Building A Twaddle-Free Library… For Free

I can’t believe that I’m about to say this. I mean I swore up and down that we would never have one in our house. But here I am… planning our new school year and I found myself with an increasing desire to buy a Kindle to build our library.

And this from a book lover!!! I love everything about the experience of reading a book… it appeals to all of my senses. Well maybe not taste. Unless I’m eating while reading of course. CS Lewis said it best, “Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.”

Here’s how it happened-

Not following any particular curriculum or using a text book package for our little homeschool, my first step in annual planning is to assess what I’d like to cover for the year and then I start list-making with a heavy emphasis on literature.

When I was through, my list was HUGE! (Remember, I love books) I certainly can’t afford to buy everything on the list- and even if I could, I wouldn’t because then I wouldn’t be a good steward of our resources when there is so much free material available out there… and because space on our bookshelf is at a premium.

So working my way through that list, I began by determining what selections our local library carries… not many, especially when so many books I’d like to share with my children this year will have Biblical themes worked throughout. Next, I searched our library’s inter-loan program which gives me access to library books all over the state. I did much better here and whittled much of my list down.

With the remainder of the list, I choose 2 or 3 different online retailers to make purchases from, did some price shopping, trying to buy used from Amazon as much as possible.

But as I kept entering titles into the Amazon search, I found over and over again that many of them were available as Kindle books…. for free. 

I had no idea! Perhaps I’m behind the times. Willingly, stubbornly in this case. But I never before realized that classical literature and titles without a copyright could be obtained free of charge!!

Now allow me to clarify, I still intend to build a beautiful family library and I envision my grandchildren visiting and taking books- real books, with crisp, crinkly pages and musty smells from our shelves. But funds for books come in slowly during this season of life and far be it from me to deny my children’s voracious appetites for reading and knowledge!

Of course, I could also download a Kindle to my computer (and temporarily have) that wouldn’t cost a dime, but if I ever hope to blog again, it wouldn’t be wise for me to make that a permanent situation. With over a hundred books between Henty & Ballantye alone, my oldest boy would commandeer my laptop and I’d never see it again. And I’m not exaggerating. He would sit and read every moment of the day if I let him.

May I share with you some titles that I’m excited to add to our “library”? Some of them we’ve read before, most are new so I can’t be responsible if there turns out to be objectionable content. The books we’ve read before, loved, and just never purchased for the home library yet will be in bold, maybe with some commentary.

(All links are affiliate links which means that should you purchase something on Amazon other than free e-books, I might earn a penny or two. Thank you for the blessing of your support!))

{Aesop}

• The Aesop for Children
  (I’ve read Aesop, but not this particular version)

{Anonymous}

• Famous Boys and How They Became Great Men

{Arthur Scott Bailey}

We’ve been reading one so far and the children love it! It’s an engaging, lengthy story with chapters relating an adventure of the main character depicting behavior typical for the animal but told in a human way. I love that my little ones are learning about bears while using their imaginations instead of just having dry facts related to them! They are left begging for more each day. 

• The Tale of Major Monkey
• The Tale of Tommy Fox
• The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat
• The Tale of Jimmy Rabbit
• The Tale of Old Mr. Crow
• The Tale of Ferdinand Frog
• The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot
• The Tale of Sandy Chipmunk
• The Tale of Billy Woodchuck
• The Tale of Bobby Bobolink
• The Tale of Jasper Jay
• The Tale of Peter Mink
• The Tale of Daddy Longlegs
• The Tale of Kiddie Katydid
• The Tale of Frisky Squirrel
• The Tale of Buster Bumblebee
• The Tale of Grumpy Weasel
• The Tale of Rusty Wren
• The Tale of Betsy Butterfly
• The Tale of the The Muley Cow
• The Tale of Dickie Deer Mouse
• The Tale of Nimble Deer
• The Tale of Benny Badger
• The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug
• The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels
• The Tale of Snowball Lamb
• The Tale of Henrietta Hen
• The Tale of Master Meadow Mouse
• The Tale of Grandfather Mole
• The Tale of Old Dog Spot
• The Tale of Timothy Turtle
• The Tale of Cuffy Bear
• The Tale of Chirpy Cricket
• The Tale of Fatty Coon
• Tale of Brownie Beaver
• The Tale of Jolly Robin
• The Tale of Solomon Owl (One chapter  is titled “Halloween,”- I skipped over it & they didn’t notice)
• The Tale of Freddie Firefly

{Arthur T. Pierson}

• George Muller of Bristol

{Beatrix Potter}

• A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories

{Charles Kingsley}

• Madam How and Lady Why: First Lessons in Earth Lore for Children

{Charles Dickens}

• A Child’s History of England

{Charles M. Sheldon}

• In His Steps

{Clara Dillingham Pierson}

• Among the Night People
• Among the Forest People
• Among the Meadow People
• Among the Farmyard People
• Among the Pond People

{Daniel DeFoe}

• Robinson Crusoe

{Elbridge Streeter Brooks}

• Historic Girls

{G.A. Henty}

My son is most excited that he will be able to get what probably amounts to the entire G.A. Henty collection at no cost… If you search, you can find over 80 listings for free. This year, The Cat of Bubastes fits into our school year. I’ve personally read The Young Carthaginian and loved it!

• The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt
• The Young Carthaginian: A Story of The Times of Hannibal

{Gene Stratton Porter}

• Freckles

{H.A. Guerber}

• The Story of the Greeks

{Harriet Beecher Stowe}

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin

{Helen Keller}

• Story of My Life

{Howard Pyle}

• Otto of the Silver Hand
• The Adventures of Robin Hood

{Jean Henri Fabre}

• Bramble Bees and Others
• The Mason Bees
• The Life of the Fly
• The Life of the Spider
• The Glow Worm  & Other Beetles
• More Hunting Wasps 
• Social Life of the Insect World

{Johann David Wyss}

• The Swiss Family Robinson
  One of our favorite tales of a dominion-taking Christian family

{Johanna Spyri}

• Heidi
  Can you believe I never read Heidi until last year?? (An abridged version doesn’t count!) I was so impressed with the lessons intertwined of finding joy in God’s sovereignty and trusting His will for our lives. 

{John Bunyan}

• Pilgrim’s Progress

{Jules Verne}

• Michael Strogoff
• Around the World in 80 Days

{Kenneth Grahame}

• The Wind in the Willows

{Lamplighter}

• The Wide, Wide World One of my all-time favorite books with a strong Christian perspective!
• The Lamplighter
• Teddy’s Button
• A Peep Behind the Scenes
• That Printer of Udell’s
• Stepping Heavenward Ok, so this one is $1.00, but I’m adding it to the list anyway- I recently finished this book as a read aloud and it was a life-changing story.
• Ishmael In the Depths
• Cobwebs and Cables 
• Jill’s Red Bag 
• Little Susy’s Little Servants 
• Christie, the King’s Servant  
• Christie’s Old Organ Or, Home, Sweet Home  
• Probable Sons  
• The Mansion  
• John Ploughman’s Talk: Plain Advice for Plain People (Illustrated) This title is penned by Charles Spurgeon and, sadly, is not free… but at $.99, I thought it deserved to be on the list. 
• Melody : the Story of a Child  
• Saved at Sea A Lighthouse Story  
• Capitola’s Peril A Sequel to ‘The Hidden Hand’  
• Hidden Hand

{Louisa May Alcott}

• Little Women  
• Little Men  
• Jo’s Boys
• An Old-Fashioned Girl

{Margaret Sydney}

• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew –I loved this story and was sad that our library didn’t have any more of the series. I never purchased them because they are out of print and spendy to buy used. How excited I am to see them here!
• Five Little Peppers and their Friends
• Five Little Peppers Abroad
• Five Little Peppers Midway
• The Adventures of Joel Pepper
• Ben Pepper

{Marie Elsie Thalheimer}

Supposedly a series of history textbooks written from a Christian perspective… I’ll be looking into these.

• An Outline of General History  
• A Manual of Ancient History  
• A Manual of Medieval and Modern History  
• A History of England  
• The New Eclectic History of the United States
• Eclectic Language Lessons

{Mary Johnston}

• To Have and To Hold 

{Mary Lamb}

• Tales from Shakespeare

{Mary M. Dodge}

• Hans Brinker, or Silver Skates

{McGuffey’s Readers}

• McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book
• McGuffey’s First Eclectic Reader
• McGuffey’s Second Eclectic Reader
• McGuffey’s Third Eclectic Reader
• McGuffey’s Fourth Eclectic Reader
• McGuffey’s Fifth Eclectic Reader
• McGuffey’s Sixth Eclectic Reader
  These are the revised readers, not the original ones and many Christian references were sadly removed from them. Still though, they are far from being twaddle.

{Nathaniel Hawthorne}

• Grandfather’s Chair I read this novel to my son years ago and remembered loving it. It’s a grandfather retelling the early history of American in the Boston area to his his grandchildren. 

{RM Ballantyne}

With over 90 titles popping up for free on a search, I’m not listing them all here for the sake of time & space. These alone will keep your reader busy for quite a while!

{Robert Louis Stevenson}

• A Child’s Garden of Verses

Love these poems, but they are definitely worthy of a place on every family’s bookshelf. Especially the edition with the Tasha Tudor illustrations

{Stephen Crane}

• The Red Badge of Courage

{Thorton W. Burgess}

• The Burgess Bird Book for Children
• The Burgess Animal Book for Children
• Adventures of Reddy Fox
• The Adventures of Prickly Porky
• The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
• The Adventures of Paddy Beaver
• Mother West Wind ‘Why’ Stories (References to “Mother Nature” as the creator)
• Blacky the Crow
• The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
• Mother West Wind’s Children
• Bowser the Hound
• The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
• Old Granny Fox
• The Adventures of Unc’ Billy Possum
• Mrs. Peter Rabbit
• The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse
• The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
• The Adventures of Mr. Mocker
• The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
• Lightfoot the Deer

Hope you found something on this list you and your children can enjoy!

Happy Reading!