Wholesome Book Lists For Kids

Looking for living books, classic children’s books, Christian book series, and chapter book recommendations for your family? These wholesome book lists for kids are comprised of our family favorites, spanning multiple ages and interests.

How to Encourage a Love of Reading

When our oldest son was seven years old, I began to worry he would never want to read. His resistance level was high, and although we read aloud often, he was very uninterested in independent reading. We hit a turning point when we took a long road trip and packed the book series Secrets of the Hidden Scrolls. Perhaps from boredom from the long drive and nothing else to do, he began to read the first book. By the time we arrived at our destination, he could not put the books down! From that point on, he became an avid reader. We just needed to find what he was interested in. If you find yourself in a similar situation, keep reading out loud to your child, and keep trying new books until you find options that pique interest.

A Caution on Public Libraries

Growing up, our family went to the library all the time. We would simply pull books from the shelf and bring them home, and rarely needed to worry about non-wholesome content. This is simply not the world we live in today. On several occasions, my husband or I have come across library books with pornographic or obscene content within reach of and even in the children’s section of our local public libraries. While this may vary by location, I am skeptical that it is not a widespread issue. Our solution has been to look up book reviews from trusted sources and do an online request for pick up from our local library. This way, we limit unwanted exposures while still accessing many wonderful books. We have added many classic, living, and wholesome books to gift lists throughout the years and now have great at-home collections.

Wholesome Toddler and Early Elementary Book Lists

If you have toddlers, you know they have favorite books they like to read on repeat, even when given several new and different options! We have many books in our home, as well as check out library books regularly. However, our younger children-toddlers through about age six, have always requested we read these books out loud to them most often:

• Berenstain Bears Values and Virtues Collection
• Berenstain Bears Storytime Collection
• Big Book of Berenstain Bears Stories
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Very Hungry Bear
• Picture books by month of the year book lists by Sarah Mackenzie

Wholesome Chapter Book Series For Elementary & Middle School

Our children have read each of these book series until they have worn out the covers and pages (see picture above). And we have bought new copies! All our children have loved to hear these read aloud as young children, and read them independently again as they get older:

• Secrets of the Hidden Scrolls Series
• Sugar Creek Gang Series
• Chronicles of Narnia Series
• Little Pilgrim’s Progress
• Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey I, II, and III set
• In Grandma’s Attic Series
• The Wingfeather Saga Series
• The Adventures of Nick and Sam Series
• Little House on the Prairie Series
• The Boxcar Children Series
• Ralph Moody Series (our 9 year old boy enjoys these; however, note rough language in some of the books of this series to be discussed ahead with an independent reader or skipped over if read aloud)

Other Resources for Wholesome, Christian, & Living Books

Check out these websites for additional book list recommendations for your family. I have read through these lists several times for inspiration as our children grow older and have different interests:

• The Read Aloud Revival
• Simply Charlotte Mason
• Ambleside Online
• Redeemed Reader

I hope you find these wholesome book lists for kids helpful. Let me know your family favorites below!

Shop This Post- Wholesome Book Lists For Kids

• Berenstain Bears Values and Virtues Collection
• Berenstain Bears Storytime Collection
• Big Book of Berenstain Bears Stories
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Very Hungry Bear
• Secrets of the Hidden Scrolls Series
• Sugar Creek Gang Series
• Chronicles of Narnia Series
• Little Pilgrim’s Progress
• Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey I, II, and III set
• In Grandma’s Attic Series
• The Wingfeather Saga Series
• The Adventures of Nick and Sam Series
• Little House on the Prairie Series
• The Boxcar Children Series
• Ralph Moody Series
• The Read Aloud Revival
• Simply Charlotte Mason
• Ambleside Online
• Redeemed Reader
• The Read Aloud Revival
• Simply Charlotte Mason
• Ambleside Online
• Redeemed Reader

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Favorite0