5 favorite chapter books I’d like my kids to read

Listen to this article

Kids are fascinated—and maybe a bit doubtful—when they learn that, once-upon-a-time, their own parents were kids.

It’s true! A long time ago, I, too, sat in a classroom, dreaming about summer vacation. I rode my bike downhill at breakneck speeds. I built forts in the woods near my house. I ate more candy than I should have, and I binged on Saturday morning cartoons.

And, back when I was a kid, I loved wandering through our local library, picking out new books for a lazy afternoon read.

Children’s Book Week is May 2-8, and what better time to share your favorite children’s books with your own kids! I picked out five chapter books that I read during elementary school and that I will still re-read, even as a grownup. If my kids want to know more about who their mom was when she was a kid herself, these five titles would be a great place to start.

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

What do a mute, orphan slave boy in Morocco and a 10-year-old girl from small-town Pennsylvania have in common? At first glance, not much. But Agba, the boy in the story, and I both loved horses, and this connection was enough to take me on a whirlwind adventure through faraway desserts, aboard ocean ships, through the streets of Paris and into the stables of British aristocrats.

Marguerite Henry is author of the Misty of Chincoteague series, but King of the Wind is my favorite of Henry’s works. The book is winner of the Newberry Medal in 1949. Try to find a used hardcover version with Wesley Dennis’ gorgeous full-color illustrations.

The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Martha is shy and awkward, her feet firmly planted in a real world she doesn’t feel comfortable inhabiting. Ivy is fearless and mystical, an outcast and wild-child who befriends Martha. Together, they create their own magical world and a safe place during the hard days of growing up. A beautiful story of finding a BFF who not only completes you, but who helps you become your complete self.

Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards

(Yes, Julie Andrews Edwards is that Julie Andrews.) A gentle, kind-hearted story about jumping the garden wall and finding a little cottage in the woods to call your own. Part Secret Garden and part The Secret of Roan Inish (1994 film by John Sayles), Mandy inspired me to take on the projects of my imagination and not always wait on adults to propel my adventures.

I especially loved the description of the shell room. Void of fairies, dragons or wizards, Mandy still feels magical.

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Yes, I was horse crazy as a girl. In sixth grade, Sister Rosemary called my mother and asked her if could please read something besides horse books. But with 20 books in the Black Stallion series—and many of those books worthy of multiple readings—picking up other books to read wasn’t always done willingly. And what horse-crazy girl wouldn’t want to imagine herself on a deserted island with an Arabian horse as her only friend?

My daughters didn’t inherit the horse-crazy gene, but The Black Stallion is also a great read for kids who are convinced that adults often underestimate the ability and capability of young people. And isn’t that every kid?

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Isn’t it amazing that sibling problems back in 1955 could sound familiar to me in 1975? And having recently reread Beezus and Ramona, I can say—this time, as a parent—that many of those same big sister-little sister fits and fights are repeating themselves well in to the 21st century.

Beverly Cleary (who just celebrated her 100^th birthday) gets kids—she gets their worries and complaints, and she gets a their sense of what’s fair and what’s just rotten luck. Most importantly, Cleary understands a child’s sense of humor.

And as much as kids are convinced that adults never understand them, Beezus and Ramona offers some hope that, maybe, sometimes, we adults do remember what it was like to be a kid.

Tell us your favorite children’s books from when you were a kid? Which books should your kids read to get to know Mom or Dad from back when they were children, too?