Almost as much as I love giving Games for Gifts, I love giving books. Books are a perfect balance between “practical” and “fun”. Here is my very long (but good grief I barely scratched the surface) list of great books we love. Take note that many of these books are parts of sets and collections, so while I usually just mentioned the first in the collection, I encourage you to look at all the books offered by each author!
Books for the Little (and big) Ones
- Dr. Seuss Beginners Book Collection
- Curious George
- Llama Llama Red Pajama
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
- Just in Case You Ever Wonder
Books for Early Readers
Great Chapter Books for Kids
- Encylopedia Brown
- Boxcar Children Books
- Ramona the Pest
- Henry and Ribsy
- The Sword in the Tree (and other books by Clyde Robert Bulla
- Little House on the Prairie
- All of a Kind Family
Great Cookbooks
- Little House Cookbook (This book is SO much fun!)
- Nourishing Traditions (This one is quite intense, but great for learning about nutrition if you take it a small chunk at a time!)
- Heavenly Homemakers Ebooks (I had to include these of course!)
Gifts for the History Lover
- Abraham Lincoln: A Photobiography
- The Story of US (This set seems a little pricey, but it is WELL worth the cost. We love these books!)
- Story of the World
There are millions of books that are great that I didn’t mention. Please add your favorite book ideas in the comments!
You missed CS Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, Anne of Green Gables, and my husband’s childhood favorite, “My Side of the Mountain” http://www.amazon.com/Side-Mountain-Trilogy-Far-Frightfuls/dp/0525462694/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291955596&sr=1-3
For the history lover: http://www.amazon.com/Best-My-Ability-James-McPherson/dp/B002HJ3ENW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291955354&sr=8-1 It is a fabulous book, with a few pages dedicated to each president and their biography, their campaign, notable speeches, wives/first ladies, important events of their presidency, pictures, campaign buttons, literature, and caracatures. It is great for people of all ages, I read it in HS, then an updated version was actually one of my college HS texts!
Then there are the Lord of the Rings books by Tolkein. And Louisa May Alcott wrote wonerful books for little girls, most notably “Little Women”.
Laura, if your boys have not yet discovered “Redwall” by Brian Jacques, please take them to the library and get it! They are wonderful, wholesome books full of adventure that little boys and girls love to read. http://www.amazon.com/Redwall-Book-1-Brian-Jacques/dp/0142302376/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
I absolutely adore children’s literature, I hope to someday get my Master’s in it.
Just one more book, then I promise to stop. “The capture” is the first book in the series The Guardians of Ga’Hoole, http://www.amazon.com/Capture-Guardians-Gahoole-Book/dp/0545253063/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top and I thought it was a well written and original book. I cannot speak for the rest of the series, but judging from the first it was entertaining, adventurous, and original. The information about the owls (the main characters) was scientifically accurate and might spur your kids to learn more about owl habits, which are admittedly fascinating to nerds like me!
I just cannot help it I really get geeked out about books, especially GOOD books. We have a lot of books in our home.
Ok, I KNOW I said that was the last one, but this is for the moms out there. Lots of moms don’t have time for much reading. Magazines can be a great luxury item for moms, and giving a subscription can be a blessing and very cheap.
My top 3 are:
Above Rubies http://aboverubies.org/ which is actually free, though they appreciate donations if possible, but they definitely want every mom out there to get their uplifting magazine and consider it a ministry. It is a wonderful blessing and encouragement.
Better Homes and Gardens https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/MR/BHG/HeaderTopNavCover_I011BLD51.jsp?cds_page_id=91516&cds_mag_code=BHG&id=1291957489654&lsid=33432304496024214&vid=1 It is $5.99 for a year, visually beautiful and inspiring, has some good organizational ideas and plenty of recipes that aren’t too hard to adapt to whole wheat, real butter, etc. I savor it every month.
Mothering http://www.mothering.com/subscribe is more expensive, but they do have a digital subscription for $4.95. It is a great natural family living magazine with a lot of good information about natural birth, natural childcare (cloth diapers, alternative education from Waldorf to unschooling, natural toys, vaccines, etc) and gentle parenting. It is definitely not a Christian magazine, but they are not aggressively non-Christian either. Their magazine is especially useful for new moms and moms to young children, who are trying to do some alternative things like delay vaccinations, breastfeed, cloth diaper, and use homeopathic or alternative medicine.
I promise I am now done. This is just something I get really excited about. I love reading and books like you love jars!
Recent favorites in our house were the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan and the Stoneheart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher.
Thanks for the info Laura, I ordered the little house cookbook for my oldest daughter, and the lincoln book for my 8 year old daughter-she loves Abraham Lincoln!
All the VeggieTales books but especially Bob and Larry’s ABCs.
The Chronicles of Narnia
My boys LOVE Redwall books by Brian Jacques! There is a Redwall cookbook that contains recipes from the “feasts” in the books. My eldest has made us several meals and parts of meals from this cookbook, very yummy. We also love anything by Eleanor Estes, especially the Moffats series, very sweet. My younger ones (and I) adore anything by Cynthia Rylant, especially Henry and Mudge and Mr. Putter and Tabby books. Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osbourne and Billy and Blaze by CW Anderson are wonderful. I should stop now…. :)
Oh, lots of these are our favorites and in our home library. The Llama, Llama books look darling; we’ve yet to buy any. Maybe for Chloe’s January birthday…
I’m loving all our Usborne books. The Dinosaur who Lost His Roar has been a favorite around here for about a year and a half.
Great post!
My mother-in-law actually knows the author of the Llama Llama books. We just got the newest one from a book fair and I cried, I admit, reading it the first (second, third…) time. Good message.
For older kids, don’t forget E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web, Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little) Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Hunt, and anything by Elizabeth George Speare (Sign of the Beaver, etc.) Also, if they are horse lovers, anything by Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague, etc.)!