All Pro Dad's recommended reading list

One of my favorite Web sites is Tony Dungy’s All Pro Dad (http://www.allprodad.com/).
For those of you unfamiliar with All Pro Dad, it’s a fatherhood promoting program of Family First that was launched in 1997 with the help of Dungy, who was the head coach of the 2006 Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts. All Pro Dad uses a football theme to get its message across and has more than 50 NFL players and coaches speak across the country on the importance of being a good father.
After reading Dungy’s 2007 book, “Quiet Strength,” I became one of the more than 47,000 daily subscribers to All Pro Dad’s “Play of the Day” e-mail, which is the most widely read fatherhood e-mail in the world. (Visit the link above, and you can sign up for it too.)
Since then I’ve read hundreds of these Play of the Day e-mails, and the one that stands out foremost in my mind is the one that contained All Pro Dad’s Recommended Reading List for Children. Since I’ve never shared this list before, I’m doing so today. Before doing so, here’s the introduction to the list from All Pro Dad’s Web site.
“Once your children feel confident and comfortable reading on their own, the two of you can read aloud – together. The following list is suitable for children ages 8 and older. When the titles might be of particular interest to boys or girls specifically, (G) for girls and (B) for boys follows. If a title should be reserved for children of a certain age, the recommended age follows in parentheses.”
Without further ado, here’s the list:
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (G) (12)
- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (G)
- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
- The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
- Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (B) (11)
- The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth
- The Hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien
- The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (G)
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (G)
- The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (G)
- The Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
- Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson (G)
- Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
- Treasure Island by R.L.Stevenson (12)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (B)
In the end, I’d be interested to know how many of these you’ve read. How many have you read to your children?