Each year as I prepare to homeschool my children my favorite thing to do is make out the reading lists.  It is such a joy to go through the lists from years past and remember all the great books we have read.  I am very excited to present, A Living Book Homeschool Library for Kindergarten – 12th Grade!  

In preparation for this post, my high schoolers and college students were pulling their favorite books off our shelves to make sure they were included in the following lists!  Such good times!

The following book lists for each level do not represent all the books my kids have read but rather these are the “required reading” for each grade level.  You may note that occasionally there will be a few books below grade level stuck into a year.  I do that so my children will have a bit of a break and enjoy a good easy read.

The reading lists have books in three categories.  They include Fiction, Biography, and some Non-Fiction Christian Living Books.

I would classify the majority of these books as “Living Books” and “Classics” and they are definitely “Twaddle Free”!

 

 

A Living Book Homeschool Library

 

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Reading List

Easy Readers:

Frog and Toad Series – Arnold Lobel

Mouse Tales – Arnold Lobel

Owl at Home – Arnold Lobel

Put Me in the Zoo – Robert Lopshire

Little Bear Series – Elsa Holmelund Minarik

Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Suess

My First Book Series – MacKenzie

One Fish, Two Fish – Dr. Suess

My Cat and the Hat – Dr. Suess

Biscuit’s Day at the Farm – Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories 

Go, Dog. Go! – P.D. Eastman

A Fly Went By – Mike McClintock and Fritz Siebel

A Fish Out of Water – Helen Palmer and P.D. Eastman

ABEKA beginner Readers

Christian Liberty Press Readers – Florence M. Lindstrom

 

Reader:

Stone Soup – Marcia Brown

The Little House – Virginia Lee Burton

Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel – Virginia Lee Burton

Jonah: The Runaway Preacher – Carine Mackenzie

Corduroy – Don Freeman

Ox Cart Man – Donald Hall

Bread and Jam for Francis Series – Russell and Lillian Hoban

Floss – Kim Lewis

Titch – Pat Hutchins

Frederick – Leo Lionni

Daniel: The Praying Prince – Carine Mackenzie

Blueberries for Sal – Robert McCloskey

Make Way for Ducklings – Robert McCloskey

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Series – Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond

Amelia Bedelia – Herman Parish

The Little Engine that Could – Watty Piper

Curious George – H.A. Rey

Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown

Runaway Bunny – Margaret Wise Brown

Keep the Lights Burning Abby – Peter and Connie Roop

Henry and Mudge Series – Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and Tabby Series – Cynthia Rylant

Caps for Sale – Esphyr Slobodkina

Doctor DeSoto – William Steig

The Biggest Bear -Lynd Ward

A Chair for My Mother – Vera B. Williams

A New Coat for Anna – Harriet Ziefert

Harry the Dirty Dog – Gene Zion

Christian Liberty Nature Reader – Florence Bass

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom  – Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

 

2nd Grade Reading List

The Billy and Blaze Series – C.W. Anderson

Jillian Jiggs – Phoebe Gillman

Nate the Great Series – Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

The Family under the Bridge – Natalie Savage Carlson

The Door in the Wall – Marguerite De Angeli

The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes

Winnie-the-Pooh Series – A.A. Milne

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook – Joyce Lankester Brisley

A House is A House for Me – Mary Ann Hoberman

Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmans

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter – Beatrix Potter

Encyclopedia Brown Series – Donald J. Sobol

A Child’s Garden of Verses – Robert Louis Stevenson

The Boxcar Children Series – Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams

New Toes for Tia – Lia Dinkins

Owen – Kevin Henkes

Chester’s Way – Kevin Henkes

Jessica – Kevin Henkes

Wemberly Worried – Kevin Henkes

Christian Liberty Nature Reader

 

3rd Grade Reading List

The Wright Brothers and their Sister – Lois Mills

Brave Irene – William Steig

Mr. Poppers Penguins – Robert Lawson

Betty Doll – Patricia Polacco

Luba and the Wren – Patricia Polacco

The House on Walenska Street – Charlotte Herman

Almost Home – Wendy G. Lawton

Teddy’s Button – Amy Le Feuvre

History for Children – John Wayland

The Princess and the Kiss – Jennie Bishop

The Tinkers Daughter – Wendy G. Lawton

The Racketty Packetty House – Francis Hodgson Burnette

Unfading Beauty – Tracy M. Leininger

Peter Pan – J.M. Barrie

The Land Beyond the Setting Sun – Tracy M. Leininger

Henry Huggins – Beverly Cleary

Nothing Can Separate Us – Tracy M. Leininger

The Chronicles of Narnia Series – C.S. Lewis

A Light Kindled – Tracy M. Leininger

Homer Price – Robert McCloskey

In Grandmas Attic – Arleta Richardson

Lentil – Robert McCloskey

The Little’s Series – John Peterson

Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

Stuart Little – E.B. White

Little House in the Big Woods Series – Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Railway Children – E. Nesbit

 

4th Grade Reading List

Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Ryrie Brink

Catching Their Talk in a Box – Betty M. Hockett

Babushka Baba Yaga – Patricia Polacco

Shadrach – Meindert DeJong

The Incredible Journey – Sheila Burnford

Basher Five-Two – Scott O’Grady

A Little Princess – Francis Hodgson Burnett

Jed Smith Trailblazer of the West – Frank Latham

The Secret Garden – Francis Hodgson Burnett

Courage to Run – Wendy G. Lawton

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

The Hallelujah Lass – Wendy G. Lawton

Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Old Yeller – Fred Gipson

Shadow in His Hands – Wendy G. Lawton

Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children – James Herriot

Rascal – Sterling North

The Cricket in Times Square – George Selden

Five Little Peppers and How they Grew – Margaret Sidney

Twig: A Collie – Craig Massey

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing – Judy Blume

Betsy -Tacy – Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib – Maud Hart Lovelace

The Original Hardy Boys Series – Franklin W. Dixson

 

5th Grade Reading List

Huguenot Gardens – Douglas Jones

The Book of Virtues – William Bennett

Follow My Leader – James B. Garfield

Alone yet Not Alone – Tracy M. Leininger

Carry On Mr. Bowditch – Jean Lee Latham

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Carlo Collodi

Bud and Me – Alta Abernathy

Heidi – Johanna Spyri

Perloo the Bold – Avi

With Daring Faith – Amy Carmichael

Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkein

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness – Janet and Geoff Benge

Pollyanna – Eleanor H. Porter

Mother – Kathleen Norris

Anne of Green Gables Series – L.M. Montgomery

Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

A Question of Yams – Gloria Repp

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Kate Douglas Wiggin

The Black Stallion – Walter Farley

The Elsie Dinsmore Series – Martha Finley

Run for Your Life – Betty Swinford

The Toothpaste Millionaire – Jean Merrill

 

A Living Book Homeschool Library

 

6th Grade Reading List

The Ordinary Princess – M.M. Kaye

The Life of George Washington – Mary L. Williamson

Guns of Thunder- Douglas Bond

Guns of the Lion – Douglas Bond

Guns of Providence- Douglas Bond

Ten P’s in a Pod – Arnold Pent

Basket of Flowers – Cristoph Von Schmid

More than a Carpenter – Josh McDowell

Hinds Feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard

The Sinking of the Titanic – Logan Marshall

The Wise Woman – George MacDonald

The Captive Princess – Wendy G. Lawton

Stepping Heavenward – Elizabeth Prentiss

Hittite Warrior – Joanne Williamson

Iron Scouts of the Confederacy – Lee McGiffin

Joel A Boy of Galilee – Annie Fellows Johnston

Star of Light – Patricia St. John

Quintas – Weerstand

Refuting Evolution – Jonathan Sarfati

The Story Girl – L. M. Montgomery

The Golden Road – L.M. Montgomery

Miracles on Maple Hill – Virginia Sorenson

 

7th Grade Reading List

The Life of J.E.B. Stuart – Mary L. Williamson

Little Lord Fauntleroy – Frances Hodgson Burnett

Freedoms Pen – Wendy G. Lawton

Rifles for Watie – Harold Keith

The Birkenhead Drill – Douglas W. Phillips

The Love Comes Softly Series – Jeanette Oke

Not My Will – Francena H. Arnold

A Boys War – David Michell

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

George Muller – Janet and Geoff Benge

Zoar Blue – Janet Hickman

Duncan’s War – Douglas Bond

King’s Arrow – Douglas Bond

Rebel’s Keep – Douglas Bond

God’s Smuggler – Brother Andrew

Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers – Douglas Bond

Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls

If I Perish – Esther Ahn Kim

Ransom’s Mark – Wendy G. Lawton

In His Steps – Charles Sheldon

 

8th Grade Reading List

How to Study – Edward J. Shewan

Banner in the Sky – James Ramsey Ullman

Daughters of Destiny – Noelle Wheeler

John Billington – Clyde Robert Bulla

The Door in the Wall – Marguerite De Angeli

Catch ‘Em Alive Jack – John R. Abernathy

Treasures of the Snow – Patricia St. John

Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation – Douglas Bond

Dragon Light Series – Donita K. Paul

Gladys Alward – Janet and Geoff Benge

Do Hard Things – Alex and Brett Harris

Beloved Bride – William Potter

The Federalist – Alexander Hamilton

Strawberry Girl – Lois Lenski

Corrie Ten Boom – Janet and Geoff Benge

So Much More – Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin

The Queens Smuggler – William Tyndale – Dave and Neta Jackson

Don’t Waste Your Life – John Piper

The Loner – Ester Wier

The Life of Stonewall Jackson – Mary L. Williamson and Michael McHugh

 

9th Grade Reading List

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table – Roger Lancelyn Green

Mr. Pipes Comes to America – Douglas Bond

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage  – Alfred Lansing

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood – Howard Pyle

What He Must Be – Voddie Baucham

Martin Luther – J.A. Morrison

Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren

Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

Bulfinches Greek and Roman Mythology

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

The Long Walk Slavomir Rawicz 

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Men of Honor – Howard Pyle

The Iliad – Homer

The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom

The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthhorne

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Boys) – Jules Verne

Before You Meet Prince Charming (Girls) – Sarah Mally

The Call of the Wild – Jack London

The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain

Foxes Book of Martyrs – John Foxe

 

10th Grade Reading List

The Jungle Book -Rudyard Kipling

My Antonia – Willa Cather

Code Word Catherine – Jodie Collins

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne

Beyond the Rapids – Evelyn Puerto

Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

Hostage Lands – Douglas Bond

William Booth – Janet and Geoff Benge

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – J.R.R. Tolkien

Desiring God – John Piper

George W. Carver – Janet and Geoff Benge

Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss

William Carey – Janet and Geoff Benge

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Boys) – Jules Verne

Joyfully Home (Girls) – Jasmine Baucham

Silas Marner(Boys) – George Eliot

Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan

The Runaways Revenge-John Newton

Beowulf – Seamus Heaney

The Accidental Voyage – Douglas Bond

The Art of Divine Contentment – Thomas Watson

Knowing God – J.I. Packer

 

11th Grade Reading List

The Screw Tape Letters – C.S. Lewis

The Spiritual Secrets of Hudson Taylor – Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

Always Ready – Greg Bahnsen and Robert Booth

Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane

Practicing His Presence – Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach

The Chosen – Chaim Potok

Growing Up Christian – Karl Graustein

Lost City of the Incas – Hiram Bingham

The Betrayal – Douglas Bond

Holiness – J.C. Ryle

The Thieves of Tyburn Square – Elizabeth Fry

Choosing Your Career – Martin E. Clark and Clark

The Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt – Anthony Brandt

Confessions – St. Augustine

Rufus M. – Eleanor Estes

The Problem of Pain – C.S. Lewis

Traitor in the Tower –John Bunyan

The Last Jihad – Joel C. Rosenberg

Five Pioneer Missionaries – John Thornbury

 

12th Grade Reading List

Animal Farm – George Orwell

The Family – J.R. Miller

Portrait of a Lady – Henry James

A Lantern in Her Hand – Bess Aldrich Streeter

Of Plymouth Plantation – William Bradford

Gulliver’s Travels – Johnathan Swift

Eric Liddell – Janet and Geoff Benge

Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis

Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Reforming Marriage – Douglas Wilson

Hadassa – Tommy Tenney

The Treasure Principle – Randy Alcorn

Vienna Prelude – Bodie Thoene

George Washington’s Sacred Fire – Peter A. Lillbeck

Julius Caesar- Shakespeare

Robert E. Lee the Christian – William J. Johnstone

The Complete Father Brown – G.K. Chesterton

A Treastise Concerning Religious Affections – Johnathan Edwards

In the Presence of My Enemies – Gracia Brurnham and Dean Merrill

Instruments in the Redeemers Hands – Paul David Tripp

Johnny Tremain – Esther Hoskins Forbes

William Booth – Janet and Geoff Benge

 

It is my sincerest hope that you and your family will enjoy these treasured books that are chocked full of excellent, thought-provoking words!  May each book encourage your child’s faith.

 

Are you looking for more book suggestions?  Follow me on Goodreads!
More Simple Short Christian Book Reviews?  Click HERE!

 

YOUR TURN…

What books would you add to this list?

 

Blessings,

Signature

 

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Janelle Esker

Janelle Esker is the grateful wife of Michael and homeschooling mother of six amazing children. She lives with her family, 4 cats, 1 dog, 3 ducks and 12 chickens in scenic Ohio. Janelle received her B.A. in Education from Ohio Northern University. She is the author of CHOSEN: One Family's Journey with Autism.

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2 Comments

  1. When we built our house we currently live in I had a dream of making the unfinished attic space over the garage into a living book library. There was a lady I had met when I first started homeschooling who had an amazing living book library with so many precious books that are now out of print and hard to find. Alas, it never happened and I have shrunk that dream to be a mini library. Currently an area woodworker is making me a custom bookcase for our former homeschool/office room that will now be our library/office room. 😉 I have used libib.com to start cataloging my books and to help me pick what I want to go on my bookcase as it won’t hold as many books as I own. lol

    1. I love dreams and I love how God allows the adaptation of them! I basically have bookcases in every room except the dining room and bathroom, I can’t wait to hear about how the custom bookcases turn out…that is a dream of mine!

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