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Whitney English

In January of 2017, I found myself with Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook and Reading Magic by Mem Fox in my nightstand pile. Both were inspiring reads. Read Aloud Handbook offered a ton of research, stories, and examples about the benefits of reading aloud to children. Reading Magic broke the process of learning how to read into simple, compact formats. Both were educational for me to read, not just as a mom who is interested in homeschooling, but especially as a mom who thinks literacy is an important foundational element of our society.

It was at some point in Mem Fox’s Reading Magic that I read: children cannot begin to learn how to read until they’ve heard 1,000 books. The statement fascinated me simply for the reason that it was quantifiable. And challenging. I wondered to myself whether each of my children had heard 1,000 books over their respective years, and concluded that the only way to know for sure would be to start counting. Also, specifically for my younger two kids, who I was in the process of teaching how to read, I thought the journey into 1,000 different books would be an interesting experiment.

So I grabbed an old composition notebook, and started recording the titles of the books we read. Each page offered room for the listing of one book title per line, and three columns, one for each of my kids, where I could tally-total each time they heard the book. Along the way I started putting heart icons beside books I loved, stars beside books that were educational and even allowed myself to complete cross-out books that I was embarrassed to even count. (Lego Ninja Warrior, I’m looking at you.) I only recorded books on the front of each page, so on the back of each page, I started making notes about the reading progress I was seeing in each kid. There was really only one rule to the challenge: the books had to be 1,000 different books. (The study Fox was citing in her book indicated that there could be multiple readings of the same book to reach the 1,000 total, but hey, it’s not the first time I’ve been known to be overly ambitious in my goal-setting.)

Friends have asked about what progress I’ve seen in my kids if any. Probably the biggest observation is that around book number 569, my four-year-old almost read Green Eggs and Ham to me in its entirety. She’s probably heard the book less than ten times in her entire life, and has had minimal phonics instruction, so I was delighted to see her interest. And perhaps that’s been the best payoff of all: in less than six months, all three of my kids (ages 7, 5, and 4 when we started this) have developed longer attention spans, no longer ask us to turn on the TV, and have shown a significant interest in reading. Books litter the floorboard of our car, our bedroom carpets, and our coffee tables. Developing life-long learners, and lovers of books, no longer seem insurmountable. The 1,000 books have helped me see that this is easier–way easier–done, than said.

With that being said, here’s the list of books we’ve read.

Icon Key:
♥ = Loved it.
★ = Educational.

  1. If Kids Ruled the World
  2. Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Brett)
  3. Bug In the Jug Wants A Hug
  4. Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!
  5. Dinosaur Farm
  6. Hoot and Peep
  7. Soup For One
  8. My Rhinoceros
  9. A, My Name is Alice
  10. The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy
  11. Albert’s Bigger Than Big Idea
  12. Ocean’s Child
  13. Alfie Runs Away
  14. Hedgie Blasts Off
  15. Gingerbread Friends ♥
  16. Babar Comes To America
  17. Tater & Tot
  18. Mouse Island
  19. If You Spent a Day with Thoreau
  20. The Mitten
  21. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
  22. Three Little Pigs (Kindle)
  23. Trains! (Kindle)
  24. Biscuit & the Little Pup
  25. Big Bear, Small Bear
  26. Biscuit Visits the Big City
  27. Cold Snap ♥
  28. King’s Commissioners
  29. Revenge of the Dinotrux
  30. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
  31. Where the Wild Things Are ♥
  32. Rabbit and the Note So Big Bad Wolf
  33. Oscar and the Very Hungry Dragon
  34. A Fish Out of Water
  35. Snow (Eastman)
  36. I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words ★
  37. Flap Your Wings
  38. Big Dog, Little Dog
  39. Fred and Ted Go Camping
  40. Rapunzel
  41. Berenstain – Picnic
  42. Berenstain – Mystery of the Lost Bone
  43. The Frank Show
  44. Of Corn Silk and Black Braids
  45. A Gift for Mama ♥
  46. Rumplestiltskin
  47. Child’s Garden of Verses
  48. Marsupial Sue
  49. Open This Little Book
  50. Just in Time (a Scholastic Reader)
  51. Return of Rip Van Winkle ♥
  52. Mission: Back to School
  53. Read, Set, School
  54. Go to Sleep, Gecko!
  55. First Grade Jitters
  56. Where is Curious George?
  57. Hello, Green Frog
  58. Berenstain – Bears in the Night
  59. 7 Habits – Just the Way I Am ♥
  60. 7 Habits – When I Grow Up ♥
  61. 7 Habits – A Place for Everything ♥
  62. 7 Habits – Sammy & the Pecan Pie ♥
  63. 7 Habits – Lily & the Yucky Cookies ♥
  64. 7 Habits – Goob & His Grandpa ♥
  65. Brown Bear, Brown Bear
  66. Rufus Goes to School
  67. Charlie the Ranch Dog – Snowy Day
  68. Buffalo Wings
  69. Moby Dick Primer
  70. Jungle Book Primer
  71. Shaka, King of the Zulus
  72. Mama Cat Has Three Kittens
  73. What Goes Up (Dragon)
  74. Big Woods Orchestra
  75. My Garden
  76. The Mysterious Package
  77. Scapegoat
  78. Edgar Gets Ready for Bed
  79. With You Always Little Monday
  80. Wagon Wheels
  81. Inspector Hoppers Mystery Year
  82. Balto
  83. April Fool! (Henry & Emily)
  84. Wherever You Are
  85. Huckleyberry Finn – Camping Primer
  86. Secret Garden Primer
  87. Midsummer Dream: Fairies Primer
  88. Les Mis: French Language Primer
  89. Little Women: Playtime Primer
  90. Andrew Henry’s Meadow ♥
  91. Harriet You’ll Drive Me Wild ♥
  92. Little Presidents ★
  93. The Beast of Monsieur Racine
  94. The Odyssey: Monster Primer
  95. Jabberwocky
  96. Hattie & The Fox
  97. Emma: Emotions Primer
  98. Are You My Mother?
  99. The Ear Book
  100. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs ♥

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Do you count the books your oldest reads to himself? No.
  • Do you include chapter books, or is this picture books only? I include whatever I read to them. If I read a chapter book to them, it’s on the list. But the list is primarily picture books.
  • Do you include board books? Yes. My kids still love them. The Little Presidents board book came in very handy during the recent election season.
  • Do you include easy readers? Depends. Some early reading/easy reading/leveled reader types of books are great. But if I found myself feeling “meh” about it, I didn’t include it on the list.
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