The Books my Kids Re-Read

If you're like me, you're always on the hunt for fantastic books for your kids. Stories that are well written, engaging, and hold to the morals we want to instill in our young readers. My husband and I have been reading aloud to our children for 13 years (since the birth of our oldest), and we've covered a lot of ground in the literature world. I have a list of my favorite stories, and each of my children have lists of their own. But the list I'm giving you today is very specific.

I read aloud to my children daily, so we get through multiple books each month. Most of the time we finish a book and immediately move onto another, but occasionally I finish a story and, before I can even close the book after the final chapter, one or more of my children asks to read the book on their own. I'm never one to say no, so I hand over the book and watch my child inhale the story we literally JUST finished reading.

Some stories are just that good! Today, I am sharing those books. Only the ones that one of my five children immediately re-read. And this list will be updated as they continue this practice!

Let's dive in!

1. On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson

Two of my kids immediately battled over who would get to read this first, and my 10-year-old asked for his own copy of the book for his birthday. Yes, he got it.

2. The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo

3. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

I was honestly thrilled when Katie asked for the book. She started re-reading it less than a minute after I finished the last chapter and my kids have been talking about the story (and acting out their favorite scenes) for nearly a year now!

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by CS Lewis

I finished reading this book to my kids and three of them scrambled over each other to get to it!

5. Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery

I pulled this book from the shelf only to hear groans from my boys. My 10-year-old son hunched over and whined, "I just don't enjoy stories like this! There're no battles in it!" I told him to give it a few chapters before making up his mind about it. (We also had a discussion on being more respectful to the mama taking time to read aloud to her children, but that's another story...) By chapter three, he smiled shyly and said, "Ok, I've been proven wrong. I like the story, and I just remembered that I also loved Little Women and The Secret Garden, so I'm sorry I whined about it."

That's my boy =)

6. Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott

7. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo

We have three copies of this book in our home. I finished reading it, and my older two kids went out and got their own copies so they wouldn't have to take turns with mine. Three copies of the same book may seem like overkill to some. Those people must not have read this book!

8. Pearl Thief (by...TJ Marshall.) #shamelessplug

I wrote this specifically for my daughter, Katie, so I wasn't surprised when she was the one to beg for it first. My older two children have been (impatiently) waiting for her to finish so they can read it themselves as well.

9. The Warden and The Wolf King, by Andrew Peterson

My 10-year-old absolutely LOVED this series, but he had some serious mixed feelings about the ending. In three days, he went from shock, to anger, to complete love for the author, and started the whole series over again.

10. The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall

Rachel has read this series at least three times.

11. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by CS Lewis

12. The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown

13. Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan

Patricia MacLachlan. Enough said. <3

14. The Poet's Dog, by Patricia MacLachlan

This is another one that was requested as a gift by one of my kids. At one point, we had one of our own, and two additional copies from the library in the house.

15. Eve of the Moon, (again, by Yours Truly!)

16. The Trumpet of the Swan

My husband read this one aloud to our middle two children. When he finished, my 6-year-old asked my 8-year-old to read it to him again.

17. Mr. Popper's Penguins

I did not like this book, but this list is not about me, and my boys loved it. Jeremiah read it three times, back-to-back-to-back.

I'm updating this list as I remember other stories they practically grabbed from my hands, so check back later if this interests you. I'd love to know if your children do this as well, and what books they loved enough to read more than once!