A young reader takes a closer look as Mrs. Laura Bush reads the children's book, I Love You, Little One, by Nancy Tafuri, October 18, 2006, during a visit to the Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library in El Paso, Texas.
Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. (P101806SC-0134)
These lists represent Mrs. Laura Bush’s family favorites, but there are many more fantastic books available to young readers and families. For additional suggestions or for help finding copies of these books, see a librarian or a teacher at your school or local public library.
Family Reading
These titles can be read aloud as a family or by independent readers.
- Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
- Hank the Cowdog (series), John R. Erickson
- Little House on the Prairie (series), Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Old Yeller, Fred Gipson
- The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
- The People Could Fly, Virginia Hamilton
- Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
- Winnie the Pooh (series), A. A. Milne
Books to Read to and with Young Children
Mrs. Laura Bush, joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, reads to children, July 24, 2007, at the Driggs School in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. (P072407SC-0121)
These books, great for making new bedtime favorites, can either be read to young children or by early independent readers or those children just learning to read.
- Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
- Babar (series), Laurent De Brunhoff
- Carlo Likes Reading, Jessica Spanyol
- Clifford the Big Red Dog (series), Norman Bridwell
- Corduroy, Don Freeman
- Frances the Badger (series), Russell Hoban
- Hop on Pop, and others by Dr. Seuss
- Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
- Mother Goose Rhymes
- Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, Tomie De Paola
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Simms Taback
- Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
- Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears, Verna Aardema
- Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Richard Scarry
- Cuadros de familia/ Family Pictures, Carmen Lomas Garza
- Curious George, H.A. Rey
- Frog and Toad (series), Arnold Lobel
- George and Martha (series), James Marshall
- If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Laura Joffee Numeroff
- Little Bear (series), Else Holmelund Minarik
- Magda's Tortillas, Becky Chavarria-Chairez
- Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann
- Sarah's Flag for Texas, Jane Alexander Knapik
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, William Steig
- The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
- The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
- Tomas and the Library Lady, Pat Mora
- Amazing Grace, Mary Hoffman
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Books for Intermediate and Independent Readers
- Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan
- Love that Dog, Sharon Cheech
- A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck
- Because of Winn Dixie, Kate DiCamillo
- Adaline Falling Star, Mary Pope Osborne
- Joey Pigza Loses Control, Jack Gantos
- Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson
- Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
- Miracle's Boys, Jacqueline Woodson
- Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
- Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan
- James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
- Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia Maclachlan
- Ramona (series), Beverly Cleary
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
- My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George
- Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
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Special Comfort Books
- What Have You Lost, Naomi Shihab Nye and Michael Nye
- The Story about Ping, Marjorie Flack
- The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, Judith Viorst
- I Love You, Little One, Nancy Tafuri
Recommended Reading for Adults
- Ship of Fools; The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, Katherine Anne Porter
- The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- Music for Chameleons, Truman Capote
- Goodbye to a River, John Graves
- Mornings on Horseback, David McCullough; and other biographies
- Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo A. Anaya
- My Antonia; Death Comes to the Archbishop, Willa Cather
- All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
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