Seasonal Book List

Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer Book Lists for Kids

I started reading to my boys when they were only a few months old. We read all sorts of books with rich, descriptive language, complex plots and beautiful imagery. By the age of five, both of them were reading fluently with zero formal teaching and both are avid readers!

Under 5y:

Read these books over and over again seasonally, but put them away at the end of each season and do NOT bring them back out until the next season. Children connect to stories and imagery differently when the time the work is presented is chosen carefully. These books are an example of Autumn stories.

• Woody, Hazel and Little Pip

• Stone Soup

• Johnny Appleseed

• Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow

• Apple Cake

• Heckedy Peg

• Children of the Forest by Subil Von Olfers

• Tales of the Mushroom Folk

• Hedgie's Surprise by Jan brett

• Autumn by Gurda Muller

• Christopher's Garden, by Elsa Beskow

• Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

• Henny Penny by Paul Galdone

For older children, please try to avoid immediately going to the "fluff" by Scholastic or other mainstream publications. Exposing your children to great work early is crucial to having lifelong readers. Think of it as letting a child eat junk food for their early years and then offering steak and salad. They probably wont have a taste for substance, right? Reading is the same! No graphic novels, comic books, or books inspired by TV or movies. Books that inspire movies are a whole other thing entirely.

SCHOOL AGED KIDS

• Harry Potter series

• Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• The Borrowers by Mary Norton

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare

• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Dracula by Bram Stoker

• Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls

• Sign of the Beaver

• Witches by Roald Dahl

• Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft by Madame Pamita

• The House Witch by Delemhach

• Bridge to Tarabithia

• The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes

• Ogress and the Orphan, by Kelly Barnhill

Winter books can include classic favorites like "Twas the Night Before Christmas", or vary as your children get older to include things like Nordic tales or Russian fairy tales. Personally, I don't organize winter books by age group because to me, winter means Christmas and Christmas stories are for all ages!

Winter/Christmas Books for Kids

• Ollie's Ski Trip

• Jan Brett books- The Mitten, The Hat, The Snowy Nap

• The Gnome's Winter Journey

• Cozy by Jan Brett

• The Tomten, Astrid Lindgren

• Polar Express

• A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens

• The Little Match Girl, Hans Christian Anderson

• The Snow Queen

• A World Full of Winter Stories: 50 Folk Tales & Legends from Around the World

• The Trouble with Trolls, by Jan Brett

• The Nutcracker

• Oliver Twist

• Winter: A Collection of Poems

• Owl Moon

Spring books should be read outdoors in the garden listening to the birds sing and observing the pollinators leaping from petal to petal! Grab a blanket, pack a basketfull of food and head out to enjoy a story, or two, lying under the trees with their fresh new leaves and blooms!

• Flowers Festival, Elsa Beskow

• Story of the Root Children

• The Puddle Pail, Elsa Kleven

• Town Mouse, Country Mouse

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar

• Namaste, by Cohn

• Sunbread by Elsa Kleven

• Children of the Forest

• Thumbelina, Hans Christian Anderson

• Pelle's New Suit

• The Secret Garden

• Little House on the Prairie

• Winnie-the-Pooh

• Beatrix Potter stories

• Charlottes Web

• Trumpet & the Swan

• Stuart Little

Summer is often a time of transition. Each summer, take a look at your child and ask yourself what they're going through. What might they be grappling with? Summer is a great time for reading fiction novels and classics that inspire adventure!

• Huckleberry Finn

• Tom Sawyer

• Little Woman

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

• Peter Pan

• The Wizard of Oz

• Pippi Longstocking

• Treasure Island

• The Swiss Family Robinson

• Heart of a Samurai

• Anne of Green Gables

• Black Beauty

• Aesop's Fables

  
  

I'm a huge advocate for "place based learning" as well. Read books together than connect you, and your child, with their surroundings. if you live in the southern hemisphere and winter is warm and dry for you, then this book list may need to be flip flopped or rearranged. If you're living in what once was home to Native Americans, then look for Native legends like the Legend of the Blueboonet or Buffalo Jump. If you're in the Carolinas of America, search for living books about the American Revolution, Civil War battles and stories of pioneers and early settlers. When we lived in California we read stories about the Pony Express, the Gold Rush, and the earthquake of San Francisco. Children in South America may be more interested in stories by the Shipibo tribes or featuring animals and birds from the rainforest.

Happy reading!!