Prepare to Write and Creating Sentences Reading List

Recommended for Ages 8-11: Grades 3-6 (Prepare to Write Writing Curriculum)
Recommended for Ages 9 - 12: Grades 4 - 7 (Creating Sentences Writing Curriculum)

Why read quality literature? It matters what you read.

  1. The best readers are the best writers.
  2. What you read is a major factor determining who you will become.
  3. Quality literature encourages reading, because it is hard to put a good book down.
  4. Reading is not just for fun. Reading plays a major role in brain development.

Do you want to raise your students’ reading level? Read out loud to them.
Do you want to improve your students’ listening skills? Read out loud to them.

Reading Guidelines:

  • Read books to students. The more you read to them, the higher their level of reading and comprehension climbs.  Read books out loud to them that they would not find easy to read on their own, but also read easier books out loud for sheer enjoyment.
  • Listen to audio books. When you are going places in the car or just relaxing at home, listening to a good book captivates and entertains.
  • Encourage students to select books to read independently. Have them read books on their own that are on their easy-to-read level and that interest them.
  • Discuss what is read. Instead of book reports, talk to them about what they are reading. As they enjoy books, they will want to talk about them.

Book List Organization and Point System:

  • The point groups are determined by length and reading level.
  • Books are mostly listed in alphabetical order by title.
  • If several books are by one author or a series by various authors, then they are included in the alphabetical order by the author’s name, series title or a group title such as historical fiction.
  • Books are not listed in a particular reading order.

Avoid an “easy-to-read” version of any of the books, such as those by Great Illustrated Classics. When students read dumbed down versions of books, they miss out on the depth of the story and the enjoyment of reading the book is watered down.

Many of these books can probably be found at your public library. Amazon is a convenient way to find out more about these books through their descriptions and reviews.

The goal is to encourage the reading of quality books that all will approve of and enjoy. Investigating these books that range from modern to classical to forgotten works of art will hopefully be an enjoyable adventure.

The Write Foundation – Creating Sentences Reading List

6 Point Books

Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories – Philip Smith, Editor
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain – Alice Dalgliesh
The Big Wave – Pearl S. Buck
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
The Courage of Sarah Noble –  Alice Dalgliesh
George Washington Carver – Eva Moore
History – Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
                Lief the Lucky
                Columbus
                Pocahontas
                George Washington
                Benjamin Franklin
                Abraham Lincoln
                Buffalo Bill
The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes 
Li Lun, Lad of Courage – Carolyn Treffinger
Little Pear – Eleanor Frances Lattimore
The Little Riders – Margaretha Shemin
The Minstrel in the Tower – Gloria Skurzynski
Norse Myths – Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
                         Book of Trolls
                        Children of the Northlights
                        Book of Norse Myths
Jessie Stuart Stories
                        The Beatinest Boy
                        A Penny’s Worth of Character
                        Red Mule
                        The Rightful Owner
Rip Van Winkle – Washington Irving
Sarah Whitcher’s Story – Elizabeth Yates
Shoes for Everyone – Barbara Mitchell
Stone Fox – John Reynolds Gardiner
The Whipping Boy – Sid Fleischman
The White Stallion – Elizabeth Shub

10 Point Books

The Apprentice – Pilar Molina Llorente
Baby Island – Carol Ryrie Brink
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Barbara Robinson
Boxcar Children – Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Cabin Faced West – Jean Fritz
Castle Diary – Richard Platt
Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrims Progress – Oliver Hunkin
Grandma’s Attic Series – Arleta Richardson
                        In Grandma’s Attic
                        More Stories from Grandma’s Attic
                        Treasures from Grandma
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Hank the Cowdog Series – John R. Erickson
                        The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog
                        Murder in the Middle Pasture
                        It’s A Dog’s Life
                        The Almost Last Roundup
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Helen Keller’s Teacher – Margaret Davidson
                        The Story of my Life – Helen Keller
Henry Huggins Series – Beverly Clearly
                        Henry Huggins
                        Henry and Ribsy
                        Ribsy
                        Other Henry Huggins books are fine.
How to Eat Fried Worms – Thomas Rockwell
Jungle Books (not Disney) – Rudyard Kipling
Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling
The Kite Fighters – Linda Sue Park
The Lion in the Gateway – Mary Renault
Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Atwater
Mountain Born – Elizabeth Yates
Saint Isaac and the Indians – Milton Lomack
Sarah Plain & Tall Series – Patricia MacLachlan
                        Sarah Plain & Tall
                        Skylark
                        Caleb’s Story
                        More Perfect than the Moon
                        Grandfather’s Dance
Socks – Beverly Clearly
The Sword in the Tree – Clyde Robert Bulla
Sugar Creek Gang Series – Paul Hutchens
                        The Swamp Robber
                        The Killer Bear
                        The Lost Campers
                        The Secret Hideout
                        Other books in this series are fine.
The Terrible Wave – Marden Dahlstedt
A Tree for Peter – Kate Seredy
Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt
The Year of Miss Agnes – Kirkpatrick Hill

14 Point Books

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Carlo Collodi
All of a Kind Family Series –  Sydney Taylor
                        All of a Kind Family
                        More All of a Kind Family
                        All of a Kind Family Uptown
                        All of a Kind Family Downtown
                        Ella of All of a Kind Family
And the Word Came with Power – Joanne Shetler
A Beatrix Potter Treasury – Beatrix Potter
Benjamin West and His Cat Gimalkin –  Marguerite Henry
Born in the Year of Courage – Emily Crofford
The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis
The Broken Blade – William Durbin
Bud Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis
Building on the Rock Series (Short Stories) – Joel R. Beeke & Diana Kleyn
                        How God Stopped the Pirates
                        How God Used A Thunderstorm
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Call it Courage – Armstrong Sperry
Charlotte's Web – E.B. White
The Children Who Stayed Alone – Bonnie Bess Worline
Clubhouse Mysteries – Sharon M. Draper
                        Lost in the Tunnel of Time
                        The Buried Bones
                        The Space Mission Adventure
                        Other books in this series are fine.
The Cricket in Times Square – George Selden
Dear America Series – Historical Fiction, Various Authors
                        Standing in the Light
                        A Picture of Freedom
                        Across the Wide Open Prairie
                        I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly
                        Behind the Masks
                        Any other books in this series are fine.
Detectives in Togas – Henry Winterfeld
                        The Mystery of the Roman Ransom (sequel)
The Door in the Wall – Marguerite De Angeli
Faith Like Potatoes – Angus Buchan
A Gathering of Days – Joan W. Blos
God's Adventurer: Hudson Taylor – Phyllis Thompson
The Great Gilly Hopkins – Katherine Paterson
The Heart Reader – Terri Blackstock
Hind’s Feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard 
Holes – Louis Sachar
Homesick – Jean Fritz
Homer Price – Robert McCloskey
Horses and Healing – Kim Meeder
                        Hope Rising
                        Bridge of Hope
Horse Stories – Marguerite Henry
                        Justin Morgan Had a Horse
                        King of the Wind
                        Misty of Chincoteague
                        White Stallion of Lipizza
Humbug Mountain – Sid Fleischman
The Incredible Journey – Sheila Burnford
Just David – Eleanor H. Porter
Leonardo Da Vinci – Emily Hahn
The Little Duke – Charlotte Mary Yonge
Little Lord Fauntleroy – Frances H. Burnett
A Long Way from Chicago Series – Richard Peck
                        A Long Way from Chicago
                        A Season of Gifts
                        A Year Down Yonder
Madeleine Takes Command – Ethel C. Brill
Men of Faith Series – Various Authors
                        John Newton: The British Slave Trader
                        George Muller: Man of Faith and Miracles
                        Samuel Morris: The African Boy God Sent
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Old Yeller – Fred Gipson
Otto of the Silver Hand – Howard Pyle
Peter Pan – James M. Barrie
Pollyanna – Eleanor H. Porter
Pooh Books (Original not Disney) – A. A. Milne
                        Winnie the Pooh
                        The House at Pooh Corner
Red Sails to Capri – Melissa Weil
Shades of Gray – Carolyn Reeder
Shiloh Quartet – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
                        Shiloh
                        Shiloh Season
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Snow Treasure – Marie McSwigan
Stink Alley – Jamie Gilson
Tales of Robin Hood – Tony Allan
Toliver's Secret – Esther Wood Brady
The Twenty–One Balloons – William Pene du Bois
Up From Slavery – Booker T. Washington
The Wright Brothers – Quentin Reynolds

16 Point Books

Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
Amos Fortune Free Man – Elizabeth Yates
Anne of Green Gables Series – L. M. Montgomery
                        Anne of Green Gables
                        Anne of the Island
                        Anne of Avonlea
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Archimedes and the Door of Science – Jeanne Bendick
Bound for Oregon – Jean Van Leeuwen
Bud and Me – Alta Abernathy
By the Great Horn Spoon – Sid Fleischman
Catherine Called Birdie – Karen Cushman
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Christian Heroes, Then and Now Series – Janet and Goeff Benge
                        Gladys Altwood: The Adventure of a Lifetime
                        David Livingston: Africa’s Trailblazer
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Follow My Leader – James B. Garfield
Freedom Train (Harriet Tubman) – Dorothy Sterling
The Good Master – Kate Seredy
                        The Singing Tree (sequel)
Gone Away Lake – Elizabeth Enright
Heidi – Johanna Spyri
Henry Reed Series – Keith Robertson
                        Henry Reed, Inc.
                        Henry Reed’s Journey
                        Henry Reed’s Babysitting Service
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
The House of Sixty Fathers – Meindert Dejong
In Search of Honor – Donna Lynn Hess
The Journeyman – Elizabeth Yates
Kildee House – Rutherford George Montgomery
Life Experiences Books – Patricia St. John
                        Star of Light
                        The Tanglewood’s Secret
                        The Secret at Pheasant Cottage
                        Rainbow Garden
                        Treasures of the Snow
                        Where the River Begins
                        Three Go Searching
Little House Series – Laura Ingalls Wilder
                        Little House in the Big Woods
                        Little House on the Prairie
                        Farmer Boy
                        On the Banks of Plum Creek
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Love Comes Softly Series – Janette Oke
                        Love Comes Softly
                        Love’s Enduring Promise
                        Love’s Long Journey
                        Love’s Abiding Joy
                        Other books in this series are fine.
The Magna Charta – James Daugherty
Miracles on Maple Hill – Virginia Sorenson
Mother Carey’s Chickens – Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Mouse and the Motorcycle – Beverly Clearly
                        Runaway Ralph (sequel)
Number the Stars – Lois Lowry
Penderwick Series – Jean Birdsall
                        The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale
                        The Penderwicks at Gardam Street
                        Other books in this series are fine.
The Pink Motel – Carol Ryrie Brink
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Kate Wiggin
Science – John Hudson Tiner
                        Exploring Planet Earth
                        Exploring the History of Medicine
                        Exploring the World of Biology
                        Exploring the World of Chemistry
Science Fiction – Jules Verne
                        Around the World in Eighty Days
                        Master of the World
                        20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
                        A Journey to the Center of the Earth
                        The Mysterious Island
Sign of the Beaver – Elizabeth G. Speare
The Spirit Flyer Series – John Bibee
                        The Magic Bicycle
                        The Toy Campaign
                        The Only Game in Town
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Theras and His Town – Caroline Dale Snedeker
The Trumpeter of Krakow – Eric P. Kelley
The Younguns Series – Thomas L. Tedrow
                        The Younguns of Mansfield
                        Frankie and the Secret
                        The Circus Escape
                        The Legend of the Missouri Mud Monster
Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Warrior of the Son – Samuel Schiller

18 Point Books

Air Raid, Pearl Harbor – Theodore Taylor
Black Horses for the King – Anne McCaffrey
Blackthorn Winter – Douglas Wilson
                        Susan Creek (sequel)
The Borrowers – Mary Norton
The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth G. Speare
Bruscho – Bruce Olsen
Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Ryrie Brink
                        Magical Melons (sequel)
Calico Bush – Rachel Field
The Cay – Theodore Taylor
The Chestery Oak – Kate Seredy
Chronicles of Narnia Series – C. S. Lewis
                        The Magicians Nephew
                        The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
                        The Silver Chair
                        The Horse and His Boy
                        Prince Caspian
                        The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Cross and the Switchblade – David Wilkerson
Daughters of the Faith Series – Wendy Lawton
                        The Tinker’s Daughter: Mary Bunyan
                        The Captive Princess: Pocahontas
                        Ransom’s Mark: Pioneer Olive Oatman
                        Courage to Run: Harriet Tubman
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Elsie Dinsmore Series – Martha Finley
                        Elsie Dinsmore
                        Elsie’s Holiday at Roselands
                        Elsie’s Girlhood
                        Elsie’s Womanhood
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Five Little Peppers Series – Margaret Sidney
                        Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
                        Five Little Peppers Abroad
                        Five Little Peppers Midway
                        Other books in this series are fine.
God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah – Joanne Williamson
The Great and Terrible Quest –  Margaret Lovett
Greek Mythology – Rosemary Sutcliff
                        Black Ships Before Troy: Iliad
                        The Wanderings of Odysseus: Odyssey
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt Day – Scott O’Dell
Hittite Warrior – Joanne Williamson 
I Am David –  Anne Holm
Indian Captive –  Lois Lenski
Kingdom’s Dawn Series – Chuck Black
                        Kingdom’s Dawn
                        Kingdom’s Hope
                        Kingdom’s Edge
                        Kingdom’s Call
                        Other books in this series are fine.
Little Pilgrim’s Progress: From John Bunyan’s Classic – Helen L. Taylor
A Little Princess –  Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mad Scientists’ Club Series – Bertrand R. Brinley
                        The Mad Scientists’ Club
                        The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists’ Club
                        The Big Kerplop
                        The Big Chunk of Ice
                        The Big Egg
                        Other books in this series are fine.
My Side of the Mountain – Jean C. George
Nature Study Series – Holling Clancy Holling
                        Minn of the Mississippi
                        Paddle-to-the-Sea
                        Pagoo
                        Tree in the Trail
                        Seabird
Orphan Train Adventures – Joan Lowery Nixon
                        A Family Apart
                        Caught in the Act
                        In the face of Danger
                        A Place to Belong
                        A Dangerous Promise
                        Keeping Secrets
                        Circle of Love
The Phantom Toll Booth – Norton Juster
Rani Adventure Series – Ron Snell
                        It's a Jungle Out There!
                        Life is a Jungle
                        Jungle Calls
Rascal – Sterling North
Rachel’s Tears: The Spiritual Journey – Beth Ninmo, Darrell Scott
Sarah Bishop – Scott O’Dell
Shadows on the Sea – Joan Hiatt Harlow
Shepherd of the Hills – Harold Bell Wright
The Silver Pencil – Alice Dagliesh
They Loved to Laugh – Kathryn Worth
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Where the Red Fern Grows –  Wilson Rawls
Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Graham

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