Children’s books

We love reading books and it’s a huge part of our learning experience. Good quality books can tell such a great story better than any curriculum can. Here’s some books we love. I try to pick ones that teach good character building, useful skills, and that add value. We tend to avoid magical and mythological stories. If we can, we also avoid holidays as believers in the Bible.

Learning about health and our body
Anatomicum by Jennifer Z Paxton
Best Milk by Kate Carothers RN, IBCLC (There’s 3 versions of families including 1 written in Spanish. We found this version at a thrift store)
Buttercup, Me, and Vitamin C by Theo Farmer
Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi
Humanatomy by Nicola Edwards
Your Body Battles (multiple book series) by Vicki Cobb
Wonderfully Made: God’s Story of Life from Conception to Birth by Danika Cooley

Golden Books & Easy Readers
Animals in the Woods
Baby Listens
Baby Sister
Little Mommy
My Little Golden Book About God
Robber Raccoon by Thomas Lawrence
Wonders of Nature

Adventure
Bear Mouse by Berniece Freschet
Billy and Blaze series by CW Anderson
Henry the Explorer series (There’s 4 total) by Mark Taylor
The Hike by Alison Farrell
Milly Molly Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Tiny Perfect Things by M. H. Clark
Where Happiness Lives (an exception to my talking animals rule lol) by Barry Timms

Homesteading & life on the farm
Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter by Kennard Pak
Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kennard Pak
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kennard Pak
Ox Cart Man (This may be my favorite book) by Donald Hall
Sonya’s Chickens by Phoebe Wahl
Sleep Tight Farm by Eugenie Doyle
The Hundred Year Barn by Patricia MacLachlan 
We are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines

Plants and Animals
Anatomy books by Julia Rothman (she has 4 right now – farm, food, nature, ocean) Wildlife is on preorder
Animalium by Jenny Broom
Birds of the World by Eunice Holsaert
Firefly Encyclopedia of Animals by Dr Phillip Whitfield
Illustrated Library of Nature (15 illustrated encyclopedia books) by H.S. Stuttman Corporation
Nature All Around (4 book series) by Pamela Hickman
Over and Under the Pond ; Rainforest ; Canyon; Waves by Kate Messer
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messer
Richard Orr’s Nature Cross Sections (one of my son’s favorites) DK Publishing and others also have some cool looking cross sections books, but I’ve not read them.
The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall
The Tree Book by Gina Ingoglia
Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt by Kate Messer
Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth by Rachel Ignotofsky (We ignore the planet part)

I don’t have much in the way of tiny baby books, so maybe some other mothers can weigh in the comments. I know we loved board books that talked about animals and had different textures to feel and touch.
Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers
Ten Tiny Babies by Karen Katz
You are My Cupcake by Joyce Wan was my daughter’s favorite
Big Red Barn haven’t read, suggested by a friend
Move Over Rover haven’t read, suggested by a friend
Eric Carle books – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Polar Bear
Let’s Find Momo haven’t read, suggested by a friend
Bedtime Bear haven’t read, suggested by a friend

Bible stories
HalleluYAH Scriptures Creation & 10 commandments + Sermon on the Mount
Action Bible – stories about the bible, comic book style, but not 100% accurate
Tiny Truths Bible – stories for younger children, beautiful illustrations, not 100% accurate
*We prefer to read the ISR Scriptures or HalleluYAH Scriptures translations for reading time, these Bibles are strictly for sharing more of the story to get it into their heart*
The World Jesus Knew and The World of the Old Testament are beautiful

I’ve found others from All Through the Ages booklist.

Character building
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard (I picked the visual journey for the illustrations)
Character Sketches (3 volumes – out of print, look on other websites or used bookstores)

Engaging History
We also really enjoy stories about history that gives more of a first hand account of what people went through. It also helps us gain understanding of other cultures. It could be an event or a more personal story. These type of books we usually check out from the library. Some that we’ve read include:
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal
All the Way to the Top by Annette Bay Pimentel 
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando by Andrea Wang (Despite the name, I don’t remember any magic mentioned, just a story of ramen noodles feeding people through the war)
The Boy Who Grew a Forest by Sophia Gholz

We don’t have a lot of map books but we love this one.
Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska, Daniel Mizielinski  
I do have some prints of older maps and a Biblical founded earth map. For more on Biblical cosmology books and curriculum.

To learn more about what we read for family read alouds and chapter books see this post.