Additional Reading Recommendations
An Update From Dr. Bilow: Surprise! More Howard Pyle
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
+JMJ+
May Mary make this work fruitful and inspire us all to read only stories that draw us closer to Herself and Her Son.
This week, Dr. Bilow sent me a long-anticipated update to the existing Dr. Catherine Bilow's List of Children's Books.
These books will be added to the original list, and there should be an excel sheet now available for download (included here).
There are some key changes though. Instead of listing the books by grade, we have chosen to reformat them in a more general format. So many of our students have such advanced abilities, it seemed unfair to give them a list that was too limiting.
Early Readers—> Early Chapter Books —> Intermediate Chapter Books —> Adult Books for Adolescents
While this may make it difficult to narrow-down a book, we hope that the joy of the discovery will always be at the center of any reading list.
After a lovely conversation in the comments section of
’s article,
I have chosen to call the last section not “Young Adult Fiction” but “Adult Books for Adolescents” because the books listed are really adult books. The writing style and topics are mature, but these are works still appropriate to the still delicate morality of a teenager and even younger. Of course, people of all ages should choose their pleasure reading with a moral intentiona, but some books are more appropriate for young readers than others.
The additions are as follows. Note the Howard Pyle lineup. Dr. Bilow has been devouring Howard Pyle lately, and, if you ever have the chance to read him, you’ll know why.
(I have added links to this post, and I make a commission on books linked to amazon that are clicked. If you like the book, consider using these links. If the book is unavailable on Amazon or has a better publisher somewhere else, I prioritize the book quality over the advertisement.)
The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur (Howard Pyle)
The Book of Saints and Heroes (Andrew Lang)
Stronger than Steel: Soldiers of the Great War Write to Thérèse of Lisieux (Les Poilus)
The Holy Mass: On Earth as it is in Heaven (Kevin and Mary O’Neill)
Aurora Bearialis (Rachel Fulton Brown)
The King’s Colt (HandDrawnBear)
King Stork (Howard Pyle)
Pepper and Salt, or Seasoning for Young Folk (Howard Pyle)
Bearskin (Howard Pyle)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Howard Pyle)
Legends and Stories of King Arthur (Howard Pyle)
The Story of the Champions of the Round Table (Howard Pyle)
Exceptional Illustrators of Children’s Literature
Howard Pyle
N.C. Wyeth
Beatrix Potter
Ernest Shepard
Fanny Y. Cory
Jessie Wilcox Smith
Tasha Tudor
Joan Walsh Anglund
UPCOMING:
For the past few months, I have been working on digitizing several books that are in the public domain but not yet available on either kindle or Project Gutenberg. In the next few weeks, I will start releasing each of these chapter by chapter for paid subscribers on Substack, but a link to buy it on kindle will be attached for any interested in having the entire book at once.
Topics include both spiritual reading and books on education that my readers may find interesting. I hope you enjoy!
This is an outstanding list. The reformatting that you've done is very helpful; I was excited to look closely at the "Adult Books for Adolescents" and see soooo many excellent suggestions for this transitional age. Thanks for noting my post and particularly the comments discussion!
The illustrators you note are exceptional, indeed! Your list prompts me to mention Scott Gustafson as an example of an excellent currently-active illustrator. His fairy tales book and bedtime stories book have some of the richest illustrations I have seen, and they are so beautiful. My children and I get completely lost in them.
Thank you for the recommendations! I love reading to my 7-year old and then seeing her want to read the same books by herself - books that I would never have picked up at her age.