Read-Alouds for Younger Children

Updated 3/24/2020.

This list is courtesy of Powell's Books in Portland, OR.

But I have it here with convenient Amazon links. I like using Amazon because I'm a Prime member and get free shipping on many things. I have marked the ones I have read with @ and the ones I have read AND like with *. If any of these books are favorites, I marked those with #.
 

The Mouse and The Motorcycle
by Beverly Cleary
In this imaginative adventure from Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary, a young mouse named Ralph is thrown into a world of excitement when a boy and his shiny toy motorcycle check into the Mountain View Inn.

Kenny & The Dragon
by Tony DiTerlizzi
Kenny is a little rabbit with a very big problem. His two best friends are heading into a battle of legendary proportions—with each other! In one corner there’s Graeme, a well-read and cultured dragon with sophisticated tastes. In the other there’s George, a retired knight and dragon slayer who would be content to spend the rest of his days in his bookshop. Neither really wants to fight, but the village townsfolk are set on removing Graeme from their midst and calling George out of retirement. Can Kenny avert disaster?

Moomins Series
by Tove Jansson
The are a family of trolls who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses.

Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The book that started it all! Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series, which was based on her life growing up as an American pioneer.

Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace
There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy becoms such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy.

The Borrowers
by Mary Norton
The Borrowers—the Clock family: Homily, Pod, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Arrietty, to be precise—are tiny people who live underneath the kitchen floor of an old English country manor. All their minuscule home furnishings, from postage stamp paintings to champagne cork chairs, are “borrowed” from the “human beans” who tromp around loudly above them. All is well until Pod is spotted upstairs by a human boy! Can the Clocks stay nested safely in their beloved hidden home, or will they be forced to flee?

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
by Betty McDonald
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house ans smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.

Winnie-the-Pooh
by A.A. Milne
For nearly seventy years, readers have been delighted by the adventures of Christopher Robin and his lovable friends.

*My Father's Dragon
by Ruth Stiles Gannett
My Father's Dragon is a children's novel by Ruth Stiles Gannett about a young boy, Elmer Elevator, who runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon.

*Pippi Longstocking
by Astrid Lindgren
Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a flair for the outrageous that seems to lead to one adventure after another!

Mary Poppins
by P.L. Travers
From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed. It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!

Wind in the Willows
by  Kenneth Grahame
For more than a century, The Wind in the Willows and its endearing protagonists--Mole, Mr. Toad, Badger, and Ratty--have enchanted children of all ages. Whether the four friends are setting forth on an exciting adventure, engaging in a comic caper, or simply relaxing by the River Thames, their stories are among the most charming in all English literature.

*Catwings
by Ursula K. LeGuin
Mrs. Jane Tabby can't explain why her four precious kittens were born with wings, but she's grateful that they are able to use their flying skills to soar away from the dangerous city slums where they were born. However, once the kittens escape the big city, they learn that country life can be just as difficult!