Here we are – half way through book week.
Have you enjoyed all of the great book suggestions? I have a handful to check out that were recommended in the comments. If you have any other favorites, please be sure to leave a comment and let us know!
So let’s talk about favorite books for girls.
As I’ve mentioned before, children’s books have always charmed me and I accumulated quite a collection of sweet stories and illustrations before I had any children. It’s fun to now watch our littlest enjoy those girly books {truth be told, her brothers love them, too}.
Here are a few of my favorite choices for girls:
Once again, it was so hard to narrow down my favorites. There are so many beautifully illustrated books with charming stories to choose from!
If you have any go-to girl books, do share.
The Paper Bag Princess is wonderful for little girls! Got a copy as soon as our daughter was born.
This is a great resource list.
As I was reading this particular post, it made me think of a book I read to both my son and my daughter. It’s by Mem Fox. The title is ‘Harriet, you’ll drive me wild.’ It is a wonderful, simple book, perfect for a small child with limited attention. It’s still a favorite of ours all these years later. I do hope you look into it.
Laurie~
$7.00 on Amazon.
I was constantly reading as a child so this one is easy. :) Two that I have not seen mentioned are Midnight in the Dollhouse (a mystery story about a nine yr old girl and her trials, http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Dollhouse-Apple-Marjorie-Stover/dp/0590449249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358536901&sr=1-1&keywords=midnight+in+the+dollhouse )
And the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books! My son is an avid reader and has read and enjoyed these too.
i love love LOVE “just being audrey” by margaret cardillo and illustrated by julia denos. its such a sweet little history of audrey hepburn and the illustrations are just gorgeous. i babysit a little girl (she is 5) before and afterschool and she asks to read this everyday. i highly recommend it.
http://www.amazon.com/Just-Being-Audrey-Margaret-Cardillo/dp/
My all time favorite books (for bigger girls) are A Little Princess and The Secret Garden both by Frances Hodgson Burnett
For the younger girls, I’d recommend ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’, ‘Miss Rumphius’, and ‘A Bargain for Frances’.
For the middle girls, I’d recommend the ‘Mandie’ series, the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ series, and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’.
For the older girls, I’d recommend the ‘Anne of Green Gables’ series, ‘Little Women’, and ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
I LOVE books. (And I’m loving this series, too!)
Pinkalicious, Goldilicious, Purplicious, and Silverlicious by Elizabeth and Victoria Kann. Love these. The graphics and pictures are amazing, and the story lines are hilarious.
My daughters loved being read to. The two books that they loved were Laura Charlotte by Kathryn O. Galbraith (http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Charlotte-Kathryn-O-Galbraith/dp/069811437X) and the always favourite Madeline (http://www.amazon.com/Madeline-Ludwig-Bemelmans/dp/014056439X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358392779&sr=1-1&keywords=madeline) These books were go-to faves! But once they got a little older… it is a really good thing I am a library tech. ;-)
The Fancy Nancy books are wonderful! They teach great vocabulary, and did you know the illustrator is a former ballerina?! :) Also, I have wonderful memories of my mom reading aloud to me in the summers– The Anastasia series by Lois Lowry is great for upper elementary age girls.
Ten years ago my daughter and I fell in love with “The Seven Silly Eaters” by Maryann Hoberman. The “seven” silly eaters are the children of Mrs. Peters – each year another child “comes along” with a liking for a particular food. Mrs. Peters goes crazy trying to satisfy all of her picky eaters. Then late one night the children unexpectedly solve the problem much to the delight of their mother.
Another Maryann Hoberman book we like is “Two of Each”. These rhyming stories are so much fun to read aloud! Check them out!
Oh wow! What great titles to be listed in the midst of:) xo We are on a major Angelina blitz these days, also loving Miss Lina’s Ballerinas and my childhood favorite, The Rabbit’s Wedding – beyond precious.
Yours is in a league of it’s own :)
Max Lucado’s “You are Special” is a favourite – though it’s not intended specifically for girls :)
The Anne of Green Gables series (by L.M. Montgomery) is a wonderful read for older girls.
Have you seen God Gave Us You by Lisa Bergren? One of our favorites :)
I’m not sure it’s still available but my favorite book for kids in The Maggie B. Such a sweet story, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy every time I read it. (so happy my mom saved my childhood copy). Thanks for sharing your list.
I must have read thousands of hours to my daughter and we both loved every minute of it! She’s 19 this week and loves to read.
Miss Rumphius. Junie B. Jones is a must. Little House on the Prairie. Little Women (when she’s a bit older). Black Beauty. The Narnia series.
I assume your boys would like most of these as well.
We love Little Bear, Madeline and Little House on the Prairie – classics that take me back to my childhood. My little girl also enjoys Kiki and Coco in Paris and Picnic by Emily Arnold McCully. I had a Favorite Dress, Cinnamon Baby, and the Tooth Mouse are some new books that we are loving. (I love the illustrations of Janice Nadeau!)
I have 3 girls, ages 12, 10 and 6 and we LOVE to read! My girls loved Russell Hoban’s Frances books. Cynthia Rylant’s The Relatives Came and The Old Woman Who Named Things are also two of our favorites. And all of the Kevin Henkes books! I really could go on and on! Thank you for your fun posts. Btw, that sweet girl in the blog is a total “mini” you!! Beautiful!
We love the Fancy Nancy books and Gigi, God’s Little Princess by Sheila Walsh…and Angelina and Olivia. When my oldest daughter was little we loved the Francis series and now we’re introducing it to our youngest daughter.
The Frances books (like Bread and Jam for Frances) are very sweet with good lessons. I’m not looking at one right now but I think they are by Russell Hoban :/ well that might point you in the right direction.
I really like the Angelina Ballerina series…but even as an adult, I used to love watching the cartoons on PBS. Such a fun, sweet, clean cartoon :) :) Oh, and my FAVORITE book as a young girl was the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)
The Betsy-Tacy series, by Maud Hart Lovelace!
My daughter loves animals and these are a couple of her favorites:
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by y Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead – the illustrations are breathtaking! (gender neutral)
Madeline Loves Animals byJohn Bemelmans Marciano
We recently discovered Minerva Louise books by Janet Morgan Stoeke and they are short, sweet and quite hilarious. Minerva Louise the hen is delightful.
She’s not old enough yet but one of my favorites as an elementary teacher was: I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley.
My 10 year old daughter has read No Flying in the House probably 10 times. It’s probably a 2nd-4th grade level book. It has a wonderful contentment message!
Fancy Nancy is a huge favorite in my house! My daughter also loves the Magic Tree House books and the Candy Fairy series by Helen Perelman.
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart – by Libba Moore Gray. A mom and her daughter dance through the seasons.
“Bless the world, it feels like a tip-tapping, song-singing, finger-snapping kind of day!”
I loved all the American Girl books as well as Ramona! Some of my other favorites are the Laura Ingalls Wilder books(picture and chapter), and Martha B. Rabbit: cutest book ever!http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Martha-Rabbit-Shirley-Barber/dp/0681406232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358359875&sr=8-1&keywords=martha+b.+rabbit I don’t have any kids yet, but I hope to share these with them someday if I am so blessed!
We love Angelina around here, and my daughter just got Kiki and Coco for Christmas. Other ballerina themed books we’re found are the Ella Bella series by James Mayhew: http://www.amazon.com/James-Mayhew/e/B001H6W4NC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1358355390&sr=8-1
Love this! I will definitely be checking some of these out! We love the Sheila Walsh series ‘GiGi, God’s little Princess’. My daughter’s name is Giyana and we call her GiGi so it’s perfect!!
http://www.amazon.com/Gigi-Little-Princess-Sheila-Walsh/dp/1400305292/ref=la_B000AQ4PMS_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1358354340&sr=1-9
My daughter’s love I Love You Forever book and will sing me the song in the book. My younger daughter who is a “girly girl” loves the Pinkalicious book series (Purplicious, Goldalicious and Silverlicious). Of course Fancy Nancy and now the author is doing chapter books so she will get to enjoy them for a little longer.
My daughter adores The Narnia series. She’s 4 1/2 and my husband read most of them this summer. While she does love princess things, I find it so hard to find a book with female/girl main characters that does not include some element of romance or a focus on outward appearance. My friends with boys have said they don’t have any books with those themes. While I adore being married, I really think that a young girl does NOT need to focus on romance, finding ones soulmate, choosing a prince, etc. Sorry to get on my soapbox.
For the little one (4 years), anything about a princess or ballerina (Angelina!); for the 8 year old, all the Ramona books and, curiously, Star Wars!
What a fun series this week! We love Dance Me, Daddy (http://ourlearningcollection.blogspot.com/2012/06/dance-me-daddy.html). I’m looking forward to hearing about more new books!
If you have not read The Paper Bag Princess to your daughter you must get it! AMAZINGLY CUTE
Oh My Baby, Little One, what an adorable, heartfelt book.
Ah! I love having little girls to read to. It’s our naptime ritual and I look forward to it as much as they do. I’ve had Kiki and Coco In Paris on my wish list forever! Must. Get. Soon.
We love the Jolly Christmas Postman version too :-)
The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye is a great read aloud. My daughters now 24 and 20 still consider this one of their favorites. My 20 year old used it this summer as the read-aloud for the girls she babysat this summer.
I agree with the Paper Bag Princess, too. Also Angela’s Airplane by the same author–we liked almost everyone of his books.
Another read-aloud favorite was Snow Treasures by Marie Mcswigan–Boys would enjoy this book, too. This is another book both my girls read and re-read after we used it as a family read during a vacation. We read it after dinner at an out door restaurant and the adjoining tables begged us to read “one more chapter.”