Children’s Book Reviews (Table of Contents)
So many books, and yet so few choices. Standing in the middle of the library 鈥 at the time with a four-year-old tugging at my sleeve – trying to identify which books are truly worth my child鈥檚 time and attention was a challenge.
While there are many excellent lists of classical children鈥檚 literature, this series focuses on introducing lesser-known books or books that have been more recently published. Each review highlights how these stories can point young readers toward the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, while cultivating a lifelong love of books 鈥 and, by extension, learning.
The goal of this series is to equip parents with books that are easy to find and to offer conversation prompts that help engage children more deeply with what they read and hear. A word of caution 鈥 some books, particularly chapter books, may introduce the absence of Truth, Goodness, or Beauty, and provide opportunities to guide your student through recognizing what the absence of those can do.
If there is a book you would like us to review, let us know! If it is available through the Wake County Library System, we will check it out, read it, and share a review if we believe it will be helpful.
Reading tips:
- 听To engage your family in picture books, regardless of age, consider creating a bracket (similar to the NCAA basketball tournaments) and have books face off against each other, culminating in a 鈥渃hampion鈥 at the end. This allows you to re-engage with books and, as a book advances, continue to enjoy and appreciate aspects of it. For my family (two sons) we gave each voter three votes, so both children and one parent would vote each time (preventing ties). This allowed voters to signal strong like of a book (3 votes) to a split vote (2 to 1) when it was closer, and led to some fun results that would not have been possible with a straight 1 vote per person option!
- Review our series about What Makes Literature So Powerful, concluding with Questions to Ask When Selecting Books.
Picture Books Reviewed
Books that are ideal for reading in one sitting
- The Water Hole (Graeme Base)
- The Circus Ship (Chris Van Dusen)听coming soon!
- The Dot (Peter Reynolds) coming soon!
Chapter Books Reviewed
Books that are broken into chapters and longer than one sitting
- Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) coming soon!
- Adam of the Road (Elizabeth Janet Gray)
- Wringer (Jerry Spinelli)
Picture Books in the queue to read and review
- All Along the River (Magnus Weightman)
- Knight Owl (series) (Christopher Denise)
- I Am (Not) Scared (series) (Anna Kang)
- Ish (Peter Reynolds)
Chapter Books in the queue to read and review
- Elmer and the Dragon (series) (Ruth Stiles Gannett)
