Brainstorm 102: Books We Love ❤️

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought it’d be a good time to share books we love. Now, I think it’s important to distinguish what we mean by love here. (Time for a DTR.) I don’t mean a book that you read and like a lot. Oh no, this is a deeper commitment. These are the books that you come back to over, and over, and over. You don’t just crack the cover of these books, you come back and dwell within the pages. It’s a book that doesn’t get old, no matter how many times you’ve re-read it. It’s the book the adult finishes reading to a child for the 146th time, and that child immediately begs for the 147th reading.
I decided to get our whole school community involved in this post, so I asked our faculty and staff to share one book they love(d) as teens/adults, one book their childhood selves loved, and a book that their students or children love. I also included a few I’ve seen several students check out to re-read.

So without further ado, here’s books the International Community School of Bangkok readers LOVE. (The ones that get their covers on display were books loved by multiple readers. And in case you're curious, the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings series were the most frequently mentioned.)


Picture Books

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault, ill. by Lois Elhert

Animalia by Graeme Base

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus, ill. by Crocket Johnson

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, ill. by Betsy Lewin

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, ill. by Clement Hurd

“I Can’t” Said the Ant by Polly Cameron

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff, ill. by Felicia Bond

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, ill. by Maurice Sendak

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, ill. by Sheila McGraw

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, ill. by James Dean

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, ill. by Clement Hurd

Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt

"The Shoemaker and the Elves" by the Brothers Grimm

Six by Seuss by Dr. Seuss

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss (writing as Theo LeSieg), ill. by George Booth


Lower Grade Fiction

My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, ill. by Ruth Chrisman Gannett

Geronimo Stilton series by Geronimo Stilton, et al

Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot series by Dav Pilkey, ill. by Martin Ontiveros (old editions) or Dan Santat (new editions)


Middle Grade Fiction

The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series by Robert Arthur

The Booky Trilogy by Bernice Thurman Hunter

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, ill. by Garth Williams

Chi’s Sweet Home series by Kanata Konami

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

The Doll People by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, ill. by Brian Selznik

El Deafo by CeCe Bell

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, ill. by Quentin Blake

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Holes by Louis Sachar

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, ill. by Garth Williams

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Complete Wreck by Lemony Snicket, ill. by Brett Helquist

The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, ill. by Alton Raible

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls


YA/Adult Fiction

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

The Belgariad series by David & Leigh Eddings

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Christy by Catherine Marshall

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valet

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Matched series by Ally Condie

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

On the Fence by Kasie West

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Rora by James Byron Huggins

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Scribbler of Dreams by Mary E. Pearson

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


Nonfiction

Garfield comics series by Jim Davis

The Bible

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

James Herriot’s Animal Stories by James Herriot

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

My First Big Book of the Ocean by Catherine D. Hughes

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales by Nathan Hale

National Geographic Kids Almanacs

The Origami Handbook by Rick Beech (this goes for several of our origami books)

Peanuts comics by Charles M. Schulz

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Weird But True series by National Geographic Kids






Don't see a book you love? One that you re-read and love to dwell inside it's pages? Mention it in the comments.