A Character-Building Summer Reading List for Boys

 

A Character-Building Summer Reading List for Boys

I realized that I have been dropping the ball with some of my younger children and have not had expectations that they read the literature of the best and highest quality.  This has been reflected in their manners. If we want our boys (and girls) to learn kindness, honesty, and respect for others - where better than in the literature they read (and I lament the fact that many boys aren’t reading at all)?  Hopefully, we would not let our children eat a steady diet of junk food.  But are we as careful with the media that they consume?  Over the years I have put a lot of effort into studying book lists and also learning what great men have read.  Then I try to have these books available for my boys.

I have taught my children to read using the Book of Mormon, and I consider that and the Bible the most important literature I will teach them. I have tried to read the Book of Mormon one time with each child:

Some parents find it helpful to have a reading time requirement during the summer.  You could even create your own reading challenge with incentives for reading high-quality books. It can be a time requirement or an amount. Here are some of the books my boys and I have enjoyed over the years (please feel free to share your own favorites in the comments section).

Also: A booklist that I highly recommend can be found on the Good and the Beautiful website.

Young Reader

A Baby Sister for Frances by Russell Hoban

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

Alejandro’s Gift by Richard E. Albert

Best Friends for Frances by Russell Hoban

Big Moon Tortilla by Joy Cowley

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Gandhi by Demi

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

Katie and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raven

Mother Teresa by Demi

Noah’s Ark by Jerry Pinkney

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall

Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco

So, You Want to Be President by Judith St. George

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco

The Empty Pot by Demi

The Grasshopper and the Ants 

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

The Little Match Girl by Jerry Pinkney

The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney

The Ugly Duckling by Jerry Pinkney

Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey

Tucky Jo and Little Heart by Patricia Polacco

The Children’s Book of Virtues by William Bennett

The Children’s Book of Heroes by William Bennett

ValueTale Series by Spencer Johnson M.D.

The Magic School Bus series

Other books my children this age have really enjoyed include atlases and non-fiction books about topics of interest to them.

Middle Reader

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullmann

Boys of Grit Who Became Men of Honor by Archer Wallace

Centerburg Tales by Robert McCloskey

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Chocolate by Hershey: A Story About Milton S. Hershey by Betty Burford

Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Foo and Ching by Phyllis Ayer Sowers

Gold Mountain by Gwendolen Lampshire Hayden and Pearl Clements Gischter

Henry’s Red Sea by Barbara Smucker

Hitch by Jeanette Ingold

It Began With a Parachute by William R. Rang

Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins

Li Lun: Lad of Courage by Carolyn Treffinger

Little Britches and Man of the Family by Ralph Moody

New Boy in School by May Justus

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

Our Man Weston by Gordon Korman

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Snow Treasure by Mary McSwigan

Sounder by William H. Armstrong

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

The Apple and the Arrow: The Legend of WIlliam Tell by Mary and Conrad Buff

The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, Young Reader’s Edition

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

The Golden Hawks of Genghis Khan by Rita Ritchie

The Journey of Ching Lai by Eleanor Frances Lattimore

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum

Through the Wall by Alida Sims Malkus

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson

I Am  (Scholastic series) 

Leaders in Action (Series)

Nate the Great (Series) by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

The Landmark Books (series of historical fiction books)

The Hardy Boys (series) by Franklin W. Dixon

The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis

I Survived (series)

Tom Swift(series) by Victor Appleton.  The old series is advanced but fun, there is also a new series for younger readers.

ValueTale Series 

Advanced Reader

Aesop’s Fables

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

Duel in the Wilderness by Karin Clafford Farley

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Escape to Freedom Ruth Fosdick Jones

Five Hundred Dollars by Horatio Alger

Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter

Gifted Hands by Dr. Ben Carson

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates Mary Mapes Dodge

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Little Visits with Great Americans 

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Ragged Dick; or Street Life in New York by Horatio Alger

Run to Glory:  The Story of Eric Liddell by Ellen Caughey

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. Ed. by Clayborne Carson

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (there is a good abridged edition by Dover)

The Dragon and the Raven and other books by G.A. Henty

The Grasshopper Trap by Patrick F. McManus (all of his books are hilarious)

The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkein

The Jungle Book

The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R. Tolkein

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

1776 by David McCullough

Article Copyright © 2021 by Elise Ellsworth