View source for Children's Books in a Montessori Classroom

Maria Montessori took a view of children's literature that was very different from most others' of her day and ours.  She thought that it was best to avoid giving books to young children that had magic or other fantastical elements in the stories.  She thought that children below a certain age would be confused about what things in the stories were real or not.  She thought it was disrespectful to children to not provide them with an accurate portrayal of the world when they were still building their understanding of how the world worked.<br> 
There has even been [http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/10/19/449865847/children-want-factual-stories-versus-fantasy-more-often-than-adults recent research] that backs up the idea that children prefer stories that are real.<br>
Another useful criteria for selecting children's books comes from the 19th century British educator Charlotte Mason.  She advised against books that used baby-talk, or dumbed-down stories, or that insulted the intelligence of the reader in any other ways.  She referred to these books as "[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130716182137/barbie-movies/images/3/38/PaP-book-barbie-the-princess-and-the-popstar-31154423-300-450.jpg twaddle]."<br>
Please feel free to add books to the lists:

==Circle-Time Read Aloud==
These are well-written, well-illustrated books that are either realistic fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction or biographies.<br>
It takes about one minute to read aloud 100 words of a pictures book at a slow, steady pace, with time to look at each of the pictures.  Use the word count to estimate how long it will take to read a book (round up the time for shorter books, round down the time for longer ones). 

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Title   !! Author  !!Illustrator  !!Word Count  !!Topic
|-
|''The Sun is My Favorite Star'' || Asch, Frank || Asch, Frank || 154 || sun
|-
| ''The Story of Rosy Dock'' || Baker, Jeannie || Baker, Jeannie || 322 || Australia, non-native plants
|-
|''Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing''|| Barrett, Judi || Barrett, Ronald || 110 || anthropomorphism
|-
|''Building Our House''|| Bean, Jonathan || Bean, Jonathan || 923 || building a house
|-
|''Big and Small, Room for All'' || Bogart, Jo Ellen || Newland, Gillian || 92 || relative size
|-
| ''Out of the Woods: A True Story of an Unforgettable Event'' || Bond, Rebecca || Bond, Rebecca || 1,035 || forest fire
|-
|''Mary Wrightly, So Politely '' || Bridges, Shirin Yim || Monescillo, Maria || 695 || manners, assertiveness
|-
|''Hanukkah in Alaska'' ||Brown, Barbara || Schuett, Stacey || 862 || Hanukkah, Alaska
|-
|''From Head to Toe'' || Carle, Eric || Carle, Eric || 207 || animals, actions
|-
|''Will I Have a Friend?'' || Cohen, Miriam  ||  Hoban, Lillian   || 484 || starting school
|-
|''My Family Plays Music'' || Cox, Judy  ||  Brown, Elbrite   || 482 || playing music
|-
|''Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes'' || Davies, Nicoloa || Sutton, Emily || 689 || microbes
|-
|''The Nutcracker Doll'' || DePalma, Mary Newell  || DePalma, Mary Newell  || 473 || being in a ballet
|-
|''Charlie Needs a Cloak'' || dePaola, Tomie || dePaola, Tomie || 120 || making a cloak
|-
|''Some Bugs''|| DiTerlizzi, Angela || Wenzel, Brendan || 95 ||bugs
|-
|''Knit Together'' || Dominguez, Angela || Dominguez, Angela || 164 || knitting, mothers and daughters
|-
|''Under Ground'' || Fleming, Denise || Fleming, Denise || 46 || underground life
|-
|''How My Parents Learned to Eat'' || Friedman, Ina R. || Say, Allen || 1,242 || Japanese and western eating
|-
|''Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'' ||Frost, Robert || Jeffers, Susan || 108 || poem, winter
|-
|''Ox-Cart Man'' ||Hall, Donald || Cooney, Barbara || 654 || frontier living
|-
|''A House is a House for Me'' || Hoberman, Mary Ann  || Fraser, Betty || 732 || homes
|-
|''I Like Old Clothes'' || Hoberman, Mary Ann  || Barton, Patrice || 287 || old clothes
|-
|''Jacob's New Dress'' || Hoffman, Sarah and Ian || Case, Chris ||  || gender-nonconformance
|-
|''Just Say Boo!'' || Hood, Susan || Henry, Jed || 166 || Halloween
|-
|''The Little Bit Scary People'' || Jenkins, Emily || Boiger, Alexandra || 513 || understanding others
|-
|''Who Am I? An Animal Guessing Game'' || Jenkins, Steve & Page, Robin || Jenkins, Steve & Page, Robin || 201 || animals
|-
|''Weeds Find a Way'' || Jenson-Elliott, Cindy || Fisher, Carolyn || 313 || weeds
|-
|''The Quilt Story'' || Johnston, Tony   || dePaola, Tomie  || 567 || a family heirloom quilt
|-
|''How Big Were Dinosaurs?'' || Judge, Lita || Judge, Lita || 1,016  || dinosaurs
|-
|''The Colors of Us'' || Katz, Karen  || Katz, Karen ||423|| different skin colors
|-
|''The Snowy Day'' || Keats, Ezra Jack  || Keats, Ezra Jack ||316||playing in the snow
|-
|''Hot Dog! Eleanor Roosevelt Throws a Picnic'' || Kimmelman, Leslie || Juhasz, Victor || 1,322 || first lady
|-
|''The Philharmonic Gets Dressed'' || Kuskin, Karla || Simont, Marc || 1,252  || orchestra
|-
|''Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons'' || Levine, Sara || Spookytooth, T.S. || 963 || vertebrates
|-
|''Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding'' || Look, Lenore || Heo, Yumi || 1,448 || wedding
|-
|''Toilet: How It Works'' || Macaulay, David || Macaulay, David || 942 || how toilets work
|-
|''Don't Sneeze at the Wedding'' || Mayer, Pamela || Avilés, Martha || 701 || wedding
|-
|''15 Things NOT to Do With a Baby'' || McAllister, Margaret || Sterling, Holly || 177 || babies
|-
|''I Spy Shapes in Art'' || Micklethwait, Lucy || various || 117 || famous paintings, shapes
|-
|''Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story'' || Peters, Lisa Westberg || Stringer, Lauren || 626 || evolution
|-
|''From Seed to Pumpkin'' || Pfeffer, Wendy || Hale, James Graham || 579 || pumpkins, plant life cycle
|-
|''Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg'' || Posada, Mia || Posada, Mia || 838 || animal eggs
|-
|''The Glorious Flight'' || Provensen, Alice and Martin || Provensen, Alice and Martin || 876 || early airplane
|-
|''Blackout'' || Rocco, John || Rocco, John || 158 || blackouts
|-
|''Blizzard'' || Rocco, John || Rocco, John || 666 || blizzard
|-
|''A Fawn in the Grass'' || Ryder, Joanne || Narahashi, Keiko || 155 || observing wildlife
|-
|''I Used to be Afraid || Seeger, Laura Vaccaro || Seeger, Laura Vaccaro || 78 || overcoming fears
|-
|''Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar?'' || Shannon, George || Paschkis, Julie || 143 || food production
|-
|''The Man with the Violin'' || Stinson, Kathy || Petricic || 444 || musician
|-
|''Carry Me: Animal Babies on the Move'' || Stockdale, Susan || Stockdale, Susan || 81 || animal babies
|-
|''I Love My Hair'' || Tarpley, Natasha Anastasia  || Lewis, E.B. || 469 || African-American hair
|-
|''Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'' || Viorst, Judith  || Cruz, Ray ||741|| a bad day
|-
|''Susan B. Anthony'' || Wallner, Alexandra  || Wallner, Alexandra || 1,610 || biography, women's rights
|-
|''A Chair for My Mother'' || Williams, Vera B.  || Williams, Vera B. || 1,073 || saving, generosity
|-
|''Henri's Scissors'' || Winter, Jeanette || Winter, Jeanette || 426 || biography, artist
|-
|''The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps'' || Winter, Jeanette || Winter, Jeanette || 972 || biography, chimpanzees
|}



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==Chapter Books==
These are longer well-written books that are either realistic fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction or biographies. They would need to be read over the course of several days.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Title   !! Author  !!Illustrator  !!Word Count  !!Topic
|-
| ''Linnea in Monet's Garden''|| Bjork, Christina || Anderson, Lena || 5,871 || 
|-
|''Sarah, Plain and Tall'' || MacLachlan, Patricia || || 8,377 || 
|-
|''Little House on the Prairie'' || Wilder, Laura Ingalls || || 52,038 || 
|}
==More Book Lists==
*[http://theculture.forharriet.com/2014/02/45-books-to-teach-children-about-black.html#axzz55g6irvsy 45 Books to Teach Children About Black History]
*[https://ameliabloomer.wordpress.com/ RISE: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18]
*[http://kidstravelbooks.com/destinations/ Kids Travel Books] - picture book about different countries
*[https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/science-picture-books-for-kids/ Science Picture Books]
*[https://imaginationsoup.net/best-picture-book-biographies/ Picture Book Biographies]

==Further Reading==
'''Choosing Children's Books'''<br>
*[[Montessori Read & Write]] by Lynne Lawrence, pages 46-48
*[[The Read-Aloud Handbook]] by Jim Trelease