Laura Bush's Recommended Books

As a former public school teacher and librarian, First Lady Laura Bush has a special fondness for books and the role they play in learning. Here is her list of recommended reading.

Family Reading

• Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
• Hank the Cowdog (series), John R. Erickson
• Little House on the Prairie (series), Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
• Old Yeller, Fred Gipson
• The People Could Fly, Virginia Hamilton
• Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
• Winnie The Pooh (series), A.A. Milne

Books to Read to and with Young Children

• Babar (series), Laurent de Brunhoff
• Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
• Carlo Likes Reading, Jessica Spanyol
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (series), Norman Bridwell
• Corduroy, Don Freeman
• Frances the Badger (series), Russell Hoban
• Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss (and more)
• Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
• Mother Goose Rhymes
• Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, Tomie De Paola
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Simms Taback
• Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, Verna Aardema
• Cars and Trucks and Things that GO, Richard Scarry
• Cuadros de familia/Family Pictures, Carmen Lomas Garza
• Curious George, H.A. Rey
• Frog and Toad (series), Arnold Lobel
• George and Martha (series), James Marshall
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Laura Joffee Numeroff
• Little Bear (series), Else Holmelund Minarik
• Magda's Tortillas, Becky Chavarria-Chairez
• Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann
• Sarah's Flag for Texas, Jane Alexander Knapik
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, William Steig
• The Snowy Day, Jack Keats
• The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
• Tomas and the Library Lady, Pat Mora
• Amazing Grace, Mary Hoffman

Books for Intermediate and Independent Readers

• Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan
• Love That Dog, Sharon Creech
• A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck
• Because of Winn Dixie, Kate Dicamillo
• Adaline Falling Star, Mary Pope Osborne
• Joey Pigza Loses Control, Jack Gantos
• Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson
• Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
• Miracle's Boys, Jacqueline Woodson
• Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
• Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan
• James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
• Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia Maclachlan
• Ramona (series), Beverly Cleary
• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
• My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George
• Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt

For Adults

• Ship of Fools, Katherine Anne Porter
• The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
• Music for Chameleons, Truman Capote
• Goodbye to a River, John Graves
• Mornings on Horseback, David McCullough
• Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo A. Anaya
• My Antonia and Death Comes to the Archbishop, Willa Cather
• All the Pretty Horses , Cormac McCarthy

Special Comfort Books

• The Story About Ping, Marjorie Flack
• The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Judith Viorst
• I Love You, Little One, Nancy Tafuri