?

Another fave is Roxaboxen

My kids and I read Kipling, Just So Stories so many times!
They all loved Kipling. We read Alcott.. all of us together.. all of her books..

I started Kipling when my oldest was 2 and kept reading it for years. I get weird looks though when I give it as a baby gift, so it might not fit with todays preferences.

essential for teens and colege should be John Stienbecks East of Eden. a fabulous exploration into the minds of men in the early 20th century! a fabulousl look at the concept of free will, cane v abel and Eve and original sin! love that book

Anyone remember Old Yeller or am I just dating myself ? lol

For your 14 year old I'd suggest the 'scary stories to tell in the dark' series. I still love those!

The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II by Dave Balter

Well, you said 'essential'!