Larklight by Phillip Reeve

Told from the viewpoint of Art Mumby, this is about the adventures that he and his sister Myrtle have across space. Set in the Victorian era and written as if the Victorians were right about everything that they thought about how science was going to advance (steam power for everything, alchemy, inhabitable planets, etc...) I really enjoyed this book.

Tuesdays At The Castle by Jessica Day George

When princess Celie's parents leave to get her oldest bother from wizarding school they leave everything in her and her two older siblings' hands. It was light and funny but it nevertheless kept a hold of my attention the whole way through, and I quite enjoyed it.

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival : Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

This book is delightfully silly, truly amusing, and a breath of fresh air in a world which increasingly descends to the crass and vulgar in attempting to entertain.  Such misguided buffoonery would clearly be beneath Petronella, a spirited, intelligent, stalwart heroine worthy of anyone's admiration.  In short, I loved it.  (Good for all ages; probably especially enjoyed by girls in the 9+ range.  A dignified alternative to "teenage girl" books  - a definite plus to my pre-teen girl.)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I liked this book because even though at a couple of points I felt that it was somewhat unrealistic I thought that it did a good job showing how friendship can work, especially in a family setting. It was funny, interesting, and a light read---I think I would recommend it to just about anyone old enough to understand it.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book - and this entire series - is a lovely portrait of life in the late 1800's - I am struck, each time I read it, with how much detail of daily life it has. Simply laid out to appeal to even a very young listening audience, I've found it good reading-aloud material for all ages. It's about a girl, but I've found boys to be as interested in the accounts of panthers and bears and household chores (making bullets, butchering pigs) as any girl I've ever known. And really worth re-reading. It is, technically, fiction; my best guess, given the level of detail, (and the difference between the earlier books, which she fully edited, and the last, published after she died, without said editing) that she smoothed over some of the difficulties of family life - but the everydayness of frontier life seems to be accurate (as would details of life in the late 1900's in any book someone my age would write, as the audience would spot discrepancies immediately). Delightful, excellent, and repeatedly re-visitable.

Le Petit Nicolas by Sempé

I first met this book, as so many who have read it did, in a class - I am happy to say it didn't ruin the experience for me. It is one of the most delightful books ever, simple enough to follow even with first-year french, with ideas complex enough to amuse adults who get dragged into reading them for whatever reason. The English translations are also very fun, but if you have even a smattering of French, I strongly recommend trying the original. The chapters are short, complete stories in themselves, and written as if from the viewpoint of a schoolboy (Nicolas) who constantly gets into trouble of one sort or another - along with all of his friends. Excellent for dusting off French from ages back, or for reading to children (in French or in English, whichever is appropriate).

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Another favorite from my childhood, this has been easier than some of the others (Andy Buckram's Tin Men) to find for my children to enjoy. Delightful for elementary age on up: Well-written, good to read aloud, and a lovely episodic plot with a delightful overarching storyline. Highly recommended.

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

This is a book - actually a series of books - about a Jewish family living in New York City in the early 1900's, right around the time of the first world war. When I first read it, I suppose it especially struck a note with me because this family - like the one I grew up in - is composed of five girls (though later in the series one baby brother is born). I think it also struck a note because while my family is not Jewish, we do practice our religion in ways that go beyond Sunday meetings- diet, customs, rituals, and holidays.
A beautiful piece of historical fiction; it is primarily a picture of family life, there mores and habits, and all the little things they do that are so ordinary to them and so surprising to us, a hundred years later. Beautifully written, excellent for reading aloud or for the elementary reader on up. Maybe I should note: a book that is good for reading aloud is one, to me, that is interesting enough for grown-ups, even if it was written for children.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I picked this book up from the local library a few years ago, shortly after it came out. Wonderful! For the first time ever, I really felt like I really understood the relationship between physics and astronomy. The arguments for and against human evolution - not over-simplified; and dozens of bits and pieces of stuff that just made lots of random science make sense as a cohesive whole. Very, very well done.

The Big Necessity by Rose George

I picked this up from the library new book display a few weeks back; it was very enlightening. It talks about the many ways people deal with sanitation, and the problems and effectiveness of each.
Written as a popular science work rather than a technical treatise, I sometimes wished the author would have given a bit more technical detail. Even so, the overall picture is very clear: human waste must be disposed of. Safely. Or people die. What works about the systems we use now, what doesn't, and what the options are. She doesn't offer clear-cut solutions - there don't seem to be any. But I would definitely recommend this to every adult - and many teens - as an essential part of knowing how the necessities of life work.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane austen

I would say the book Pride and Prejudice is about etiquette and how it affects people in their daily lives as much it is about Elisabeth Bennett and the diference between being well manered and truly being kind.
It was well written , rich in plot and all in all a excellent book.

Vital Friends by Tom Rath

This is for all my friends, but especially those who are parents of gifted children out there. I learned about this book from a lecture I found in the archives of the SENG [Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted] website. The lecture is titled The Problem of Loneliness: Finding Friends and Fitting in When You Are Gifted, and it's found on the Seng website, about two-thirds of the way down the page I have linked to here. The lecturer talks about the different roles friends play in our lives, how important they are, and recommends this book.
This book lists various roles different friends take, and talks about where to look, in our lives, for friends who fill various roles.
Marvelous book, highly, highly, highly recommended - not only by the lecturer I've mentioned here, but by myself.

Drive by Daniel Pink

Last year, for the first time in many years, I won a prize at the library's summer reading program - and this was the book. A quick read, very good - it talks about what truly motivates us, what that means for business and education. It didn't surprise me, but only because I'd had an organizational behavior class several years before that talked about the same things. This is the book that pulls that information into popular literature.

Shortly after I read this, my sister sent me a link to a lecture on it here - a beautiful summary, very well done. Highly recommended.

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

This is the book that, after years of thinking I detested history, convinced me I actually love it. Beautifully constructed, each chapter begins with a copy of a page or pages under consideration, followed by a transcription, followed by a carefully constructed picture of some portion of life in the time described. Logically and rigorously put together; a wonderful, wonderful book.

Rascal the Dragon by Paul Jennings

This is the first in a series of books that I have found perfect for beginning readers. Repetition in just the right doses; an amusing storyline - in each book; and excellent illustrations.
I especially like this because I find most beginning reader books lack one of those things - repetition is too much or too little, which damages the storyline, and the illustrations tend to be dreadful.
Given that it is my general practice to refuse to read books that I find too boring or inane to my children, it's nice to have something to teach them from that doesn't involve lowering my own standards of reading enjoyment. There is some (mild) potty humor - one of the dragons is named Bomber - so it may be a judgment call - but this is a series we will keep. Difficult to find in the U.S; getting a little easier. I finally gave up and imported the series, since I could only find the first two here. Australian.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

Such a classic, there's very little I can add that's useful. That said, I am putting down here what I often forget and wish to remember: First, The Hobbit is a gentler, funnier book - less intense - than Lord of the Rings. As such, it is suitable for a much younger audience (ostensible reading levels notwithstanding). Reading aloud, I've had much success with this book from early elementary on (really - as young as about six or so). The plot is nicely divided out into story-shaped chunks, which makes it just right for bedtime fare - each chapter is largely its own episode, as it were. And - well, it's interesting enough for the whole family. Not something every book, even those good enough to read aloud, can boast.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

We've gone through at least three copies of this book; a classic of classics, it's one of the rare board books which don't drive the adult read-aloud-er batty on the second time through.
The illustrations are simple and pleasant; as a board book, there's not much more to say about it.

Nurtureshock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

This is another book that has changed the way I do things. In the first part (I forget if it's the first chapter or the introduction) we learn that the two reporters who wrote this are parents themselves; bewildered (as who isn't?) by the many, contrary pieces of parenting advice out there, they decided to spend some time finding out what the research out there really says. This book is the result.
Bedtime, praise, racism, lying, social success; ten chapters of well-written science--I don't think there was one I didn't learn something - and something valuable - from.
Probably read-aloud-able; certainly for adults (interesting and informative, but maybe not the most interesting subjects for children - then again, maybe very interesting for children). A book I think every future (or current) parent should read.

Andy Buckram's Tin Men by Carol Ryrie Brink

This book was another yard sale find from my elementary school days. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful - it's the story of a boy who decides to make some "tin men" to help him with his work, and all that follows.
Remarkably, the author managed to make it sound exciting and ingenious, without overstating what each of the robots could do. (I don't know if it would have been possible with the technology when the book was written, but most of it would be now.) Just the book to inspire an interest in mechanics, electronics, building, and innovation. Well-written and delightful. Good enough to read aloud.

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron

I first met this book, tagging along with my mother to yard sales of a Saturday morning. It was in a box of books in my price range - presumably ten cents or so - an proved to be one of those rare and delightful finds which I enjoy revisiting every few years, and am now reading to my children.
Science fiction from the time when science was definitely cool, this is the story of a boy (two boys, really- David and his best friend, Chuck) who answer an ad in the newspaper to design and build a boy-sized spaceship. The reward, as described in the ad, is the chance for an adventure and to do a good deed.
I don't want to spoil it, so I won't say more about the plot. It's good enough to read aloud; the science is very cleverly done, so that it remains... if not likely, within the realm of the imaginable. From a homeschooling perspective, this is a wonderful launch pad for a discussion about what is possible, what is not, and what we just don't know with regards to space, space travel, other planets, earthly and other biology.