Book list for a seven year-old girl

Here is a list of the books Ella read on her own in 2009.
Now. I'm sure she would want me to point out that she is eight years old, not seven, but since she just turned eight in December, most of these books were read when she was seven. She's a pretty voracious reader, my girl. I think this list contains over ninety books. Sheesh!

I took my list- which was made in the order she read them- and reorganized it for you so that books by the same author are grouped together and books in a series are together.

I have read only some of these books. I have skimmed nearly all of them. (Which means I've read various paragraphs throughout the book to get a feel for the book.) Also: Ella consistently tells me when there's a "bad part" in the book. And just so you know: her definition of a bad part is when a character disobeys their parent or says the word hate.

We try to be selective about the books we choose for her/allow her to read. That being said, even in this list there are probably a few books that I would consider borderline "twaddle". However, I'd say with 90 percent of them, that is NOT the case. And: Ella has enjoyed reading even the ones I might label "twaddlish". :)

Again, I've "coded" them as follows:

* Ella's favorites to read
** my favorites for Ella to read (since I haven't read most of these books, I starred books I am most familiar with, or books that I could tell made a lasting impression (in a good influence sort of way) on my girl.)

{books from the Reading to Learn series, Christian Light Education}
***I Wonder...
***Happy Hearts
***Doors to Discovery

{Millie series, Martha Finley}
*Millie's Unsettled Season, Book 1
*Millie's Courageous Days, Book 2
*Millie's Remarkable Journey, Book 3
*Millie's Faithful Heart, Book 4
(Note: Millie is getting too old for Ella; Millie is now 15)

{Rachel Yoder series, Wanda Brunstetter}
*Back to School
*School's Out
*Out of Control
*New Beginnings
*A Happy Heart
*Just Plain Foolishness
*Jumping to Conclusions

{Books about Martha Morse, Laura's great-grandmother, by Melissa Wiley}
***The Far Side of the Loch

{Books about Charlotte Tucker, Laura's grandmother, by Melissa Wiley}
***Little House by Boston Bay
***On Tide Mill Lane
***Across the Puddingstone Dam

{Books about Caroline Quiner Ingalls, Laura's mother, by Maria Wilkes & Celia Wilkins}
***Little House in Brookfield
***Little Town at the Crossroads
***Little Clearing in the Woods
***On Top of Concord Hill
***Across the Rolling River
***Little City by the Lake
***A Little House of Their Own

{Books about Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, by her heir, Roger Lea MacBride}
***Little House on Rocky Ridge
***Little Farm in the Ozarks
***The Land of the Big Red Apple

Note: Some of the Martha, Charlotte, Caroline, and Rose books have been republished in abridged editions. You can recognize the abridgments by their photographic covers (pictures of real girls). The orginal, unabridged editions have illustrated covers. I've found that the original, unabridged editions are becoming more difficult to find, but we're still trying to track them down so that Ella can read them all. You can find a complete list of the unabridged books here.

{Dear America series}
A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620
The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, PA, 1777
My Brother's Keeper- Virginia's Diary, Gettysburgh, PA, 1862
*Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie- The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847
Love Thy Neighbor: The Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson
*Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady (1912)
So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell Massachusetts, 1847

{Moody books/Sarah Maxwell}
***Summer with the Moodys
***Winter with the Moodys
***Autumn with the Moodys
***Spring with the Moodys

{Pioneer Daughters series/ Jean Van Leeuwen}
***Hannah of Fairfield
***Hannah's Helping Hands
***Hannah's Winter Hope
{other books by Jean Van Leeuwen}
***Cabin at Trouble Creek (Mark read this book, and liked it so much that I have it bookmarked for a future read-aloud)
Bound for Oregon

{Barbara Greenwood/Heather Collins collaborations}
***A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840
***A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841
***The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad

{books by Patricia MacLachlan}
***Sarah, Plain and Tall
***Skylark
*Caleb's Story
*More Perfect Than the Moon
*Grandfather's Dance
*Baby

{The Boxcar Children series}
Surprise Island
Mike's Mystery
Mystery Cruise
Mystery of the Dog Show
*The Campout Mystery
Houseboat Mystery

{American Girl books}
***Kirsten (all 6 books)
*The Runaway Friend (A Kirsten Mystery)

{books by Marguerite Henry}
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Justin Morgan Had a Horse

{books by Meindert DeJong}
Along Came a Dog
*Shadrach

Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross (Augusta Stevenson)
Go Free or Die: A Story about Harriet Tubman (Jerri Ferris)
I Remember the Alamo (D. Anne Love)
*Corn Farm Boy (Lenski)
Sacagawea: American Pathfinder (Flora Warren Seymour)
Cora Frear (Susan E. Goodman)
*Happy Little Family (Caudill)
Prince Tom (Jean Fritz)
Betsy-Tacy and Tib (Lovelace)
Shanghaied to China (Trailblazer books/Dave Jackson)
A Doctor Like Papa (Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, James Bernardin)
Sarah's New World: The Mayflower Adventure (Colleen L. Reece)
*Bread and Butter Indian (Anne Colver, *illustrated by Garth Williams!)
*Mandie collection, Volume 1 (Lois Gladys Leppard)
The Story of Florence Nightingale (Margaret Leighton, illus by Corinne Boyd Dillon)
The Wilds of Whip-Poor-Will Farm (Janet Foster)
*Linnea in Monet's Garden (Cristina Bjork)
*Whinny of the Wild Horses (Laundrie)
*Old Town in the Green Groves (Cynthia Rylant)
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)
*Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
*The Railway Children (E. Nesbit)
Phyllis Wheatley: America's First Black Poetess


Please let me know if you have any questions about this list or recommendations for us that you may have thought of while reading this list!