Of her own accord, my six-year-old daughter has just graduated to chapter books. We’ve dappled in them here and there over the past year or so, but now that she is a self-declared “BK”, or “Big Kid” (i.e. about to be Kindergarten graduate), she recently announced to me that she “doesn’t need a lot of pictures, mom.” She greatly delights in reading a chapter or two from a book a night. And I am enjoying the regimen immensely.
For one, it has been great fun to return to the beloved classics of my youth, to read them afresh from a different point of life experience and to cherish now, particularly, the story telling techniques and details. I find my appreciation for them has only grown over the years, and that I glean from them more and more truths relevant now to my “adult” life. This is one of the greatest gifts of good children’s literature: that it plants seeds which continue to grow and provide sustenance, refuge, sanctuary, healthy challenges, reference points and relevance for a lifetime.
And for another, nothing beats coming together (especially as a family) over books. It’s much like coming together over meals. Actually, the metaphor of sustenance is the same. And I find that after sharing and growing together in the Bible as a family, it is such a wonderful and deep experience to do the same with great works of literature, in age-appropriate steps.
It is also an exciting adventure to open new books, ones that have been recommended or discovered, but which I did not read as a child. Tucked beneath the covers, cricket song loud outside on these soft spring-into-summer nights, I savor the journey with my children.
In celebration of our family passage into the children’s chapter book, then, my children and I recently began our tradition of rummaging through book sales as a concerted effort together. We are particular suckers for tucked away bookstores, school fairs, bargain bins, garage sales and used book deposits. To our eyes, these are not mundane places or events to be nonchalantly passed by. Rather, they represent potential portals into magical kingdoms … rabbit holes and looking glasses, swirling cyclones and wardrobe doors … to be dropped into, to pass through, to emerge from … transformed.
The boys have taken to collecting spare change in tin cans, which they rattle noisily with great relish. They have yet to enter the chapter book attention span quotient (perhaps by college?) but they still manage unbridled glee at bringing along their carefully collected, if not exactly hard-earned cash (gathered from couch cushion and car floor sweepings, as well as administered by Grandpa and usually topped off by Grandma).
My more self-sufficient daughter now has a regular revenue stream from the tooth fairy. Her gapped smiled delight at spending her “earnings” on stories is contagious to see.
So, a few days ago, we visited our nearby Goodwill store, which (oh so happily!) has just accumulated a new and very extensive book section.
Here is a snippet about the thrift store chain that I overheard between my daughter, Victoria, and my one twin, William:
William: “Why do they call it the Good Will, sis?”
Victoria, matter-of-factly: “Because that’s where you find good stuff, Will. So it’s called the Good Will.”
William, very gravely: “Ohhhh.” Then he adds one of his usual hugs (he’s a big bear of a hugger), “Thanks sis!”
While the boys raced toy motorcycles they found on a nearby shelf, my daughter and I were on our hands and knees (an appropriate supplicant position, I think, for the scouting of reading to edify one’s soul) on the dusty floor of this indeed very Good Will, ferreting out children’s titles that appealed. Victoria, who is still at the stage of “judging a book by its cover,” naturally gravitated toward gilded print and intricately embellished designs. In particular, anything with a princess on it has her jumping up and down in glee. Toss in a unicorn, and, well, she’s positively drooling.
To our great fortune, a copy of George Macdonald’s The Princess and the Goblin surfaced from our digging … and with, yes, you guessed it … a princess on the cover. The copy contains copies of the original Victorian illustrations. An absolute treasure trove for 50 cents!
We remain in search of the ever elusive unicorn …
Victoriously with Victoria, I also brought home a copy of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and an absolutely beautiful hardback edition of Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins. These were supplemented by The Chronicles of Narnia thoughtfully given to us as a baby gift and now unearthed from storage with much anticipation. Anne of Green Gables and Black Beauty also bedeck our bunk beds.
With ceremonious care, my daughter stacked her newly acquired treasures on her nightstand, nestling them among countless horse artifacts, a couple Barbie mermaids, and the remains of her hoarded Easter chocolate stash.
“Hey, look, mom!” she smiled at me, lisping through her missing bottom teeth, “I have books by my bed like you.”
“You’ve always had books by your bed, honey,” I laughed, pointing out her little shelf on which we keep some children’s books handy for reading, and the rotation of books borrowed from school and the library.
“But these books are different, mom. They are like yours and dad’s. They are BIG. They have chapters!” she breathed the exclamation with a certain holiness – not only the effect, I would say, of missing teeth.
Chapters. I love how they build suspense. How they careen you into and through a story. I love how they segment the action into bite-sized pieces, to be savored and swallowed, and fully digested. I love how they dole out the pleasure one delicious spoonful at a time. I love the opening of that fresh first chapter into a new world … how that final chapter – oh! – brings it all together and makes you close the book with a satisfied sigh, a natural slowing emphasis of the voice. How it leads to a feeling incomparable to anything else, and that can only be attained by having been earned … through the patience, compassion, diligence, discipline of reading to the very end.
How the act of reading a book itself promotes the fruits of the spirit.
Finishing a book, indeed fulfilling the righteous longing for story, is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19).
And the delight is such a wonderful reminder of God’s good will.
My invitation to you:
Whether or not you have children … whether or not the children you have are of this young chapter book reading age or not … I invite you to join our table (or, our nightstand) as summer crests on our family reading horizon.
Each week, for the next few weeks leading into summer, I will post a reflection, thought, favourite passage or line, for our consideration as we read these children’s classics but glean truths edifying for all ages. I hope you will join us in enjoying them with your own inner or outer child J
If you’ve read it before and/or enjoyed it with children to boot, I would love to hear your comments, the tale we are featuring that week, or wish to revisit it, join us for the adventure and I will share our journey through the pages together here.
I would also appreciate any tips for riveting squirmy younger children (insert twin boys here) without as many illustrations to fall back on.
And if you have additional suggestions for good children’s chapter books – classics you’ve cherished, or lesser known treasures you’ve discovered and enjoyed – please share them here! I will compose a master list for summer chapter book reading with our little-ones-their-way-to-being-big-in-God. Then I will post it here.
God bless as you grow chapter by chapter in His great story!
Lover of God, happy wife, mama to 4, writer, teacher, author of 
I don’t remember lots of reading at night by my parents. I am sure they did it, I just don’t remember it. I was reading on my own at a pretty young age and had a couple of younger siblings so my guess is that I was on my own reading young. But I do remember my mom reading to us on vacation. We did a number of epic one month, 10,000 mile trips. I think we brought more books than clothes on some of the trips.
I have been working through some of the young adult books of my youth recently (on my own, my nieces are not yet old enough). Amazing how well many of the classics translate to an adult level. Looking forward to your posts.
So great to see you here, Adam, especially as I love your site! :) I so agree – it’s great to revisit those classics. They speak to us over the years and in different ways. I was a bit of a lone reader, too, as a kid, but I’ve enjoyed stories of families reading together, even as kids age (and of course this was a popular past time in general before tv, etc regardless of age) so I wanted to cultivate it in our family. I know friends who also use a lot of books on tape – great idea, for bedtime quiet or for trips. Love the epic idea as you travelled! How symbolic! Your mom sounds terrific – what a selfless vacation for her! :)
This brings back such great memories of when my mom would read to my brother and me! Our favorites were the Chronicles of Narnia and Hinds Feet on High Places. But oh, the other titles you mentioned were wonderful companions throughout my childhood! I’ve decided I’m overdue on re-reading Anne of Green Gables.
I can’t get over how FUNNY Anne of Green Gables is, especially now as an adult (and perhaps now that I’ve had twins …) Didn’t get the extent of that before :) So glad to have you join us – always love your input!
I’ve just discovered your blog! Anything to do with books and reading has my full attention, lol!
I don’t have any memories of my family reading together, but have almost-every-night bedtime stories with my 4 kids (oldest 8.5yrs, youngest 2yrs). I haven’t tried to find something that appeals to everyone, the attention spans are so different, so I usually read a favourite book to the youngest and he gets put to bed by his daddy while I read a chapter – or two! – from whatever we’re reading at the moment. Right now we’re reading Fantastic Mr Fox, by Roald Dahl, and my nearly 5yr old boy LOVES it! I take great delight in stopping reading for the night at a cliff-hanger moment, lol! Looking forward to hearing of your summer reading.
With 4 kids under 8 I’m not surprised at your Handsfull moniker! :) What a good suggestion with Dahl, we enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We often read to all the kids too but then spend bit longer with my older one. Such a nice before bed memory, too! Thanks for sharing.
So fun! I can’t wait to see where this leads! I hope to do a little more reading with all my little ones this summer, too!
Yeah, we need to squeeze it in between the baseball, eh? :)
I am excited to see what you post on this subject over the next few months. My son just turned 4 and is particularly insistent that the books I read to him (or even the stories I make up) have chapters. We recently started reading “The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse” (by Thornton Burgess, 1915)–one in a delightful series of animal stories. My dad read them to me, and now they’re all in the public domain!
How funny! Your boy sounds precocious (and precious! :) I didn’t ever read the Mouse stories – must look into those, especially as Mouse is my family nickname :) Thanks so much Seth!
Oh the treasured companion of a good book! Just last week we stayed up way past bedtime at our house with our latest read-aloud (Wingfeather books by Andrew Peterson), because we just had to find out what happened. Our kiddos burn through a chapter book or two a day, so I’m really interested to see what everyone else can recommend.
Peterson’s Wingfeather books are great. I’ve read the first two so far. My kids aren’t old enough yet, but I keep a mental (and GoodReads-logged) stack of books that I can’t wait to unleash upon their imaginations. This is one of my favorite parts of being a parent!
Oh, you guys are the speed chapter readers, eh! How many times have I been tempted to stay up to late, too? But for such good reason! Will add Peterson – thanks for the recommendation!
I’ve always enjoyed walking through the classics section in children’s bookstores because I feel like I am seeing old friends again. My family moved around a lot, so while I lost touch with real friends, my book friends never seemed to change. They might have aged some – as I aged – but they were still there.
I’d add the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. And your boys might enjoy her book Farmer Boy (it’s about Almanzo as he was growing up).
Some others recommendations:
- Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
- Hans Brinker by Mary Dodge
- The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (the boys might like this one as well)
- My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. TOlkein
I’m so excited to get to walk with you and your family through this adventure. Have fun reading!
Great book choices! I would add Stuart Little, the Borrowers books, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess. It’s interesting that one of my adult children’s childhood memories is being read to when they went to bed. It’s a wonderful gift to them.
Terrific! Thanks Patricia – i still remember the Borrowers!
This is a terrific list, Laura! Thank you so very much! I think of books as friends, too – good friends, that lower your blood pressure just by sitting among them :) I loved the Laura Wilder series, but I haven’t read Farmer Boy. What a great suggestion! Will definitely add these to the list, and so glad to have you here with us. God bless!
Wow! So much of this post resonates with me. Let me start by saying that I loved Surprised by Oxford, which I recently finished. From the rich vocabulary, to the beautiful descriptions of life at Oxford, to your coming to faith in Christ, I found much to appreciate and savour as a reader.
Reading has always been a part of my life and I have happily shared my love of good literature with my children (now almost 16 and 13) and with my students. I couldn’t agree more with your statement about gleaning truths from children’s classics even after multiple readings and over a span of many years.
Here are some of my recommendations to add to your growing list: All-of-a-Kind-Family by Sydney Taylor—a story of five Jewish girls living in New York City at the turn of the century. As a young girl, I loved that Taylor continued the story of the family in subsequent novels.
A good read aloud for your daughter in the next couple of years—Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The story is about Elizabeth Ann who is nine years old and very sheltered. She goes to live with her aunt and uncle on their farm in New England and discovers truths about life and herself in the process. What I appreciated about this novel was the rich writing and how Fisher treats her readers. Through careful character development and good writing, we see the struggles and decisions Betsy makes without being told straight out what to think. Children will “get it” too.
Lastly, not sure how old your boys are, but Dr. Doolittle(Huge Lofting) or Mr. Poppers Penguins(Richard Atwater)may be of interest. However, the chapters may be too long to hold their attention. I think summer is the perfect time for evening read-alouds (along with long car trips!), and I hope my family can find a good novel for this summer as well.
Thank you for all your kind words here, Alicia, and amazing suggestions! Such a treat to connect with other readers. I especially appreciate recommendations as it’s often hard to find these things on one’s own. You are so right about how these works help us discover better who we are. A very thoughtful reply, which I will treasure and add to our list!
I remember my mom reading to us a lot, and falling asleep over Dan Frontier. :o) Bless her heart. My dad read the Chronicles of Narnia to us, and I have loved them ever since. I read to my kids too. It gives us family jokes and sayings, as well as expanding our universe!
I should add, Dan Frontier is not a classic. I think it’s a reader, but my youngest brother loved it and asked for it over and over.
An author I love is Marguerite Henry. She writes horse stories. King of the Wind, Justin Morgan had a Horse and many others. Wonderful stories! Another book that a lot of people seem not to have heard of is Summer of the Monkeys. Same author as Where the Red Fern Grows. Super funny and touching. I could go on and on! There are so many good books out there for children.
oooh, horse stories! Thanks a ton for that recommendation. Will have to chase that up right away as it’s all about horses for my daughter right now. You are lovely, Carrie. Thanks for sharing the memories and the books. Funny what kids love to re-read, too, eh? I have found that all sorts of things can appeal – my boys became fascinated with the Cyclops! A bit grotesque, but they kept running around with one eye covered and thinking it quite cool. So there you go. Thanks again!
So much of this post resonates with me on so many levels. My husband, two daughters, and I all love to read. When the girls were young, we used to read them chapter books, and we also listened to them on tape or CD in the car. My husband was just remarking yesterday that Ramona Quimby is still one of his favorite children’s book characters.
As a full-day kindergarten teacher, I have the joy of introducing my students to chapter books. I use picture books during shared reading because they are shorter and often rich in vocabulary, but I try to find age-appropriate chapter books on CD to play during their afternoon rest time. The high-interest chapter books on CD this year were Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (they loved the naughty and willful children) and the many Beverly Cleary books. I think their favorite Beverly Cleary story was Ramona the Pest. Again, they love hearing about children who are somewhat naughty but still very lovable. One newer favorite of theirs was Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins. Many of them have seen Toy Story, so they loved hearing about toys who come to life and share adventures.
Sometimes a way to engage younger children in read-alouds is to have them draw the story while they are listening. Of course, if they are really wiggly, they might just need to wait until they are a little bit older before they are able to listen.
I hope you enjoy these precious times of shared reading! It didn’t take too long until my girls wanted to read the chapter books on their own, but we still passed books back and forth and talked about them as they grew up. Actually, we still do that even today.
You are a gold mine of information and delight, Cheryl. Love you to bits! Thanks for these great ideas. Having kids draw while they listen is a good tip. I also need to remember to cherish the cuddling (instead of sometimes fighting not to fall asleep!) as I know this season will pass all too quickly. But as you provide proof, the reading ties are there once established and that is a great blessing in a family for years on end. I loved Ramona as a kid, too! You’re right – naughty but forgiveable appeals to us all, I think – such a template for Christ’s love for us! :)
I loved to read to my three boys, whose ages made it tricky to find books they would and could enjoy together. They were 4 and 5 years apart. I home educated them and chose to read books at least a bit above their reading levels so new vocabulary was introduced painlessly. (My father would make up stories, but I am afraid as a youngster I only read the Hardy Boys and those types of books….but I loved discovering them as an adult with my boys!!)
Our reading together time was priceless. I remember ,as do they, when I read a book entitled “Karen” ,that I had read and loved so much as a girl, although it isn’t children’s literature at all. (A librarian suggested it to me in 8th grade.) The book keep a 10 and 6 year old enthralled while my youngest napped. It is the story of a girl with cerebral palsy and how her mother helped her in a time when help was NOT available easily. To keep the boys happy while I read, they had sketch books to use. Sometimes they would sketch a picture of what I read….precious, priceless treasures I still have tucked away.
We lost our electric power for three days one time, so all the candles were lit and we delighted in Little House on the Prairie stories. Caddie Woodlawn, The Secret Garden…oh my ….thank you for sparking these happy memories. By the way if the sketch book idea doesn’t work….Legos were also used as I read! I asked questions so I knew they were truly listening.It was rare when they weren’t!! I read a suggestion, that I followed, to have the boys listen to Bible or books on tape as they went to sleep for naps and bedtimes…or just had ‘quiet time’ while MOM had a much needed nap. I remember them laughing at “All Creatures Great and Small”. It is hilarious and having it read by an Englishman helped introduce the idea of ‘dialect’ to them. We listened together so they could ask questions, of course.
So we read traditional children’s literature…but many that were not. All wonderful!!My boys still talk about the stories.
My most treasured memories were the days when my guys started reading chapter books! Soak in the moments. They go by so quickly!! Happy summer reading!
What a beautiful reply, Nadia. I felt like I was living the memories with you! Thank you for making my day.Such good ideas here, too. Perhaps keeping restless little hands busy while reading helps distribute the attention and energy levels better. And what a good point that the books don’t have to be children specific. Kids are far more perceptive than we give them credit, I think, and what a great idea to introduce them to larger ideas of compassion and problem solving, as well as vocabulary. You sound amazing, and your kids are blessed! Thanks for inspiring me. I need to make a better note of books on tape, too. (And I loved the Hardy boys – had a brother 10 yrs older so always felt like bit of a transgression when I snuck in his room and borrowed one! :)
I read “The Wind In The Willows” last year for the first time, and just finished a second read in the last week. I simply adore it. It’s the sort of wonderful book that can be read and re-read many times over a lifetime. When I finished it (again) a few days ago, I was tempted to just start all over!
I went through my GoodReads shelf for “kids” and pulled some of the best:
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Baum’s Oz books
Brian Jacques’ Redwall series
Rascal by Sterling North
The Princess and the Goblin (and The Pricess and Curdie) by George MacDonald
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Boise
The Time series by L’Engle
anything by Roald Dahl
Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
This is a magnificent list! Thanks so much, Seth. I also adore the books you can return to time and time again. You’d be a delight to read with! :)
Hi Carolyn,
i came to your blog from reading your book. It is hard to explain how much I appreciate your book- thankyou for taking the time to write it. I read it on my kindle and will be getting a ‘real’ version as soon as i can to share around with others!
I started reading chapter books to my twin boys when they were five. We started with ‘The Hobbit’ and I was amazed at how well it went! The Lord of the Rings did not sustain interest so we moved on quite quickly. When one came home from school with a copy of the forst harry potter book I was not so happy. I told him that he had to read it with me or not at all. So together we read our way through all seven books and what an amazing time we had! So many conversations about love, redemption, sacrifice, bullying, friendship, difference, courage, fear -a brillient experience!
Since then we have read together the time travelling Gideon cutpurse series, The Phantom Tollbooth, King Matt (‘But Mum, there must be another chapter – when is the happy ending?’ , the wrinkle in time series and more recently Mike masons the blue umbrella and the violet flash.
Reading to my boys is one of my greatest joys and a great source of conversations and cuddles :-) I am looking forward to finding out more reading treasures form others here!
Thank you for your kind words about my book, Anna, and grateful it has put us in touch! These are wonderful suggestions for the kids’ reading, and I like the idea of cuddling as we read too :) You are so right, it is a great source of joy and conversations. I will add your suggestions to the list. God bless!