“We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”
Charlotte Mason
Nature Lore Books for Form 1-2 (grades 1-6)
Some examples for form 1 students:
Students read 30-40 pages from two of these books each term.
- Eyes and No Eyes Series by Arabella Buckley (Charlotte Mason assigned one or half of one of these books every single term for form 1 students. There is nothing quite like them. They may seem densely packed with information, but they are still a quality living book and suit this category perfectly.)
- Dallas Lore Sharp’s Fall of the Year, Winter, Spring of the Year, and Summer (I prefer the quality of Yesterday’s Classics on these)
- Christian Liberty Nature Readers, Books 1-5 by Worthington Hooker (these progress in reading level)
- African Critters by Robert Haas (95 pp. but PB style, 8 sections. Sometimes Charlotte Mason assigned a book in this spot that was of zoo animals or of animals in far off places.)
- Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers by John Burroughs
- A Bunch of Wild Flowers for the Children by Ida Prentice Whitcomb (140 pp.)
- A Pair of Wings by Marilyn Singer, (31 pp.)
Some examples for form 2 students:
Students read 30-40 pages of one of these books each term, and therefore will continue in the chosen book for several years.
- The Storybook of Science by Jean Henri Fabre
- The Secret of Everyday Things by Jean Henri Fabre (381 pp.)
- Insect Adventures by Jean Henri Fabre (298 pp.)
- The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp, 214 pages
- Animal Life in Fields and Garden by Jean Henri Fabre (412) **harder
- Nearer Nature by Jim Arnosky (160 pp.)
- Life and Her Children by Arabella Buckley
Special Study Books (any age depending on reading level)
- Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes (122 pp.)
- Pagoo by Holling C Holling (88 pp.)
- Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers by John Burroughs (144 pp.)
- A Child’s Walk in the Wilderness by Paul Molyneaux (229 pp.)
- The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter (48 pp.)
- Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst (32 pp.)
- Dwellers of the Marsh Realm by Archie P McKishnie (79 pp.)
- Rascal by Sterling North (192 pp.)
- North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson (53 pp.)
- Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin
- Junior Science Book of Pond Life by Alexander Crosby
- Reptiles Do the Strangest Things by Leonora & Art Hornblow (also insects, animals, birds, fish)
- Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes
- Trees Every Child Should Know by Julia Ellen Rogers
Clara Dillingham
- Among the Pond People
- Among the Night People
- Among the Meadow People
- Among the Forest People
- Among the Farmyard People
Robert M. McClung (grade ~3-6)
- Ruby Throat: The Story Of A Hummingbird
- Luna: the Story of a Moth
- Sphinx: The Story of a Caterpillar
- Green Darner: The Story of a Dragonfly
- Major: The Story Of A Black Bear
- Leaper: The Story of an Atlantic Salmon
- Spike: The story of a Whitetail Deer
- Whitetail
- Otus: The Story of a Screech Owl
- Honker: The Story of a Wild Goose
- Lili: A Giant Panda of Sichuan
- Redbird: The Story of a Cardinal
- Buzztail: The Story Of A Rattlesnake
- Luna: The Story of a Moth
- Whitefoot: The Story of a Wood Mouse
- Samson: Last of the California Grizzlies
- Whooping Crane
- Horseshoe Crab
- America’s First Elephant
- Possum
- Spotted Salamander
- Bees, Wasps, and Hornets, and How They Live
- Peeper, First Voice of Spring
William J. Long
- Secrets of the Woods
- Ways of Wood Folk
- Wilderness Ways
- School of the Woods
- Wood Folk at School
- A Little Brother to the Bear
- Northern Trails
Thornton Burgess
- The Burgess Bird Book for Children
- The Burgess Animal Book for Children
- The Burgess Book of Nature Lore
- The Burgess Seashore Book for Children
George F. Mason (~80-100 pp, grade ~4-8)
- Animal Homes
- Animal Tracks
- Animal Weapons
- Animal Clothing
- Animal Ways
- Animal Teeth
- Animal Habits
- Animal Feet
- Animal Sounds
- Animal Tails
- Animal Tools
- Animal Vision
Glenn Orlando Blough (grade ~3-6)
- The Tree on the Road to Turntown
- Who Lives in This House: A Story of Animal Families
- Christmas Trees and How They Grow
- After the Sun Goes Down: The Story of Animals at Night
- Who Lives in This Meadow? A Story of Animal Life
- Discovering Insects
- Who Lives at the Seashore?: Animal Life Along the Shore
- Bird Watchers and Bird Feeders
- Discovering cycles
Jean Craighead George
(The Thirteen Moons series, “for children in the middle grades”, ~50 pp.)
- The Moon of the Owls (January)
- The Moon of the Bears (February)
- The Moon of the Salamanders (March)
- The Moon of the Chickarees (April)
- The Moon of the Monarch Butterflies (May)
- The Moon of the Fox Pups (June)
- The Moon of the Wild Pigs (July)
- The Moon of the Mountain Lions (August)
- The Moon of the Deer (September)
- The Moon of the Alligators (October)
- The Moon of the Grey Wolves (November)
- The Moon of the Winter Bird (December)
- The Moon of the Moles (December and January)
Alice E. Goudey
- Here come the Seals
- Here come the Lions
- Here Come the Cottontails
- Here Come the Bees
- Here Come the Elephants
- Here Come the Squirrels
- Here Come the Deer
- Here Come the Whales
- Here Come the Beavers
- Here Come the Dolphins
- Here Come the Raccoons
- Here Come the Bears
- Here Come the Wild Dogs
Herbert Spencer Zim
- Frogs and Toads
- Sharks
- Owls
- Rabbits
- Snakes
Margaret Waring Buck
- Along the Seashore
- Animals through the Year
- Country Boy
- How They Grow
- In Ponds and Streams
- In Woods and Fields
- In Yards and Gardens
- Pets from the Pond
- Small Pets from Woods and Fields
- Where They Go in Winter
Olive L. Earle
- Robins in the Garden
- Birds and Their Beaks
- Birds and Their Nests
- Thunder Wings: The story of a ruffed grouse
- Birds of the Crow Family
- White Patch A City Sparrow
- The Swans of Willow Pond
- Pond and Marsh Plants
- Squirrels in the Garden
- Pigs, Tame and Wild
- Strange Companions in Nature
- Paws, Hoofs, and Flippers
- Strange Lizards
- Strange Fishes of the Sea
- Praying Mantis
- Mice at Home and Afield
- The Octopus
- Animals and Their Ears
- Scavengers
- Camels and Llamas
- The Rose Family
- Strangler Fig & Other Strange Plants
- Seeds and Seed Travels
- Peas, Beans, and Licorice
- Nuts
- Animals and Their Young by Glenn Blough and Olive Earle
- Animals That Live Together by Glenn Blough and Olive Earle
Millicent Selsam
- Animals of the Sea
- See Along the Shore
- Hidden Animals
- Keep Looking!
- Terry and the Caterpillars
- Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints
- When an Animal Grows
- How Animals Tell Time
- How Animals Sleep
- How Animals Eat
- How Animals Live Together
- The Courtship of Animals
- How to be a Nature Detective
- Language of Animals
- See Through the Forest
- See Through the Jungle
- See Through the Lake
- Birth of a Forest
- Stars, Mosquitoes and Crocodiles: The American Travels of Alexander Von Humboldt
- Let’s get Turtles
- How Puppies Grow
- Tony’s Birds
- A First Look at Birds
- A First Look at Birds Nests
- A First Look at Spiders
- A First Look at Seashells
- A First Look at Whales
- A First Look at Cats
- A First Look at Owls, Eagles and Other Hunters in the Sky
- A First Look at Poisonous Snakes
- A First Look at Animals that Eat Other Animals
- A First Look at Animals With Backbones
- A First Look at Animals Without Backbones
- A First Look at Snakes, Lizards and Other Reptiles
- A First Look at Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses
- A First Look at Sharks
- A First Look at Fish
- A First Look at Insects
- Ants
- Egg to Chick
- All About Eggs and How They Change Into Animals
- Backyard Insects
- Strange Creatures That Really Lived
- Questions and Answers About Horses
- Questions and Answers About Ants
- The Bug That Laid the Golden Eggs
- Where Do They Go: Insects in Winter
- Plenty of Fish
- Harlequin Moth: Its Life Story
- All Kinds of Babies
- Cotton
- More Potatoes
- Seeds and More Seeds
- Bulbs, Corms, and Such
- Plants that Heal
- Plants We Eat
- The Don’t Throw It, Grow It Book of Houseplants
- Eat the Fruit, Plant the Seed
- A First Look at Flowers
- The Amazing Dandelion
- The Apple and Other Fruits
- Peanut
- Maple Tree
- Things to Do with Trees
- Tree Flowers
- Popcorn
- The Carrot and Other Root Vegetables
- The Tomato and Other Fruit Vegetables
Wilfrid Bronson
- The Grasshopper Book
- Water People
- Children of the Sea
- Cats
- Turtles
- Coyotes
- Dogs
- Starlings
- The Chisel-Tooth Tribe (squirrels and such)
- Goats
- Horns and Antlers
- The Wonder World of Ants
- Beetles
Alice Goudey
- Here Come the … (seals, squirrels, dolphins, cottontails, whales, deer, lions, raccoons, bees, beavers, bears, elephants, wild dogs)
- Butterfly Time
- Red Legs (grasshopper)
- Graywings
- The Merry Fiddlers
Charles L. Ripper
- Trout
- Bats
- Hawks
- Mosquitos
- Foxes and Wolves
- Woodchucks and Their Kin
- The Weasel Family
- Swallows
- Diving Birds
- Ground Birds
- Moles and Shrews
Ferdinand Lane
- All About The Flowering World
- The Story of Trees
- All About the Insect World
- All About Animals and Their Young
- All About The Sea
- Thy Mysterious Sea
- The Story of Mountains
- Earth’s Grandest Rivers
- The World’s Great Lakes
Dorothy Childs Hogner
- Grasshoppers And Crickets
- Sea Mammals
- Frogs And Polliwogs
- Endangered Plants
- Spiders
- Earthworms
- Water Over The Dam
- Water Beetles
- Snails
- A Book Of Snakes
- Butterflies
Alice Hopf
- Monarch Butterflies
- Pigs Wild and Tame
- Biography of a Rhino
- Misunderstood Animals
- Wild Cousins of the Dog
- Biography of an Ant
- Biography of an Armadillo
- Wild Cousins of the Cat
- Biography of an American Reindeer
- Wild Cousins of the Horse
- Biography of a Giraffe
- Animal and Plant Life Spans
- Nature’s Pretenders
- Biography of a Snowy Owl
- Whose House Is It?
- Chickens and Their Wild Relatives
- Hyenas
- Bats
Dorothy Shuttlesworth
- The Story of Ants
- Animal Camouflage
- All Kinds of Bees
- The Story of Horses
- Gerbils and Other Small Pets
- How Wild Animals Fight
- The Story of Cats
- The Wildlife of South America
- Zoos in the Making
Marine animals and the ocean
- The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
- Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson
- Children of the Sea by Wilfrid Bronson
- Who Lives at the Seashore? By Glenn Blough
- The Silent World by Captain J.Y. Cousteau
- A Whale for the Killing by Farley Mowat (250 pp.)
- The Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
- Along the Seashore by Margaret Waring Buck
- Fiddler Crab by Mary Adrian
- Wild Folk at the Seashore by Carroll Lane Fenton
- Shimmer and Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life by Jim Arnosky
- Wild Folk at the Seashore by Carroll Lane Fenton – my favorite
- Collins Pocket Guide to the Sea Shore by John Barrett – field guide
- Life of the Seashore by William H. Amos
- Exploring the Seashore William H. Amos
- Sunlit Sea by Augusta Goldin (LRFO)
- Bottom of the Sea by Augusta Goldin (LRFO)
- First Book of the Ocean by Sam & Beryl Epstein
- Coral Reefs by Lois & Louise Darling
- Oceans by Irving & Ruth Adler
- Wonders of the Sea by Louis Sabin
- See Through the Sea by Millicent Selsam
- Oceans by Seymour Simon
Winter and Snow books
- Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (33 pp.)
- Snowflakes in Photographs by W. A. Bentley
- See my post Winter Nature Study Inspiration. Scroll to the bottom for a list of fun books.
Middle and High School Nature Lore and Special Study Books
- The Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell
- Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
- A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
- This Green World by Rutherford Platt
- The Songs of Trees by David George Haskell
- The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
- Our only world: ten essays by Berry, Wendell
- The Geese of Beaver Bog by Bernd Heinrich
- A Year in the Maine Woods by Bernd Heinrich
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
- John Burroughs’ America: Selections from the Writings of the Naturalist by John Burroughs
- Deep Woods by John Burroughs
- The Wilderness World of John Muir, Edited by Edwin Way Teale (review)
- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
- Making Sense: Animal Perception and Communication by Bruce Brooks (68 pp.)
- Anatomy Of A Rose: Exploring The Secret Life Of Flowers by Sharman Apt Russell
- The Rose Family by Olive L. Earle
- Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
- Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp
- Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
- The Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin
- The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White
- The Outermost House by Henry Beston
- Hal Borland’s Book of Days by Hall Glen Borland
- Wild Life of Orchard and Field by Ernest Ingersoll
- The Wit of the Wild by Ernest Ingersoll
- Books by John Muir
- Wilderness Essays
- The Story of My Boyhood and Youth
- Our National Parks
- The Mountains of California
- Stickeen
- Travels in Alaska
- A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
- The Boyhood of a Naturalist
- Nature Writings
- The American Wilderness
- Books by Jacques Costeau
Gene Stratton-Porter
- The Keeper of The Bees
- Freckles
- A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (233 pp.)
- The Song of the Cardinal
Edwin Way Teale
- The American Seasons
- Journey Into Summer
- North With the Spring
- Autumn Across America
- A Naturalist Buys An Old Farm
- A Walk through the Year
Jean-Henri Fabre
- The Life of the Spider
- The Life of the Fly
- Bramble-Bees and Others
- The Life of the Grasshopper
- Insect Adventures
- The Life of the Caterpillar
- Field, Forest, and Farm
Resources gathered in part from Sabbath Mood Homeschool