Preschoolers:
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise
This story, illustrated beautifully by Clement Hurd, tells the story of a little bunny who decides he wants to run away. His mother says she’ll follow him wherever he goes, but he tries it anyway! She follows and he learns that he can’t ever hide from his mother’s love- its unending!. A sweet story for any young child.
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
I love this book! I bought it the minute I found out I was pregnant and have read it to my boys almost every night. The illustrations are magnificent and endearing and the story still makes me melt. This wonderful story of the immeasurable love between a parent and child is touching, to say the least. Every bunny needs this one!
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: 40th Anniversary Edition by Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle
This colorful, imaginative book is perfect for all toddlers! Eric Carle’s unique illustrations help to teach colors and animals in a fun new way! Simple and sweet, it’s a great book for any collection.
Corduroy (Picture Puffins) by Don Freeman
This bright covered book is a classic in so many homes! Corduroy’s longing for a home turns into a great adventure that teaches that not only is love great to recieve, it’s great to give, too!

4-8 Year Olds:
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
This one is sure to make your kids (and yourself) laugh like crazy! Scieszka’s twists on familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales give each a fresh feeling. Each story is cleverly arranged and the illustrations alone will make you laugh!
Stellaluna – Oversize edition by Janell Cannon
This book, besides giving bats a chance at stardom also teaches that its okay to be different! A little bit scary for really young kids, but fits well in this age bracket.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
What a cute story! This little mouse and his obliging human friend are sure to bring a smile to your face and a giggle or two from your kiddo. The only problem: if you give a kid this book, he’s gonna want a cookie.
The Art Lesson (Paperstar Book) by Tommy De Paola
This book tells the story of a little boy who loves to draw, it’s his favorite thing to do! This is a great story for kids who are learning about their interests and skills and shows that you can really grow up to do the things you love!

Pre-teen:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
I remember reading this book in middle school and loving it. It’s a deep (but understandable) book that tells about conformity and rebellion, and the difference between real happiness and blissful ignorance. It is an emotional story that reminds us that happiness comes at a price, if we are willing to pay. Everybody needs to read this. You won’t be disappointed.
The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition by J.R.R. Tolkien
The prequel to the famous Lord of the Rings series, the Hobbit tells the story of Bilbo Baggins and his accidental adventure. He leaves his sheltered home (which hobbits just don’t do) to find fortune in a mountain protected by a savage and cunning dragon. Tolkien’s imagination and detail are beyond comparison. A must read for all ages.
The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1) by Gertrude Chandler
This series is a great one for any mystery lovers. The Boxcar children are a family of orphaned children that learn to survive on their own and find ways to be content no matter the situation. They are creative, sweet and well-mannered. They are searching for a place to call home and find adventure and excitement along the way.

If you haven’t checked out these books, stop what you’re doing and go get them! They are all classics that your family will love and remember for years! Swing back by each Tuesday for a new list of great books for your whole family. Don’t see one of your favorites? Leave us a comment below and we’ll add it to the list!

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The funny thing about it is that all this time I’ve been watching their family grow (literally), I have spent very little time thinking about their day to day lives. Sure, I’ve wondered how in the world Kate manages to buy groceries and budget as efficiently as she does. I’ve been flabbergasted by their huge birthday parties and laughed out loud at their trips to the beach and Disney World, but I haven’t spent one moment thinking about what happens when the cameras are off.

When my mother-in-law handed told me that she had purchased Jon and Kate’s new book and promised to let me read it after she was through, I was thrilled at the chance to have some new reading material. I was anxious to see what hilarious stories they had to tell and to hear ‘behind the scenes secrets’.  The book didn’t disappoint, it was full of sweet stories and funny moments, but there was something deeper there.

It became very clear to me after reading a few chapters that this was more than just a chance to sell their story. I’ll admit that it was easy for me to imagine that a family that has their own television show can’t be wanting for anything. I think that like all other television personalities, I had put them up on some sort of pedestal and didn’t really think of them as really real people. When I read the book, it snapped me back to reality. What we see on the television is real, in a sense, but to read their own words when they describe their emotional journey puts everything into a very different light.

For the first time since I had ‘met’ the Gosselin family, I could begin to understand that they really are extraordinary people who have lived through extraordinary circumstances. The book carefully and without apology explained everything from John and Kate’s marriage and the birth of the twins through the first year of the sextuplets’ lives. At times, it was excruciating to continue reading, it was just tooreal. It was heartbreaking to read about their struggles with infertility- and their shocked disbelief at becoming pregnant with sextuplets. It was hard to read about their worries for the health of the babies and for Kate, and to read about doctors begging them to use selective reduction to decrease the number of babies to a safer, easier number. I openly wept at the loss of parents and friends and cheered when they perservered through it all. 

This book is unlike any I have ever read. It was amazing to be granted a more intimate feel for this larger than life family, but that’s not what struck me as the most different. This book wasn’t written for glory, or to further the fame of the Gosselins (althought that will inevitibly be the outcome). Instead, it was written as a very gracious thank you to the people that helped them get where they are. That very different attitude is what makes me a fan and I would strongly suggest this book for any parent, whether you have multiples or not.

I will never be able to even watch Jon and Kate Plus 8 again without thinking of what I read and will always view them in a different, less skeptical light. As cliche as this will sound, Multiple Blessings proved to be a blessing for me, reminding me to never take the most important things in life for granted- my faith and family. (And to stop whining about an extra load of laundry here and there.)

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I grew up in a home where reading was of the highest importance. We spent very little time watching the television and my love of reading grew deep from a very young age. My parents would read to us every night, everything from Good Night Moon to The Hobbit and our imaginations would soar.

Shel Silverstein’s imagination is a gift to all his readers. His works are refreshingly original and thoughtfully penned. He is a master of children’s literature, to say the least. All of his collections are worth reading but if you can only own one, choose The Giving Tree.  There is no other book like it, the story of a boy and his tree.  When the boy is young, he is content to eat it’s apples and swing from it’s branches. As he grows older, he asks more and more of the tree, and the tree willingly sacrifices every bit of itself to make the boy happy. Parallelling the love between a parent and child, The Giving Tree beautifully tells of true, selfless and undying love and the power of self-sacrifice.

Shel Silverstein’s classic book is touching to the very last page and will undoubtedly become a favorite in your home as it has in mine.

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Initially disgusted with the quiet life in the country, Mrs. Lamont finds that with the change of scenery comes a change of heart.  In an attempt to please her doting husband, she adjusts to accommodate an onslaught of ridiculous and often hilarious events. The journey carries her through new friends (and enemies), uninvited pets, faulty appliances and otherwise daily disasters while landing her safely in an unexpectedly cherished place- home.

Mercier’s story of love and life is charming and endearing and at only 192 pages, perfect for a bit of light reading!

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As my boys grew up a bit, my cake turned to mud pie. (And not the good kind you get in Memphis.) My precious boys were growing up to be pushy, defiant and down right naughty! By the time my oldest son told me that he ‘didn’t like me right now’, I knew I needed help. This boy stuff was harder than I thought.

The truth is that what you don’t know can hurt you, and your kids.  Assuming that you know everything you need to be able to raise not only healthy, but good boys is almost always a mistake. While Dr. Dobson takes a Christian approach to raising boys, his analysis of the young man’s mind, heart and soul is applicable to anyone wanting to raise children who are respectable and respected.

Dr. Dobson’s book, Bringing Up Boys, is a wealth of knowledge concerning why boys do what they do.  Through scriptural advice and his own studies on the relationships between boys and their parents, Dr. Dobson is able to teach parents how to proactively deal with problems that can arise when taking on the rougher sex. He explains the major differences (besides the obvious) between sons and daughters and the different sets of emotional hurdles each will inevitably put their parents through.

Bringing Up Boys is an invaluable addition to any family collection and will be treasured as an irreplaceable tool for those who wish to have a better relationship and understanding of their sons.

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Everyone knows life as a parent is hectic, but no one tells it like Erma.  Although this week’s book isn’t a new one, (published in 1988) Bombeck’s words still bring laughs to parents young and old. Throughout her hugely successful career as a journalist and author, Bombeck turned out over a dozen books and thousands of articles, each jam packed with wit and humor while still preserving the truth of real life.

Of her books, Family: The Ties That Bind- And Gag! is my favorite. I’ll admit that the first time I picked it up, I wasn’t interested. I was a teenager then, rifling through my grandmother’s bookshelf when I came across the bright red cover. I flipped through a few pages and instantly knew I couldn’t read it. It was full of ‘Mom Talk’. I dismissed it quickly and decided to raid Grandma’s cookie jar instead.

Years later, when I was married and had children of my own, my mother sent me a stack of books she had found in my grandmother’s things. Among them was Bombeck’s classic. I knew my grandmother only kept books she loved and was missing her desperately, so I decided to give it another shot. During my night time ritual of a book and bubble bath, I cracked it open and quickly discovered Erma Bombeck’s genius.

Throughout 288 pages of wit-induced laughter, I found myself feeling as though this story could have been cut straight from my life! Not only could I relate to the daughter returning home (reluctantly, of course) for the annual family Christmas photo, but now I understood the exasperation of a mother trying to keep everything together!

With a laugh or more to a page, this book was fulfilling in every way. It tells the all too familiar tales of a family that is hopelessly tangled together, yet lost without each other. The struggles of each family member are chronicled in a way that brings a fresh perspective to the drudge of real life and meaning to every moment, no matter how ‘normal’. In short, it’s funny ’cause it’s true.

So leave the dishes where they are and unwind with Erma.  You won’t regret it for a minute.

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