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Books that Build Character
We wish this list were much longer. Please email us if you have any suggestions or contributions.
Picture Books (Pre-school & older) |
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| Beskow, Elsa | Pelle’s New Suit | ||
| Brenner, Barbara | Wagon Wheels | ||
| Burton, Virginia Lee | Katie and the Big Snow | ||
| Carroll, Ruth & Latrobe | Digby The Only Dog | ||
| Cohen, Barbara | Molly’s Pilgrim | ||
| Cohen, Barbara | Make a Wish, Molly | ||
| Cooney, Barbara | Chanticleer and the Fox | ||
| Cooney, Barbara | Miss Rumphius | ||
| de Paola, Tomie | Now One Foot, Now the Other | ||
| de Paola, Tomie | “Charlie Needs A Cloak” | ||
| Ets, Marie Hall | Play With Me | ||
| Fatio, Louise / R. Duvoisin | The Happy Lion and the Bear | ||
| Fatio, Louise / R. Duvoisin | The Happy Lion’s Treasure | ||
| Flack, Marjorie | The Story About Ping | ||
| Fluornoy, Valerie | The Patchwork Quilt | ||
| Fulton, Ginger Adair | When I’m a Daddy (Moody Press) | ||
| Fulton, Ginger Adair | When I’m a Mommy (Moody Press) | ||
| Gackenbach, Dick | Claude and Pepper | ||
| Galdone, Paul | The Hare and the Tortoise | ||
| Galdone, Paul | The Little Red Hen | ||
| Gantschev, Ivan | Otto the Bear | ||
| Gunn, Robin Jones | Mrs. Rosey-Posey and the Chocolate Cherry Treat | ||
| Hader, Berta & Elmer | Little Appaloosa | ||
| Hall, Donald | Ox-Cart Man | ||
| Hallinan, P.K. | I’m Thankful Each Day | ||
| Hest, Amy / P.J. Lynch | When Jessie Came Across the Sea | ||
| Hoban, Russel & Lillian | A Bargain for Frances | ||
| Hoban, Russel & Lillian | Bread and Jam for Frances | ||
| Hopkinson, Deborah | A Packet of Seeds | ||
| Hughes, Shirley | Dogger | ||
| (Hort, Lenny &) Locker, Thomas | The Boy Who Held Back the Sea | ||
| Johnston, Tony | Amber on the Mountain | ||
| London, Jonathan | What Newt Could Do for Turtle | ||
| Kraus, Robert | Come Out and Play, Little Mouse | ||
| Martin, Charles E. | Island Rescue | ||
| McClintock, Mike | A Fly Went By | ||
| McCloskey, Robert | One Morning in Maine | ||
| McCully, Emily Arnold | Mirette on the High Wire | ||
| McGovern, Ann | Too Much Noise | ||
| McGinley, P. | The Horse Who Lived Upstairs | ||
| Mitchell, Margaree King | Uncle Jed’s barbershop | ||
| O’Grady, Alice / Frances Throop | The Cap that Mother Made | ||
| Peet, Bill | Kermit the Hermit | ||
| Peet, Bill | The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock | ||
| Piper, Watty | The Little Engine that Could | ||
| Polacco, Patricia | Mr. Lincoln’s Way | ||
| Polacco, Patricia | Thank You, Mr. Falker | ||
| Polacco, Patricia | Thunder Cake | ||
| Roop, Peter & Connie | Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (biography of Abbie Burgess) | ||
| Roop, Peter & Connie (editors) | Pilgrim Voices | ||
| Seuss, Dr. | Bartholomew and the Oobleck | ||
| Seuss, Dr. | Green Eggs and Ham | ||
| Seuss, Dr. | Horton Hatches the Egg | ||
| Seuss, Dr. | Horton Hears a Who | ||
| Surany, Anico | The Covered Bridge | ||
| Thurber, James | Many Moons | ||
| Turkle, Brinton | Thy Friend, Obadiah | ||
| Wolff, Ferida | Seven Loaves of Bread | ||
| Wright, Courtni C. / Gershom Griffin | Journey to Freedom: A Story of the Underground Railroad | ||
| Yashima, Taro | Crow Boy | ||
Elementary Readers (1st – 6th grade) |
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| Arnold, Elliott | Brave Jimmy Stone | ||
| Bishop, Claire Huchet | All Alone | ||
| Bishop, Claire Huchet | Twenty and Ten / The Secret Cave | ||
| Brown, Drollene P. | Sybil Rides for Independence | ||
| Buff, Mary & Conrad | The Apple and the Arrow (The Legend of William Tell) | ||
| Bulla, Clyde Robert | A Lion to Guard Us | ||
| Bulla, Clyde Robert | John Billington: Friend of Squanto | ||
| Bulla, Clyde Robert | Pocahontas and the Strangers | ||
| Bulla, Clyde Robert | Star of Wild Horse Canyon | ||
| Butterworth, Oliver | The Trouble with Jenny’s Ear | ||
| Cavenah, Frances | Jenny Lind and Her Listening Cat | ||
| Cavenah, Frances | Marta and the Nazis | ||
| Clark, Margaret Goff | Freedom Crossing | ||
| Dalgliesh, Alice | The Bears on Hemlock Mountain | ||
| Dalgliesh, Alice | The Courage of Sarah Noble | ||
| Dalgliesh, Alice | The Columbus Story | ||
| DeAngeli, Marguerite | The Door in the Wall | ||
| Edmonds, Walter D. | The Matchlock Gun | ||
| Estes, Eleanor | The Hundred Dresses | ||
| Forbes, Esther | Johnny Tremain | ||
| Fritz, Jean | And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? | ||
| Fritz, Jean | George Washington’s Breakfast | ||
| Fritz, Jean | Stonewall (biography of Stonewall Jackson) | ||
| Fritz, Jean | The Cabin Faced West | ||
| Fritz, Jean | Will You Sign Here, John Hancock? | ||
| Gackenbach, Dick | The Leatherman | ||
| Gates, Doris | Blue Willow | ||
| Grahame, Kenneth | The Wind in the Willows | ||
| Hamori, Lazslo | Dangerous Journey | ||
| Henry, Marguerite | Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin | ||
| Henry, Marguerite | Justin Morgan Had a Horse | ||
| Kästner, Erich | Emil and the Detectives | ||
| Mills, Lauren A. | The Rag Coat | ||
| Reit, Seymour | Guns for General Washington (true story) | ||
| Reit, Seymour | Race Against Death (true story) | ||
| Sidney, Margaret | Five Little Peppers and How They Grew | ||
| Sobol, Donald J. | The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk | ||
| White, E.B. | Charlotte’s Web | ||
| Wilder, Laura Ingalls | Little House on the Prarie & The Little House series | ||
Intermediate Readers (3rd – 9th grade) |
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| Alcott, Louisa May | Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys | ||
| Bagnold, Enid | National Velvet | ||
| Beatty, Patricia | Charley Skedaddle | ||
| Brink, Carol Ryrie | Caddie Woodlawn | ||
| Church, Richard | Five Boys in a Cave | ||
| DeJong, Meindert | The House of Sixty Fathers | ||
| DeJong, Meindert | The Wheel on the School | ||
| George, Jean Craighead | Julie of the Wolves | ||
| Gibson, Fred | Old Yeller (But we don’t recommend any of Fred Gibson’s other books) | ||
| Glines, Carroll | The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of Power Flight | ||
| Juster, Norton | The Phantom Tollbooth | ||
| Hunt, Irene | Across Five Aprils | ||
| Keith, Harold | Rifles for Watie | ||
| Kerr, Judith | When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | ||
| Kingman, Lee | The Saturday Gang | ||
| Latham, Jean Lee | Carry On, Mr. Bowditch | ||
| Latham, Jean Lee | Drake: The Man They Called A Pirate | ||
| Lomas, Steve | Pacific Blue | ||
| Lowry, Lois | Number the Stars | ||
| MacLachlan, Patricia | Sarah, Plain and Tall | ||
| McSwigan, Marie | Snow Treasure | ||
| Meadowcroft, Enid LaMonte | By Secret Railway | ||
| Meigs, Cornelia | Wild Geese Flying | ||
| Moody, Ralph | Little Britches | ||
| Moody, Ralph | Man of the Family | ||
| Moody, Ralph | Mary Emma & Company | ||
| Moody, Ralph | A Horse of a Different Color | ||
| Morrow, Honore | Seven Alone / On to Oregon | ||
| Mowat, Farley | Lost in the Barrens / Two Against the North | ||
| Petry, Ann | Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad | ||
| Serraillier, Ian | Escape from Warsaw / The Silver Sword | ||
| Sewell, Anna | Black Beauty | ||
| Sorensen, Virginia | Miracles on Maple Hill | ||
| Speare, Elizabeth George | The Sign of the Beaver | ||
| Speare, Elizabeth George | The Witch of Blackbird Pond | ||
| Sperry, Armstrong | Call It Courage | ||
| Spinelli, Jerry | Maniac Magee | ||
| Stein, R. Conrad | Benjamin Franklin: Inventor, Statesman, & Patriot | ||
| Stephens, Peter John | The Perrely Plight | ||
| Taylor, Mildred | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry | ||
| Taylor, Mildred | Mississippi Bridge | ||
| Taylor, Theodore | The Cay | ||
| Walsh, Jill Paton | Gaffer Samson’s Luck | ||
| Wibberly, Leonard | John Treegate’s Musket | ||
| Wibberly, Leonard | Sea Captain from Salem | ||
| Wibberly, Leonard | Leopard’s Prey | ||
| Wyss, Johann David | The Swiss Family Robinson | ||
| Yates, Elizabeth | Amos Fortune: Free Man | ||
| Yep, Laurence | Dragonwings | ||
Advanced Reading (9th grade & up) |
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| Brother Andrew | God’s Smuggler | ||
| Armstrong, William H. | Sounder | ||
| Benchley, Nathaniel | Bright Candles | ||
| Bunyan, John | Pilgrim’s Progress | ||
| Conrad, Joseph | Typhoon | ||
| Crane, Stephen | The Red Badge of Courage | ||
| Curie, Eve | Madame Curie | ||
| Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. | Two Years Before the Mast | ||
| Defoe, Daniel | Robinson Crusoe | ||
| DeKruif, Paul Henry | Men Against Death (nonfiction) | ||
| DeKruif, Paul Henry | Microbe Hunters (nonfiction) | ||
| Dickens, Charles | A Tale of Two Cities | ||
| Douglass, Frederick | Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Autobiography, 1845) | ||
| Eckert, Allan W. | Incident at Hawk’s Hill | ||
| Forester, C.S. | The Man in the Yellow Raft | ||
| Franklin, Benjamin | The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | ||
| Frank, Anne | Diary of a Young Girl | ||
| Hautzig, Esther Rudomin | The Endless Steppe (autobiography) | ||
| Hugo, Victor | Les Miserables | ||
| Kipling, Rudyard | Captains Courageous | ||
| Lee, Harper | To Kill a Mockingbird | ||
| Nordhoff, Charles Bernard & James Norman Hall | Mutiny on the Bounty | ||
| Orczy, Baroness Emmuska | The Scarlet Pimpernel | ||
| Sandburg, Carl | Lincoln: The Prairie Years | ||
| Shakespeare, William | King Lear , Henry V | ||
| Steer, Roger | George Müller: Delighted in God | ||
| Ten-Boom, Corey | The Hiding Place | ||
| Washington, Booker Taliaferro | Up From Slavery | ||
Christian Anthologies |
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| Maxwell, Uncle Arthur | The children’s Hour (all of these “Uncle Arthur” collections are remakes of the original series published in the early 1900’s) | ||
| Maxwell, Uncle Arthur | Bedtime Stories Classics | ||
| Maxwell, Uncle Arthur | Uncle Arthur’s Storytime: children’s True Adventures | ||
| Ministry of Life | A Hive of Busy Bees, Another Hive of Bees | ||
| Ministry of Life | Seeing God’s Wisdom in His Ways, Seeing God’s Purpose in Everything | ||
| Richardson, Arleta | Stories from Grandma’s Attic, More Stories from Grandma’s Attic, Still More Stories from Grandma’s Attic, In Grandma’s Attic | ||
| (Pub. by Angela’s Bookshelf) | Choice Stories for Children | ||
| White, J.E. (Pub. by Angela’s Bookshelf) | The King’s Daughter and Other Stories for Girls | ||
| (Pub. by Angela’s Bookshelf) | Stories Worth Re-reading | ||
Secular Anthologies |
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| Santorum, Karen | Everyday Graces: A Child’s Book of Good Manners | ||
| Bennett, William | The Book of Virtues , The Moral Compass , The Book of Virtues for Young People (Bill Bennett draws on fables, both secular and religious, for some of his source material) | ||
| Gelman, Steve | Young Olympic Champions | ||
| Reader’s Digest | Great Lives, Great Deeds | ||
| Stephens, C.A. | Stories from the Old Squire’s Farm | ||
| Brown, Pamela | Barnyard Buddies | ||
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