A friend recently asked for book recommendations for her children.  They’re beyond the need for board books and those super-simple picture books, but they don’t yet have the attention span for lots of chapter books.  I’m guessing she’s not the only one who’s wondering about this “in between” stage, so I thought I’d share here, too.

Obviously, there are lots of other great books out there!  My recommendations are not the only ones.  But hopefully you’ll glean some good ideas here of books you hadn’t seen before, and/or some tips for places to look/things to look for.

R.C. Sproul’s Children’s Books

I love R.C. Sproul’s children’s books: The Lightlings, The Prince’s Poison Cup, etc.  (Those links will take you to the posts where I reviewed those titles before.)  These are picture books, but they’re the longer variety of picture books, not the variety with just a sentence or two per page.  And these are great Christian allegories.

Other Wonderful, Lengthy Christian Picture Books

There are other Christian picture books with nice, long stories, as well.  Max Lucado’s children’s books are pretty good.  (The Hermie ones are short.  Most, if not all, of the others, are the longer storybooks.)  There’s also The Princess and the Kiss and The Squire and the Scroll.

Your Own Childhood Favorites

When I was a little girl, Where the Wild Things Are was my favorite book.  (I even have a Max doll.  My parents can recite the whole book from memory!)  Even if the reading level is a little “off” from where your children are right now, they may appreciate the connection forged by hearing “Mama’s favorite story when I was your age.”  There’s a good chance, though, that the reading level is just right, and the familiarity of the favorite can just help you identify it.

The True Story of Noah’s Ark

This is a spectacular picture book!  The reading level is almost irrelevant, because the pictures are just so stunning.

Do you know of any other books like this, where the illustrations alone are worth reading the book for?

Super-Awesome Alphabet Books

I wrote a post a while back about alphabet books.  These aren’t just any alphabet books, though.  They all have superb artwork and/or some unique twist.  They pique my interest, as an adult!

Poetry

If you want something a little different, how ’bout introducing the kids to poetry?  The Poetry for Young People series is great, because it’s accessible.  It takes works from the great poets and pulls out either those poems that are particularly appealing/accessible to children or excerpts from longer works to make them less overwhelming.  We have a whole collection of these.

Famous Authors & Five in a Row

Robert McCloskey’s books are popular children’s classics, and they’re nice long picture book stories.  (Lentil and Homer Price are chapter books, so they’re a bit “older” than the others.)  Blueberries for Sal is a particular favorite of ours — and reminded me of Five in a Row.  In case you aren’t familiar with Five in a Row, it’s a literature-based unit study program for young children.  Even if you don’t use the unit studies, their book lists are a great source of ideas!

Do you have favorites for this age group?  Please share them in the comments!