Our Favorite Non-Fantasy Books

A while back, I wrote a Top Ten post of our favorite fantasy book series.  It was supposed to be a list of our favorite kids' books, but then I realized that most of them were series, and the vast majority were fantasy.  So I promised to do another post about our favorite non-fantasy stand-alone chapter books.  Here it is: our favorite (mostly) stand-alone chapter books:

The American Girls Series
Look at that - the first one is a series.  Oops.  And it's not just a series, but a series of series.  What can we say?  My girls loved them all.  (The "Julie" books came out just after they had decided they had outgrown them, so when I say "all", I mean all the ones that came out before that time.)  Swimmah's favorites were Kirsten and Felicity, and Turtlegirl's were Kaya and Molly.  These are great for introducing American history.

The Little House Books
Oh, wait, that's another series...  I read Little House on the Prairie many, many years ago, when the TV show first started.  I liked it, but not enough to read the other books in the series.  So a few years ago, we started with Little House in the Big Woods and continued through the series.  I think my favorite was The Long Winter.  These are also great for sparking an interest in American history.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Winner of the 1956 Newberry Medal.  Based on the life of Nathaniel Bowditch, this book retells his life story, from his start as an indentured servant to his self-education and his eventual writing of The American Practical Navigator (also known as the Sailor's Bible, still in use today). This was suggested for a book group discussion by one of the families in the group.  The kids voted on which books to read each month, and this one only got one vote each month, until the end of the year, when there wasn't much left to choose from.  The kids reluctantly agreed to read it.  It ended up being the favorite book read that year!

Call of the Wild by Jack London
Another book group book.  I thought this book was a little advanced for the kids in the group at the time, but they seemed to love it.  I know Turtlegirl did.  She was only about 10 at the time and I was concerned that it was too violent for her, but it didn't seem to bother her.  Should I be concerned about that?!

Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum
Another book group book.  This is about a Dutch family during the Nazi occupation of Holland.  They hide a downed air pilot as well as others.  Exciting and suspenseful, not to mention a great discussion starter.

The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr
Yet another book group selection.  This takes place in the US in 1860.  A young man decides to herd a huge flock of turkeys from eastern Missouri to Denver, where he can get a good price for them.  Rather more lighthearted than the previous two listed.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Winner of the 1959 Newberry Medal.  We actually read this twice, once to go along with our history study, and again with the above mentioned book group.  In the year 1687, Kit Tyler arrives in Connecticut Colony from her home in Barbados to live with her uncle and his family.  It's quite the culture shock.  When I was a little girl, we had a copy of this book in our house, but I never read it because there was the word "witch" in the title and the picture on the cover looked spooky.  I was such a chicken!  When I read this as an adult to my children, I wanted to go back in time to tell my nine-year-old self that there is nothing spooky about it and to just read it!

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
This is another we read with the book group.  We also watched one of the movie versions (think it was Disney) and also got to see the play at Hartford Stage.  We all really enjoyed this as a book and as the play. The movie was less memorable.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Turtlegirl picked this up at the library to read as a follow-up to Tom Sawyer, but found it too difficult on her own.  I was actually happy to read it aloud to both her and Swimmah so we could discuss it as we read.  I know a lot of people have issues with a particular word in this book, but I explained the historical context (as well as the contemporary context).  I guess they're pretty sheltered - I don't think they have ever heard that word used except in a historical context.  It was a bit awkward for me reading it aloud - I did consider looking for an audio version so I wouldn't have to deal with it, but in the end I just read it myself.  Despite that issue, it really is a great book and well worth the read.  There's a reason it's considered one of the great American works of literature.

Hmmm, looking over this list, I see that most of the non-fantasy books my kids have read were required reading.  Oh well!

What are some of your favorite books?