Little Britches by Ralph Moody

This is a wonderful true story about how a young boy learns some of life's best lessons while working a small ranch with his father. I love simple heartfelt stories like this, and like the cover says it is a perfect book to read aloud. If you are like me and believe that you are what you read, then you will learn a lot from this book.

Amazon.com review:

Without the flamboyance or the caricature of other "life with Father" books this tells, simply, directly of the Moody family and their life in Colorado. Father's health necessitated a move and all seven of the Moodys moved to a godforsaken little ranch. There Little Britches learned how to face a situation, through emphatic lessons and Father's kindly but firm insistence on cause and effect. This is the story of hard luck, stubborn pride, and altruistic community endeavor, for Father is the one who evolves a solution for the water problem, and of the implanting of an honest, moral philosophy. It is the story too of Little Britches' first earnings, of his interrupted schooling, of his Indian friend, Two Dog, who added to the excitement of the new life, of the many accidents culminating in nine broken toes, of his burning desire to be accepted in a man's world. And how he went from cow poke to bronc buster, cowboy on the Y B mountain spread, and rodeo rider, until Father's death made him head of the family and his courageous Mother's indispensable right-hand man. Real stuff here with none of the artificiality of the more eccentric domestic chronicles. (Kirkus Reviews)

Other books in the series include: Man of the Family, The Home Ranch, Mary Emma and Company, The Fields of Home, Shaking the Nickel Bush, The Dry Divide, and Horse of a different Color.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

This book is one of my very, very favorite. I cannot read it without crying. It is a powerful story of love between friends.

Amazon Book Review:
To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement. In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple line drawings, a tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs. When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump so he can craft a boat out of her trunk. He unthinkingly does it. At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a pathetic solitary stump, poignantly cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. + T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really." When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services, and he sits on it. "And the tree was happy." While the message of this book is unclear (Take and take and take? Give and give and give? Complete self-sacrifice is good? Complete self-sacrifice is infinitely sad?), Silverstein has perhaps deliberately left the book open to interpretation. (All ages) --Karin Snelson

All God's children by Thomas Eidson

I read this book while I was in the hospital with Caleb over Christmas. I usually read a lot of children's and Juvenile literature... however, this was an adult fiction book. I really enjoyed it! A review on amazon states: "It is a tale of true grit on the Kansas plains in the early 1890s--an unintentionally uproarious amalgam of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'Friendly Persuasion,' and 'Les Misérables'...Eidson does convey the unshaken purity of Pearl's faith effectively, sometimes even movingly" I fell in love with each of the characters and their flaws. There were a few times when the black character, "prophet" uses some rough words, but I would still feel comfortable recommending this book to any of my friends!

Love You Forever

This book has been one of my favorites since my teacher in 2nd Grade read it to the class and cried through it. I read it many times as a child and now as a mom, I have to read it at least once every couple weeks. It serves as a great reminder that despite the challenges we face as parents, there is nothing that would ever shake our love. We've worn out a couple copies of this book, it is a classic in our home.

The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams

This is a wonderful story about love and the impact toys have on children and their imagination. It was one of my favorite bedtime stories as a kid.

Amazon.com Review:

A stuffed toy rabbit (with real thread whiskers) comes to life in Margery Williams's timeless tale of the transformative power of love. Given as a Christmas gift to a young boy, the Velveteen Rabbit lives in the nursery with all of the other toys, waiting for the day when the Boy (as he is called) will choose him as a playmate. In time, the shy Rabbit befriends the tattered Skin Horse, the wisest resident of the nursery, who reveals the goal of all nursery toys: to be made "real" through the love of a human. "'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'" This sentimental classic--perfect for any child who's ever thought that maybe, just maybe, his or her toys have feelings--has been charming children since its first publication in 1922. (A great read-aloud for all ages, but children ages 8 and up can read it on their own.)