Although children are starting to read on their own by age 6 to 7, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of still reading aloud to them. For most children in this age range, their reading level will lag behind their comprehension level. Reading aloud bridges the gap and provides them with more complex ideas and themes to mull over then they would otherwise receive. Of course, reading aloud also provides a perfect opportunity to discuss the books!
So you’ll find two lists here, really: one to read aloud and one for your child to read alone.
If you happen to have a particularly advanced reader or listener who blazes through the books on this list, I recommend moving on to my list Good Books for… Catholic 8 to 9 year olds .
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Books to Read Aloud
The Squire and the Scroll
The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur
Margaret Hodges also has a retelling of Saint George and the Dragon
is story can be seen as an allegory of the fight against temptation and the devil. This story also offers a great lesson in perseverance as George continues his battle despite the seeming impossibility of his task.
Roses in the Snow: A Tale of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
My 6 and 7 year olds always enjoy exploring the sea with Graeme Base’s colorful The Sign Of The Seahorse poem and picture book. A neat introduction to stories told in verse form.
In The Attic Saint, a young boy from a faithless family finds an ancient icon in the attic of his new house. Somehow, he knows the painting is special and will change his life forever.
Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
The “Life of a Saint” series provides engagingly illustrated and engagingly written biographies of famous saints from Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi
Saints Tell Their Stories
Combine a fun quest type story with math and you get: Sir Cumference! Join Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius on a series of math-themed adventures. Super creative and fun way to reinforce math concepts!
Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1
The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook
Although you may think The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh
The Happy Little Family series chronicles episodes in the lives of an early American family, the Fairchilds. Beautifully written, with characters that jump off the page, these four books are very enjoyable read alouds with great lessons and vivid descriptions of nineteenth century life on a farm in Kentucky. For example, in a chapter of the first book, Happy Little Family 
The Happy Hollisters
The Boxcar Children Books 1-4
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
The Uncle Wiggily Bedtime Stories are easy enough to read that you can usually trade pages with an average 6-7 year old reader and get in some extra reading practice at bedtime!
For more ideas of read alouds for 6-7 year olds, check out my list The Best Classic Chapter Books to Read Aloud to the Littlest Listeners. Or check out my list Good Book Series to read aloud to a Catholic Family.
I also highly recommend delving deep into Fairy Tales and Fables at this age!
Books for your 6-7 year old to Read Independently
I love the simple humor of Cynthia Rylant’s Mr. Putter and Tabby series. Not only do these books offer lessons in friendship and kindness, they also show children that elderly people can be funny, happy, sad, or lonely too. You will love kind-hearted Mr. Putter and his fine cat Tabby, and smile at his eccentric neighbor Mrs. Teaberry and her crazy dog Zeke. Some of our favorites are Mr. Putter & Tabby Walk the Dog
The Billy And Blaze
The Gospel Time-Trekkers series from Pauline Books and Media is a fun Catholic series for early readers.Shepherds to the Rescue (Gospel Time Trekkers)
Devotional Stories for Little Folks
For a slightly more advanced reader, The Littles
For more ideas of easy-reader style books, check out my list of Good Easy Readers for Catholic Kids.
I also recommend checking out my list for 4-5 year olds for other books your 6-7 year old will enjoy practicing reading.
If you have a very early reader who is ready for more chapter books, move onto my list Good Books for… Catholic 8 to 9 year olds.
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. Both you and your child will enjoy the adventures and misadventures of the four Walker children, responsible John, motherly Susan, dreamy Titty, and active Roger, and their friends wild Nancy, timid Peggy, bookish Dick, and his twin cheerful Dot. The Swallows and Amazons’ adventures take them all over England, out on the ocean, and even to China. Arthur Ransome’s fine writing and skill as a storyteller make the books in this series true classics. There are 12 books in the series, all wonderful, so plenty of hours of reading! Our favorites are 
and 
by Kate Seredy are amazing books about a Hungarian family in the 1930’s. The first book describes how Jansci’s patient family gentles his wild young cousin Kate and also offers a lovely portrait of life, tradition, and cultures in Catholic Hungary. The second book is a bit more intense, describing the dark War years’ impact on the family farm and the children. This second book is better for older listeners, perhaps ten and up. 
‘s books are my favorite for this purpose. The language is simple enough for younger listeners, but the books also have solid content and details to engage older listeners. She wrote about a wide variety of saints so there are many choices!
series is an American family classic. Not only do these books provide a realistic historical portrait of pioneer life, they also offer many life lessons about hard work, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and perseverance. And of course they also provide an enjoyable story line. Girls will identify with these more than boys since all the books except Farmer Boy are about the Wilder girls, but boys can still enjoy these classic all-American stories.
and its sequels 
and 
are charming stories about a Jewish family living in New York City about 100 years ago. These stories about a family with 5 active, engaging young girls are sure to be favorites. They also provide good exposure to the different holidays and culture within a Jewish family.
may be a good choice. We read them aloud starting around age 6, but more sensitive children may need to wait until age 8 to enjoy these magical tales by a master story teller. The plethora of Christian symbolism and allegory makes these books a rich, thought-provoking read. If your family spends a lot of time driving, here is a wonderful audio version read by a full cast of actors: 
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. Catholic author Meriol Trevor sets these adventurous stories about orphaned children in the fictional Catholic country of Letzenstein, a tiny European kingdom. These books have heroes and villains to please the adventurous souls. I find their portrayal of the lowly and childlike characters as important and worthy a very timely witness. 
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series highly enough! Based on true events, these stories about two children’s hard work and love for horses is really inspiring. Don’t stop at the first book! Read more about Misty, Stormy, and other great horses in 
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is a beautiful new book that introduces little children to Mary’s love and her many appearances to her earthly children. Full review 
has the traditional antiphon, then a short kid-friendly meditation on the station with a picture to look at. 
is a good choice. There are a few interactive pages to help the child follow along. This second edition has a sturdy board book style construction to hold up to little hands using it every week!
! There’s a one page story about the saint of the day and a coloring page. Great for engaging young ones! 
is a parable retelling that has quickly become a family favorite. Full review 
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by Regina Doman is the perfect book to nourish a love for unborn babies in your child. This is a sweet story about an unborn baby’s experience in the womb and chats with its guardian angel. 
is a lovely retelling of the Cinderella story with a Catholic flavor! Instead of a fairy godmother, the author has the Blessed Virgin come to Cinderella’s aid. I appreciated how in the end, the evil stepsisters actually repent of their evil ways and live happily ever after too.
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are three charming Catholic books by Neil Lozano which answer common children’s questions about God through simple retellings of parts of the Gospels. The sense of love and closeness emanating from the family in the stories is like a warm blanket wrapping around you and your child as you read.
. Author Nancy White Carlstrom answers a small girl’s questions about God’s nature and abilities in a creative way by drawing on the Psalms.
is a little gem of a story. It offers so many wonderful themes about choosing honesty and integrity, ignoring peer pressure, and unconditional parental love.
. My son loves this story about a knight who teaches true charity by helping each servant of the king he encounters
is a great version of Aesop’s famous fables accompanied with gorgeous, detailed illustrations.
. These are stories of less famous saints told in a fairy tale style which interests preschoolers. The lesson to be learned is that the saints were real people with real feelings, just like us.
to prepare for that day is a great preemptive strategy. Sal wakes up one morning with a loose tooth, and has a busy morning helping her father and little sister, losing her tooth, making wishes, and boating to the harbour. In addition to growing up themes, there are good discussion opportunities about kindness to little siblings, bravery, and wishes.
is a wonderful collection of many of Nick Butterworth’s Percy stories. These are charming tales of Percy interacting with his animal friends and caring for the park. You can talk about observing animals, kindness to animals, friendship, gardening, and stewardship.
is a good introduction to farm life. This collection of beautifully illustrated stories includes information about sheep dogs, chickens, orphan animals, sheep sheering and herding, and tractors.
by Josephine Nobisso to introduce our children to the importance of the Mass. The baker in the story is awakened to the value of a Mass when all the goods in his shop prove to weigh less than a scrap of paper with “1 Mass” scribbled on it.
emphasizes the idea of the queen as mediator between the people and king. This is a highly symbolic story which draws on parables and the incarnation, all accompanied by beautiful illustrations.
is the perfect pick. It combines a fun, rollicking search across a land of peppermint waterfalls and blueberry pie trees with a story of friendship, bravery, kindness, and leadership.
combines an informative, down to earth description of each animal on the farm with hilarious, engaging tidbits about its personality. The theme of this book is that no animal is perfect, but they still provide us with entertainment, companionship, and enjoyment.
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are beautiful, hard cover books that make great gifts. They include short, simple stories and illustrations of the lives of famous saints such as St. Elizabeth of Hungry and St. Dominic Savio.
is my book of choice for discussing moving. Molly is a bit sad at first to leave her old, familiar house. But she soon finds that her new home has many great things to enjoy: a wonderful yard, plants to water, and even new friends next door!
is such a sweet story about an old horse who feels abandoned and sad until an old friend gives him a job and opportunity to socialize again. You can take this as an opportunity to talk about the elderly, or just enjoy Charlie’s charm!
. Herriot draws on true experiences from his life as a vet in the Yorkshire dales to write his heart-warming ancedotes about animals.
is a story about courage, self-reliance, and hiking. Henry’s exploring in the mountains takes a hair-raising turn when he discovers a forest fire and must rush to alert the rangers. We also love 
, in which Henry and loyal dog Angus get stranded on an island and come up with creative ways for signalling for help. These books are great for encouraging kids to problem solve on their own, be brave, and stay calm.
includes stories about Katy the Snow Plow, Maybelle the Cable Car, and the Little House. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel’s race to finish the cellar is so well known that I won’t waste space elaborating. Less famous but also very good are Burton’s other stories. Katy the snow plow perseveres to clear all the roads of the city. The Little House is my favorite in this collection, describing the changes in the world over the course of a century from the perspective of the house
is a gem both for its simple, peaceful message and illustrations. It follows a little boy, some chicks, and a puppy as they grow over the course of the year. It’s a wonderful story for explaining how children grow slowly (at least it seems like that to them!)
is a tale of kindness and friendship between a boy and a lion. Andy helps the lion, and the lion remembers when he gets loose in Andy’s town.
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. These tales are very tall, but they awake a spirit of courage, adventure, and boldness that little boys need. The illustrations are detailed and funny in classic Kellog style.
is a Russian folk tale retold by Arthur Ransome. The moral of this tall tale about a fool undertaking seemingly impossible tasks is that God loves and cares for simple folks.
is a rollicking tale by Steven Kellog about a big family and their adventures in their old car. Add a volcano exploding, an inedible pizza, and a flat tire and you have a recipe for hilarity.
includes four of her longer stories, all with a great lesson as is typical for Hughes. Angel Mae adjusts to having a new sister. Carlos learns that receiving a surprise present can be even better than getting what you think you want. Neighbors work together to save the day when the concrete lorry dumps its load a day early.
are Jane Hissey’s stories for slightly older listeners, charmingly illustrated as always. In this collection, children learn about putting on a play, camping out, having a race, and playing pretend.
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. This collection includes famous fairy tales like “The Princess and the Pea,” unusual folk tales like “The Straw Ox,” and poems such as “The Children’s Hour.”
, the selfish shellfish, is the perfect help. Kermit is a selfish shellfish until his life is saved by a boy one day, and he realizes giving a gift to his benefactor is more important and fulfilling than sitting on his hoard of treasure.
are American children’s classics that offer some wonderful lessons. Raggedy provides a stellar example of cheerfulness, kindness, and friendship throughout her adventures.
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or 
, both illustrated by Priscilla Lamont. Another good option for a wealth of nursery rhymes from around the world is Volume One of the 
, which has original poems organized by season. Of course, you also get the benefit of Hughes’ distinctive, detailed illustrations which accompany each of her poems. Her other poetry collection, 
is fun for fans of Alfie and Annie Rose, and celebrates sibling play and mundane family life.
. These poems were intended for children, written with simple themes and commonplace similes that children will readily grasp, but many are still mini masterpieces. They make great first exercises in memorization. This particular edition features gorgeous illustrations by Tasha Tudor. 
is a wealth of poems in one book- over 700! Great for finding a poem to memorize for an older child, this book is handily organized by subject. 
attempts with some success to make a wonderful poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins accessible to young children. Breaking the poem down line by line, this book offers imagery and word definitions to help your children understand.
is a truly beautiful book by Elsa Beskow about Peter’s quest to find berries for his mother’s birthday. If you’re looking for a gift, 
is a cute set of miniature versions of her most popular books.
, you get four stories plus poems in one book! In this collection, Alfie and Annie Rose build a store, help a cow find its way home, go camping, and visit the seashore.
contains most of her charming text and illustrations.
is a famous Robert McCloskey story about a mallard duck couple raising their babies in a busy city.
is a fun story about baby ducklings falling down a storm drain and being rescued in a dramatic manner by fireen and a truck with a tow hitch.
. There’s a whole series that little boys will especially love. 
, Percy invents a flying lawn mower and takes his animal friends for a ride over the park.
by Margaret Wise Brown is a layered story about both an island steadfast through the seasons of the year and a curious kitten who adventures on the island.
is a tale of a little boy whose days are colored with cowboy adventures courtesy of his vivid imagination. The illustrations are cleverly executed with the boy’s visions in red ink and real life in black ink.
rides his paint pony cactus on the range, getting back on even when he hits the dust, in this fun little story from Lois Lenski.
is a funny story about Charlie the ranch dog’s family starting their school year as homeschoolers. Charlie is such a sweet, amusing, sleepy basset hound he is sure to become a family favorite. You can find more of his adventures in 
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is a beautifully illustrated story about a Raven and a winter in Alaska. Simple, beautiful text, poetic in its diction and rhythm, make this book memorable.
describes two sisters watching their apple tree and a family of robins throughout the year, eagerly waiting to make an apple pie!
by Joanne Ryder has incredibly beautiful, detailed nature scenes (my kids wanted to eat the blackberries!). Mama Mouse teaches baby mouse to find her way home by using her senses.
is a perfect story for horse loving children. It has an amazing theme about patience and kindness mattering more than beauty.
is a fascinating book about a homestead that has been passed down through seven generations of a family. The detailed illustrations visualize what each generation adds to what begins as a tiny log cabin and ends as a thriving home and farm.
is a hilarious rhymed story of a mom struggling to cope with seven picky children until they decide to do something for her for a change. I found it heartwarming, even if the ending is far fetched, and kids love the detailed illustrations.
is stellar for starting preschool minds thinking about from where food comes and appreciating the work that goes into a simple meal. Jack wants a pancake, and his mother will make it if he gathers all the ingredients himself!
is the story of Dan learning from his mom’s care of his own cut to care for the hurts of his sister, pet, and even dad.
introduces Kipper, the sweet-natured dog, whose gentle adventures with his stuffed animals and real animal friends make soothing bedtime stories.
Nicki loses his mitten despite his grandma’s warnings, and when he finds it is stretched out from a tangle of animals using it as a den.
features adorable Annie, who is searching for a new pet after her cat Taffy disappears.
is a beautiful book both both in its detailed illustrations of different animal habitats and in its simple message of God blessing all things.
is, to me, a good book in essence as long as one adequately discusses George’s disobedience and its negative consequences. These original stories by the Reys are funny and have good lessons about obedience, impulse control, and friendship.
is a funny kid favorite based on a Russian folk tale.
is a great way to start instilling a positive view of good manners.
is a beautifully illustrated book that combines an introduction to the seasons with the concept of creative outdoor play.
is a sweet story about a little boy helping his baby brother with all the teddy bears friends give the baby, then realizing the couch is getting too crowded for him. It ends with a special message that there is always still room on mom’s lap for the older sibling!
has some of the cutest illustrations, and a great encouraging message for active little ones! We also love its sequel, 
, in which Spencer discovers it is much funner to play with his sister Mia than alone.
, Alfie describes his little sister in a touching manner, matter of factly acknowledging her faults, but focusing on the fun of playing with her.
is a celebration of the special bond between siblings. Big brother and little brother occasionally disagree, but overall take care of each other.
is possibly my favorite book for two year olds. Little Sal and little bear learn that they should stay close to their mommies, even if yummy berries are tempting!
is a simple but beloved story in which Alfie gets new boots and solves the mystery of why they feel funny.
, is a cautionary tale warning children against locking doors. But don’t worry it has a happy ending!
is a nature-focused variation on the traditional rhyme, and is the version we sing in our house.
is one for the daddies and sons! A little boy and his father play at a pond, using their imaginations to make an enjoyable day even funner.
is by the great Margaret Wise Brown. Animals around the world settle down for bed in their own ways as their mothers urge them to close their eyes.
is another favorite by Margaret Wise Brown with lovely illustrations from Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney. This book describes the coming of winter and how various farm animals prepare for the cold and wind.
, a high-quality hard back with lovely detailed illustrations, is the story of a little lamb helping an even littler bird.
, the spider works despite all distracions to build a beautiful web. Lift the flaps on each page are fun for little ones. We also love The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?
is a wonderful story about all the different meanings of “giving.” Described by a little girl and illustrated by the ever-charming Shirley Hughes.
is a luminous bedtime story we love describing a dream voyage on a moon-boat.
is a toddler favorite about the farm animals trying to wake up the sleepy farmer.
is a charming recounting by a loving mother of her day with her little girl. This sweet book is a must read to your little girl!
is a delectable, gentle story about a little mouse trying to get a huge cupcake home, with some help from his hungry friends.
, Jesse Bear, a very active little bear, learns about all the times one shouldn’t get wet, and finally when one should!
is a modern tale with illustrations to delight little princesses and a fanciful story of a little girl going on a magic carpet ride to find the perfect gift for her mother.
is a good old story of a little girl caring for her dolls. It’s sure to delight any little mommy!
details the adventure of a very curious little kitten! It is a good cautionary tale to show the dangers of too much curiosity.
is a hilarious little book about Pamela’s lengthy preparations to take her non-existent dog for a walk.
is a beautifully illustrated little board book talking about Jesus’ childhood.
is a sweet board book which shows the barn animals preparing for baby Jesus’ arrival.
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are part of a new series of board books from Katie Warner aimed at exposing the littlest Catholics to religious artwork and Catholic teaching! These are quality books that would make great gifts for a Baptism or baby shower.
is a short rhyming board book about a very hungry bear.
, always a favorite with my children, is a fanciful story of some animal friends’ trip.
helps teach little ones about their senses as baby experiences the sounds around him. Lots of onomatopoeic words keep the youngest readers engaged.
, with its beautiful illustrations of farm life, is a simple story of a father soothing his son to sleep.
is a story about a little boy searching for the perfect gift for his mother with some help from his animal friends. More text in this one for the more advanced listener. 
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stories are somewhat repetitive but so loved by my children that I had to include them!
‘s gentle rhymes and clever illustrations make it another much loved and well worn toddler favorite around here. It is a rollicking little tale of a boy and bear searching for berries.
is a classic Margaret Wise Brown story, less well known than 
but equally enjoyable. Big Red Barn describes barnyard life, while Goodnight, Moon focuses on a room at bedtime.
is a great early book because it provides sensory stimulation which can engage a reluctant listener. Siblings Paul and Judy explore their house along with your child.