These old fashioned books offer heart-warming stories that ring true today — because at the end of the day, kids are still just kids no matter when they lived.
Children will connect with the adolescent characters while being transported to a different time and place.
These books are perfect for older elementary and middle-school children (ages 8-12).
You can find these old fashioned books at your local library or purchase through the affiliate links provided for your convenience.
20 Heart-Warming Old Fashioned Books for Kids
Growing up I remember relishing reading Little House in the Big Woods and Heidi.
This year, I read The Penderwicks with my boys, who loved hearing about all of the adventures of the daughters and their new friend!
Children’s Old Fashioned Books
Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, No 1)
Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers.
The nine books in the timeless Little House series tell the story of Laura’s real childhood as an American pioneer, and are cherished by readers of all generations.
They offer a unique glimpse into life on the American frontier, and tell the heartwarming, unforgettable story of a loving family.
All-of-a-Kind Family
It’s the turn of the 20th century in New York’s Lower East Side and a sense of adventure and excitement abounds for five young sisters.
Follow along as they search for hidden buttons while dusting Mama’s front parlor, or explore the basement warehouse of Papa’s peddler’s shop on rainy days.
The five girls enjoy doing everything together, especially when it involves holidays and surprises.
No one could have prepared them for the biggest surprise of all!
Homer Price
Welcome to Centerburg! Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and pet skunk.
Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price
A companion to Homer Price, these imaginative and outlandish tales from all-American Centerbury will leave you in stitches.
A Little Princess
“Top 100 Chapter Books” of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal
Captain Crewe, a wealthy English widower, has been raising his only child, Sara, in India where he is stationed with the British Army.
The captain enrolls his young daughter at Miss Minchin’s boarding school for girls in London, and he orders and pays the headmistress for special treatment and exceptional luxuries for Sara, such as a private room, a personal maid and a separate sitting room.
The Secret Garden
Mary Lennox, a sickly and contrary little girl, is orphaned to dim prospects in a gloomy English manor – her only friend is a bed-ridden boy named Colin, whose prospects may be dimmer than hers.
When Mary finds the key to a Secret Garden, the magical powers of transformation fall within her reach.
Little Women
Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women.
Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
The Family Under the Bridge
Children will treasure this warm and funny adventure of family, freedom, and Santa Claus.
The heartwarming and memorable Newbery Honor-winning book about finding family in the unlikeliest places, featuring artwork by beloved illustrator Garth Williams.
Armand, an old Parisian living on the streets of Paris, relished his solitary life.
He begged and did odd jobs for money to keep himself warm and fed, and he liked his carefree life.
Then one day just before Christmas, a struggling mother and her three children walked into his life.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
This series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager.
Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day.
Heidi
In this treasured story, the orphan child, Heidi, is sent to live with her embittered grandfather high in the Swiss Alps.
Heidi’s innocent joy of life and genuine concern and love for all living things become the old man’s salvation.
Roller Skates
Follow along in the discoveries and adventures of ten-year-old Lucinda, who spends a wonderful year exploring the New York City of the 1890’s.
Swallows and Amazons
Swallows and Amazons, the book that started it all in 1930, introduces the Walker family, the camp on Wild Cat Island, the able-bodied catboat “Swallow”, and the two intrepid Amazons, plucky Nancy and Peggy Blackett.
A Long Way From Chicago
Join Joey and his sister Mary Alice as they spend nine unforgettable summers with the worst influence imaginable-their grandmother!
A Year Down Yonder
A Newbery Medal Winner * A New York Times Bestseller * An ALA Notable Book * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * A Booklist Best Book of the Year * A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Mary Alice’s childhood summers in Grandma Dowdel’s sleepy Illinois town were packed with enough drama to fill the double bill of any picture show.
But now she is fifteen, and faces a whole long year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up her neighbors-and everyone else!
Owls in the Family
In Farley Mowat’s exciting children’s story, a young boy’s pet menagerie grows out of control with the addition of two cantankerous pet owls.
The story of how Wol and Weeps turn the whole town upside down is warm, funny, and bursting with adventure and suspense.
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Times are tough around the little brown house!
The widowed Mrs. Pepper has to sew all day long just to earn enough to pay the rent and to feed the five growing Peppers.
She faces poverty and trouble with a stout heart, a smiling face, and the help of her jolly brood.
Anne of Green Gables
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.
Strawberry Girl 60th Anniversary Edition
Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking their strawberries.
But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven’t even begun their planting.
Making the new farm prosper is not easy.
There is heat to suffer through, and droughts, and cold snaps.
And, perhaps most worrisome of all for the Boyers, there are rowdy neighbors, just itching to start a feud.
Little Pear and His Friends
Little Pear is a young boy who lives in a small village in China.
Although his story takes place long ago, Little Pear is much like any little boy today — always on the lookout for excitement and adventure!
Accompany Little Pear as he goes ice fishing, masquerades as a beggar boy, finds a tiger in his house, and — best of all — gets a brand-new little brother!
The Moffats
Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary fun.
Only a Moffat could get locked in a bread box all afternoon, or dance with a dog in front of the whole town, or hitch a ride on a boxcar during kindergarten recess.
And only a Moffat could turn mistakes and mischief into hilarious one-of-a-kind adventure.
Like these old fashioned books? Find even more engaging book lists for kids with more than 100 book-themed reading lists!
Lots of great suggestions here…including a few that I had not seen.
Now that surprises me, because Barbara you are the one person I would have thought would know all of those books 🙂
I’ve got about half of these and I’ll definitely have to check out the rest…Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love these recommendations. So many great memories came flooding back just reading the titles! I’ve read most of these, but there are some new ones I need to look at. 🙂
Have you heard of Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace? That would be another wholesome, old-fashioned book (series) to add to the list.
I actually haven’t heard of Betsy-Tacy before, Kim. I’ll have to check out that series. Thanks for the tip!
The Betsy-Tacy books are just delightful–about best friends growing up together at the turn of the 20th century. Very imaginative, sweet, family-centered.
I haven’t seen a couple of these. Can’t believe I missed a good book! It looks like a great list, and I’m a big fan of old fashioned values and the days before every kid was a whiny “whimpy kid.”
This is an amazing list of books to read for sure. I loved the Secret Garden. I’ll never forget reading that book as long as I live.
great old books. You just reminded me to get copies of little women for my 2 granddaughters. TY
Little Women is one of my all-time favorites! Hope they enjoy the book 😀
Oh my goodness, it’s like you stepped into my childhood! I had completely forgotten about The Moffets! But I know I read it and loved it as a child. I’ll have to dig it up from my parents’ house. I also was obsessed with the All of a Kind family series! And The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew! And of course The Secret Garden, Little House, and the Little Princess. I think it is safe to say I trust your taste in kids’ books, and will have to check out everything else on this list. Thank you for sharing!!
Can I just say I am grinning from ear to ear? I am SO thrilled to hear that I’ve jolted you back to your childhood. Personally, some of my favorite memories are actually of books as a kid. I even remember where I was when reading some of them… including The Secret Garden, which I read on an Amtrak train on my way to my grandmother’s house 🙂 I hope you pull some of your favorites out and read them all over again. Who says we’re too old?
To add to the list:
The Railway Children — E. Nesbit
Half Magic — Edgar Eager
The Treasure Seekers — E Nesbit
The Secret of Platform 13 — Eva Ibbotson
One Dog and His Boy — Eva Ibbotson
Journey to the River Sea — Eva Ibbotson
The Little White Horse — Elizabeth Goudge **
Linnets and Valerians — Elizabeth Goudge
The Good Master — Kate Seredy
An Old-Fashioned Girl — Alcott
(The Little White Horse is back in print largely because JKR named it as her favorite book growing up.)
There were just too many to include! And these are all terrific additions 🙂