All of a Kind Family

Author:  Sydney Taylor
Lexile measure: 750
Language:  no swear words, no potty language.  There are some ethnically derogatory words used (describing Italians and Poles). In my opinion these are not used in a derogatory way, but they are used to reinforce some ethnic stereotypes that were common in the time when the book was written but are not common anymore.  I think for most really young children, the frequency is such that they probably would not be likely to notice or use these words later.
Violence:  None
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Almost all the children get the measles, but no one gets close to dying.  Ethnic and religious (Jew/Gentile) stereotypes.  A lot of discussion of Jewish religious customs, but not in a proselytizing kind of a way.  There are a couple of romantic story elements.
Illustrations:  black and white line drawings, every few pages
Plot:  moderately complex

My daughter cried when we had to return this to the library.  This is a nice wholesome girl book and also a nice introduction to some of the Jewish holidays, as well as to turn of the century city life.  This is a series, but you probably won't find most of the rest of it in the library, as the rest of the series is mostly out of print.  We were disappointed by that, but we loved this book.

Winnie the Pooh

Author:  A.A. Milne
Lexile measure: 790
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language.  I think the worst that it gets is when Pooh  is referred to as being of "little brain" and when Eeyore  says that some animals have "nothing but fluff" in the their heads (which is true, but I'm not sure I'd want my kids saying that to another kid, KWIM?)
Violence: Christopher Robbin carries a toy gun and shoots it at Pooh in the first chapter.  Some kids might find the idea of a "Heffalump" or a "Woozle" overly frightening, since Piglet is frightened of them.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Milne does kind of make light of Christopher Robbin's spelling.  If your child can't spell, they won't get it, but its not essential for most of the book.
Illustrations:  black and white line drawings, every few pages
Plot:  mildly complex.   This book is meant to be read in sequence, but it would not be badly harmed if you read some chapters and skipped others.

My kids love Pooh.  I think it's all the songs.  I have to sing them, too!  Seriously, though, these books are better written than their Disney counterparts (though my daughter feels that the illustrations would be better if they were in color) and in some ways are best read in early childhood.

Little House on the Prairie

Author:  Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lexile measure: 760
Language:  Acceptable, no potty language or swearing
Violence:  This story is best understood in the context of the conflict between white settlers and Native Americans.  There is a mention of "massacre", though younger readers do not need to understand exactly what that means to understand that the white settlers were afraid of the Indians.  Also, Pa regularly carries a gun.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Jack, the dog, nearly drowns.  Ma is injured by a falling log.   Racism is also addressed in a fairly simple manner.
Illustrations:  Black and white drawings, every few pages
Plot:  moderately complex

Just be prepared that your child may play like a nice ladylike pioneer girl, or may run around screaming and playing "gun" after reading this book.   We had some serious discussions about some of the big kid topics in this book.  I'm not sure how much sank in.  But anyway, ours copy is falling apart--actually in complete disrepair-- and the others in the series are not much farther behind.  The writing is really superb and the topics that might be of issue are not gratuitous, they are part of the real threats people faced settling the West, and are covered in a way that elementary school kids (but maybe not 3 year olds) can appreciate without being overwhelmed by them.

Once you get to Silver Lake, there are also passages about some pretty heavy adult topics. also the reading level advances to an adult level.  So, if you get the complete set, you might consider locking up some of the later books until your child is at least a teen.

The Magic Schoolbus Wild Whale Watch

Author: Joanna Cole
Lexile measure: 590
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language.  There are some puns, which some children may understand and some may not.
Violence:  None.
Big Kid Mature Topics:   Some of the characters get temporarily "lost" without radio contact, which may be mildly scary to some young children.
Illustrations:  Black and white drawings every several pages
Plot:  mildly complex

My DD flew through this one, but seemed to enjoy it.  She says that MS is her favorite.  Magic Schoolbus books come in several flavors.  We find the chapter books and the original series the most interesting.  They are packed with scientific facts and usually I learn something new when I read them, too.  The science readers really may only have one or two basic concepts and the plot lines are very basic.

Note:  The Magic Schoolbus books on dinosaurs have evolutionary content.  They also contain dated information.  For example, one of the books discusses the "brontosaurus".

What's a Lexile measure?

A Lexile measure is a number that captures how technically difficult a text is to read, based on word frequency and sentence length.  It is not a measure of grade level proficiency, nor of ease of comprehension.   I use it to estimate how difficult a text may be to read.
200-300 a very easy first step reader
400-500  more complex with a real story or maybe early chapters
700-800 real chapter books with complex plots, generally for the proficient elementary school reader
>1000 an adult level book

That being said, there are a LOT of outliers.   I mostly use Lexiles to rule out books that will be too easy, than to rule out books that may or may not be too hard.   This is because a lot of perfectly good early chapter books have complex sentence structure or vocabulary while at the same time having juvenile content and complexity of plot.

See www.lexile.com for more information.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Author:  Beverly Cleary
Lexile measure: 860
Language:  No swear words, some use of name calling ("dumb", "stupid")
Violence:  The fact that humans use various measures against mice is central to the plot.  Poisoning, traps, etc. are mentioned as threats.  The main character is nearly vacuumed.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  A child gets moderately ill but nowhere near dying.  Ralph's father is already dead from poisoning.  There is some commentary about growing up and how it feels to not be grown up yet and wish you were, including how parents may not understand.
Illustrations:  black and white line drawings, every few pages
Plot:  moderately complex

My 4 year old daughter liked this book enough to ask for the rest of the series, but I wasn't  pleased with some of the language nor with the attitude toward parents.  The second book in the series also talks about divorce as a side theme.

Charlotte's Web

Author:  E.B. White
Lexile measure: 680
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language
Violence:  The fact that pigs are turned into food is central to the plot.  This might be scary to some sensitive kids.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Fern goes off with Henry Fussy at the fair and there is some hint of pairing off, but a little kid would easily miss this nuance.   Charlotte dies at the end of the book.
Illustrations:  Black and white line drawings, every few pages
Plot:  moderately complex

My 4 year old loved this book when she was 3.  She would act out scenes with her stuffed pig, whom she still calls Wilbur.  There is a lot in this book for the very young, as well as for older readers.  Also, a plus, the chapter numbers are Roman numerals, for those introducing addition as well as reading at this level.

About us

I am the mom of 2 beautiful children.   My oldest taught herself to read at about 3 years old.  This blog reviews children's books we are reading from the perspective of the very young precocious reader who may have the technical ability to read, but not the emotional maturity to understand content.  Happy reading to all!