“So as a mother and as a writer, let me urge you to read to them, read to them, read to them. For if we are careless in the matter of nourishing the imagination, the world will pay for it. The world already has.” ~Katherine Paterson, A Sense of Wonder

I loved books growing up. I binge read the Baby-Sitter’s Club series. I took the Molly American Girl Series along with me on vacation. I started the Radical Readers Book Club as a pre-teen with my friends. We would read books and then gather to discuss them. This was my idea of a good time.

As a parent, I want the same for my kids. I want them to hide books under their covers and wait for me to yell “Lights out!” and then sneakily turn a flashlight on to finish the last chapter of their book. I want to see them carrying a book all around the house with them because they cannot put it down. I want to build memories with my kids around books.

When a friend calls me to say that their homeschooling day is going down the tubes and they feel like the biggest failure that day, here’s the advice I give them….Put down the curriculum and the writing assignments and the math lesson and the agenda and the well-intentioned plans for the day…and pick up a good book. Call your kids to the couch (or picnic blanket, or swing set, or porch swing), grab a favorite snack, and read. Snuggle. Smile. Laugh. And enjoy a good book with your kids. Grab a chapter book that you’ve been wanting to read or a small stack of favorite picture books. Enjoy your child. Enjoy a good story. Make memories.

I had a hard time trying to divide these books up into age ranges. I know that even if a book is slated for an older audience, most of the time I can still read it aloud to my younger kids. If the words themselves are too hard, the book can still make a great read-aloud. It can also still be fun for a 10 year old to open an easy chapter book and devour it in a day for an easy-read. If you do have any questions about any of these books, please contact me. I’d love to help you find the right book for your child!

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Here are some of my favorites…