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Family Stories

From the July 30, 2007 Pigeon Post essay of the same name.

Family stories are a treasure that with any luck are passed down from generation to generation. We have, in our children's literature, many wonderful instances of family story-telling. In the collection following you will find examples of family stories as narrative (Moomintrolls and The Borrowers) as well as family stories that are really a collection of vignettes told by master raconteurs (Mama's Bank Account, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc.) Particularly these latter are a pleasure to read as an adult regardless of when you read them to your children.

This book list is divided into three sections:
(1) Picture Books
(2) Books for Independent Readers
(3) Books for Young Adults

The list begins below with Picture Books, but you can use one of the following links to skip directly to either of the other two sections.
Go to books for Independent Readers
Go to books for Young Adults


Picture Books

All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Mike Wimmer
When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and illustrated by P.J. Lynch


Independent Reader

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Helen John
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and illustrated by Jody Lee
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink and illustrated by Kate Seredy
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Garth Williams
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards and illustrated by Shirley Hughes
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
The Borrowers by Mary Norotn and illustrated by Beth Krush
The Littles by John Peterson
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
The Wouldbegoods by E. Nesbit
Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott


Young Adult

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Oddballs by William Sleator

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