Character Education

Overview   Calendar   Responsive Classroom K-4   Character Counts   Second Step   Gr 5-8 Advising   Reading   Parents   Links

Recommended Reading For Children

Kindergarten/First Grade

• The Pearl, Helme Heine
• Now One Foot, Now the Other, Tomie DePaolo
• Horton Hears A Who!, Dr. Suess
• Leah’s Pony, Elizabeth Friedrich
• The Story of Johah, Kurt Baumann (or the Alison Reed retelling)
• Good Griselle, Jane Yolen
• The Legend of Bluebonnet, Tomie DePaulo

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Virginia Lee Burson
• The Tortoise and the Hare
• The Little Red Hen and The Three Little Pigs
• Tillie and the Wall, Leo Lionni
• A Chair for my Mother, Vera Williams
• The Little Engine That Could, Watty Piper
• Silent Lotus, Jeanne M. Lee

• It’s Not Fair!, Charlotte Zolotow
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• All the Places to Love, Patricia MacLachlan
• Cinderella
• Yussel’s Prayer, Barbara Cohen
• Through Grandpa’s Eyes, Patricia MacLachlan
• The Rough-Face Girl, Rafe Martin

• The Good Samaritan
• Dogger, Shirley Hughes
• Great Uncle Albert Forgets, Ben Schechter
• Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel
• The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde
• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, John Steptoe
• The Queens Necklace: A Swedish Folktale, Jane Langton
• How Many Days To America: A Thanksgiving Story, Eve Bunting

• The Empty Pot, Demi
• Honest Abe, Evaline Ness
• Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine, Evaline Ness
• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
• The Adventures of Pinocchio, adapted by Sue Kassirer

• Alfie Gives a Hand, Shirley Hughes
• Cecil’s Story, George Ella Lyon
• Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
• David and Goliath
• Brave Irene, William Steig
• The Boy Who Held Back the Sea, Lenny Hort
• Lon Po-Po: A Red Ridinghood Story form China, Ed Young

• The Stonecutter: A Japanese Folktale, Demi
• The Hating Book, Charlotte Zolotow
• King Midas and the Golden Touch
• It Could Always Be Worse, Margon Zemach
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst

Second/Third Grade

• Mrs. Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
• Why Noah Chose the Dove, Isaac Bashevis Singer
• In My Mother’s House, Ann Nolan Clark
• Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Deborah Hopkinson
• The Great Kopak Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest, Lynne Cherry
• Keep the Lights Burning Abbie, Peter and Connie Roop
• Horton Hatches an Egg, Dr. Suess

• Peppe, the Lamplighter, Elisa Barone
• Hidden in the Sand, Margaret Hodges
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr
• Knots on a Counting Rope, Bill Martina and John Archambault
• Least of All, Carol Purdy
• Seven Ravens, Grimm

• Molly’s Pilgrim, Barbara Cohen
• Beauty and the Beast
• The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Elizabeth Coatsworth
• The Bicycle Man, Allan Say
• The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, Paul Goble
• The Emperor and the Kite, Jane Yolen
• Indian in the Cupboard, Lynn Reid Banks
• The Kitchen Knight, Margaret Hodges
• Old Turtle, Douglas Wood

• The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
• The Happy Prince, Oscar Wilde
• Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like, Jay Williams
• The Gift, Aliana Brodmann
• Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
• The Little Match Girl, Hans Christian Anderson
• Clancy’s Coat, Eve Bunting
• The Sailor Who Captured the Sea, Deborah Lattimore

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale, Verna Aardema
• Bub or The Very Best Thing, Natalie Babbitt
• When Solomon Was King, Sheila MacGill-Callahan
• The Gold Coin, Alama Flor Ada
• Matilda Who Told Such Dreadful Lies, Hillaire Belloc
• St. Jerome and the Lion, Margaret Hodges
• The Real Thief, William Steig
• Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol (abridged version)
• Young Abigail Adams, Francene Sabin
• Elfwyn’s Saga, David Wisniewski

• The Sabbath Lion, Howard Schwartz
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den
• The Lotus Seed, Sherry Garland
• The Magic Tapestry: A Chinese Folktale, Demi
• Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
• The Courage of Sarah Noble, Alicia Dalgliesh
• William Tell, Margaret Early
• The Story of Ruby Bridges, William Coles
• Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery, William Miller

• Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan
• The Fisherman and His Wife, Randall Jarell
• The Josephina Story Quilt, Eleanor Coerr
• Sylvester and Magic Pebble, William Steig
• Annie and the Old One, Miska Miles
• The Crane Wife, Sumiko Yagawa
• Ben and Me, Robert Lawson

Fouth/Fifth/Sixth Grade

• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
• The Legend of King Arthur, Robin Lister
• The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Lincoln: A Photobiography, Russell Freedman
• Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

• Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White
• Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
• The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford
• Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Lyddie, Katherine Paterson
• Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray
• A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, Joan Blos
• Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls

• The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert O’Brien
• Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words, Edited by Michael McCurdy
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
• Words By Heart, Ouida Sebestyen
• To Be A Slave, Julies Lester

• The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes
• The Little Princess, Francis Hodgson Burnett
• The House of Sixty Fathers, Meinder DeJong
• Summer of the Swans, Betsy Byars
• Tiktala, Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon
• The Gift of the Magi, O.Henry

• Walk Two Moons, Susan Creech
• Crow and Weasel, Barry Lopez
• Canterbury Tales, Chaucer, selected and retold by Barbara Cohen
• The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
• Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth Speare

• Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell
• The Door in the Wall, Marguerite de Angeli
• The Castle in the Attic, Elizabeth Winthrop
• The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein
• The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
• Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George

• The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
• Bloomability, Sharon Creech
• Pollyanna, Eleanor Porter
• Missing May, Cynthia Rylant
• Casey at the Bat, Ernest Thayer
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
• Sounder, William Armstrong
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

Additional Books For Middle School Students

• The Call of the Wild, Jack London
• Shakespeare’s Stories, retold by Beverly Birch
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer
• Bridge to Terebithia, Katherine Paterson
• Dicey’s Song, Cynhtia Voight
• Solitary Blue, Cynthia Voight
• The Barn, Avi
• Phoenix Rising, Karen Hesse
• The Contender, Robert Lipstie
• The Devil’s Arithmetic, Jane Yolen
• Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montogomery
• Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse
• The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth Speare
• Watership Down, Richard Adams
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
• The Chosen, Chaim Potok
• The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley
• Beauty, Robin McKinley