161 Sonlight Superlatives: The Best Books from Preschool to Level J

Sonlight is all about great books—biographies, novels, non-fiction, poetry anthologies, picture books, and reference volumes. Each book is carefully chosen and has to pass Sarita's Seven-Part Test:

1. Real/realistic characters
2. Solid character development
3. Content that adds to the reader's cultural literacy.
4. Intriguing, multi-dimensional plot
5. Emotionally compelling
6. Verbally beautiful
7. Re-readable

So you can be assured that each title in a Sonlight curriculum package is high quality, both in terms of academics and moral quality.

So it's a nearly impossible task to select the best Sonlight books.

They are all the best. Truly.

But every book in Sonlight has special qualities that make it a superlative in its own right. Here is a list of 161 unique superlatives (plus a few extra) taken from the Sonlight catalog of homeschool curriculum.

The Best from the Preschool Package

1. Best picture book about the glory of reading: The Bee Tree
2. Best picture book about friendship: George and Martha
3. Best party book of all time: Go, Dog. Go!
4. Best bind-up of classic picture books: Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics
5. Best picture book on faithfulness: Horton Hatches the Egg
6. Most highly decorated bind-up: Make Way for McCloskey
7. Best picture book to gently explain death: Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs
8. Best animal conservation picture book: Noah’s Ark
9. Best illustrated Mother Goose: Mother Goose

Best preschool picture book for search and find (no longer in the Preschool Package): Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

The Best from the PreKindergarten Package

1. Most detailed and creative look at human diversity: People
2. Easiest way to gently teach about giving: Stories from Africa
3. Best large-format art book: A Child’s Book of Art
4. Most cheery art collection: Eric Carle’s Animals Animals
5. Best way to easily check a student’s learning readiness: Developing the Early Learner
6. Best science book of all time: The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature
7. Best introduction to machines: How Do You Lift a Lion?
8. Most creative geology book: How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
9. Best introduction to the size of the universe: Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?
10. Best early elementary introduction to subatomic particles: What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?
11. Best look at seasonal changes in the northern United States: The Year at Maple Hill Farm

Best subversive stories told by enslaved people (no longer in the Pre-K Package): The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit

Most perennially popular Victorian stories and illustrations (no longer in the Pre-K Package): The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit

The Best from History / Bible / Literature K

1. Best book on small home living: The Boxcar Children
2. Best book on the magic of math: A Grain of Rice
3. Catchiest music to memorize and hide God's Word in young hearts: Sing the Word! Teach Me Your Paths CD
4. Most unexpected use of chewing gum and a toothbrush: My Father’s Dragon
5. Most charming book on manners: Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book
6. Most delightful book about friendship, courage, and community: Heartwood Hotel: A True Home
7. Best introduction to maps and map reading: Maps and Globes
8. Most fascinating book chronicling the celebration trip at the opening of the Erie Canal: The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal

The Best from History / Bible / Literature A

1. Most comprehensive and interesting children’s Bible: Egermeier’s Bible Story Book
2. Best time travel graphic novel: Game On in Ancient Greece
3. Best story of a tragic accident redeemed: Out of Darkness
4. Best elementary book that will make you both laugh-out-loud and weep: Adventures with Waffles
5. Best book on thoughtless bullying and the power of forgiveness: The Hundred Dresses
6. Best stories about good-hearted BFFs who always end up in trouble: In Grandma’s Attic
7. Best book about life on a lighthouse: The Light at Tern Rock
8. Sweetest introduction to World War II: Twenty and Ten

The Best from History / Bible / Literature B

1. Most astonishing story of God’s provision: George Muller
2. Most simple and memorable introduction to King Tut: Tut’s Mummy: Lost and Found
3. Best overview of the archaeological process: Archaeologists Dig for Clues
4. Best book for the future architect or contractor: Wonderful Houses Around the World
5. Best story of unexpected friendship: Charlotte’s Web
6. Best tutorial on good story-telling: Gooney Bird Greene [not sure if Sonlight is for you? Get this one free!]
7. Best story of a boy and his dog: Henry Huggins
8. Best story of a boy and his skunk: Homer Price
9. The poetry book that will make your children ask for more: National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry
10. Funniest stories of predators as pets: Owls in the Family
11. Best example of empathy gone too far: Understood Betsy
12. Most practical science fair experiment: The Year of the Baby
13. Most wise shepherd and most heroic sheep: Mountain Born

The way we all wish we could teach (no longer in HBL B): The Year of Miss Agnes

The Best from History / Bible / Literature C

1. Catchiest, stick-in-your-mind songs to learn geography: Audio Memory Geography Songs
2. The most unqualified missionary who went on to do astonishing things: Gladys Aylward
3. Best updated prayer guide: Window on the World
4. Best story of using your skills and gifts, even if they don’t seem that amazing: About Average
5. Largest collection of stories over two millennia old: The Aesop for Children
6. The best celebration of opera and insects: The Cricket in Times Square
7. An astonishing opportunity to see a person in the face of the enemy: The Little Riders
8. Best summer vacation story: The Penderwicks
9. Best story of Italy, an island, and a discovery: Red Sails to Capri
10. Best book about publishing a book: The School Story
11. Best book about retirement gone wrong: The Twenty-One Balloons
12. Astonishing story of cultural transformation: And the Word Came with Power
13. Best poetry book: 104 Poems of Whimsy and Wisdom to Delight Children of All Ages

The Best from History / Bible / Literature D

1. Best American history books from an unusual angle: Landmark History of the American People, Vols. 1 and 2
2. Best book about how mathematics can change the world: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
3. Outstanding historical fiction about the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution: Johnny Tremain
4. Best horse-racing book from early America: Justin Morgan Had a Horse
5. Best first-person account of the burning of the White House in 1814: The White House is Burning
6. Most thought-provoking book on the nature of slavery and freedom: Walk the World’s Rim
7. Best book to ask, “Just what was so bad about the Quakers?”: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
8. For all who yearn to make their living space just a little prettier: The Journeyman
9. Best look into of the most iconic structures in the United States: Alamo All-Stars
10. Most exciting story of the thwarting of an assassination attempt: Phoebe the Spy
11. Best book on wishing for rain: Sarah, Plain and Tall
12. Most astonishing story about prophetic dreams: Sarah Whitcher’s Story
13. Most fascinating book on early American transportation: Timmy O’Dowd and the Big Ditch
14. Best cameo appearance of a famous American: The Cabin Faced West
15. Most moving ending of a simple book: Stone Fox
16. Most fascinating story of uniting the Iroquois people: Peacemaker

Best story of the lumber trade down the Mississippi (no longer in HBL D): Swift Rivers

The Best from History / Bible / Literature E

1. Most inspirational story of abolition across the pond: One Voice
2. Best collection of well-known songs from American history: Songs About America
3. Outstanding age-appropriate overview of two cataclysmic events: The World Wars
4. Gorgeous look at Bible translation and the resulting transformation: In Search of the Source
5. Best overview of the Civil War, including the western theater: Across Five Aprils
6. Most delightful settler story: Caddie Woodlawn
7. Most outrageous cattle drive: The Great Turkey Walk
8. Astonishing story of a large-scale and temporary public works project: The Great Wheel
9. Best view of immigration, integration, and baseball: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
10. Fantastic story of the boy who moves west and breaks ten toes: Little Britches
11. How making maple syrup dispels depression: Miracles on Maple Hill
12. Most inspirational story of how to live in the midst of broken racial relations: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
13. Best book to make you want to see an eclipse: Every Soul a Star
14. Most gutsy move by a 19-year-old old: Bruchko
15. Most rollicking adventures during the Gold Rush: By the Great Horn Spoon
16. Best story set in an art museum: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
17. Best scientific inquiry into a common allergen: George Washington Carver
18. Most triumphant story from an unlikely hero: Helen Keller
19. Most lucky breaks for two young entrepreneurs: Henry Reed, Inc.
20. Best story for budding epidemiologists: Hero Over Here
21. Most interesting coming-of-age story using good business: The Seventeenth Swap
22. Biggest breakthrough for two bicycle repairmen: The Wright Brothers

The Best from History / Bible / Literature F

1. Best overview of 100 strategic cities you’ve mostly never heard of: 100 Gateway Cities
2. Most moving introduction to the art of paper folding: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
3. Most unexpected looks at everyday objects: All the Small Poems
4. Best book to make you thankful to live where you do: Breaking Stalin’s Nose
5. Best book with interwoven plot points: The Horse and His Boy
6. Most unexpected book from the country that once built the largest empire the world has ever seen: I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade
7. Most moving memoir of a Vietnamese boyhood: The Land I Lost
8. Hardest example of a moment of inattention gone wrong, and the redemption afterwards: Rickshaw Girl
9. Most outstanding Cinderella story set in Arabia: Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
10. Best revision of a classic story: Shadow Spinner
11. Most outstanding book that captures a slice of life in a specific time: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
12. Best single-minded purpose through an exotic locale: Daughter of the Mountains
13. Most delightful mix of Chinese folk tales, beautiful illustrations, and a successful quest: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
14. Most dramatic story of falconry: Ali and the Golden Eagle
15. Best book to practice a wide range of accents: Around the World in Eighty Days
16. Most resilient survival story of a life under siege: Burying the Sun
17. Best book for thoroughbred lovers: King of the Wind
18. Most intense pursuit of the perfection of paper, sticks, and wind: The Kite Fighters
19. Best look at the difficulty of growing rice: Li Lun, Lad of Courage
20. Longest delay of absolution (but it comes in the end): A Beautiful Lie

The Best from History / Bible / Literature G

1. Most amazing expansion of a single line from the Bible to a complete and compelling story: God King
2. Most dramatic triumph over an evil relative: The Golden Goblet
3. Best adventure story: The Great and Terrible Quest
4. Most creative look at the reason behind the world’s most famous painting: The Second Mrs. Giaconda
5. Best introduction to a country-specific ceramic art: A Single Shard [not sure if Sonlight is for you? Get this one free!]
6. Most fascinating look at an unexpected warfare innovation: Black Horses for the King
7. Best single source to get a wider perspective on biblical times: The Bronze Bow
8. Best spy story: Mara, Daughter of the Nile
9. Most unexpected use of Medieval Catholic belief in the afterlife: A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
10. Fascinating look at a sport most likely to have PETA protestors: Shadow of a Bull

The Best from History / Bible / Literature H

1. Most insightful look at why not all roads lead to God: But Don’t All Religions Lead to God?
2. The challenges of being female in a male-dominated world: The Breadwinner
3. Best detective work to stop contamination: The Great Trouble
4. Most delightful story ever set in a choir: A Murder for Her Majesty
5. Most charismatic protagonist of all time: The Sherwood Ring
6. Best story to make you want to climb a mountain: Banner in the Sky
7. Funniest Christmas story that will also make you think: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
8. Best book about art conservation, both in times of war and afterwards: Under the Egg
9. Most dramatic look at the aftermath of the Battle of Dunkirk: The War That Saved My Life
10. Most moving story of surviving the genocide before the Nazis: The Endless Steppe
11. Best book to never take potatoes for granted again: Nory Ryan’s Song
12. The greatest escape of gold bullion: Snow Treasure

The Best from History / Bible / Literature J

1. Most unexpected look at how people fared when God spoke clearly to them: Disappointment with God
2. Most exciting look at the unmatchable gift of God: What’s So Amazing About Grace?
3. Best real life sabotage story: Bomb
4. Best explanation of why Darwin’s work doesn’t hold together: Evolution 2.0
5. Most reluctant missionary: Ida Scudder
6. Best description of eating chocolate: Stuff Matters
7. Best secret code in wartime: Code Talkers
8. Most interconnected story about a harmonica: Echo
9. Best book about life with dyslexia: Fish in a Tree
10. Most gorgeous story of a musician in training: The Mozart Season
11. Best book of nature poems with photos to match: National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry
12. Best Shakespeare revisionist history: Shakespeare’s Secret
13. Most classic ghost story: A Christmas Carol
14. Best look at varying levels of technology: Enchantress from the Stars
15. Most interesting look at how painting a door can change your life: The Gammage Cup
16. Most memorable stories about dandruff, snakes, and fighting for Greece in WWII: Going Solo
17. Best Maid Marian: The Outlaws of Sherwood
18. Best trickster tale: The Thief
19. Best book for pun-lovers: The Westing Game

Sonlight doesn't shy away from hard topics. Nor does it whitewash the shameful parts of history. Instead, it presents difficult themes through age-appropriate books—the best books. Combined with the notes in your Instructor's Guide and your own parental guidance, Sonlight books teach your child the ugliness and the beauty of our world.

A thread of redemption runs throughout Sonlight because it is a Christ-centered curriculum. So while evil is not erased from our lessons, it is always offset with the much greater force of good.

If you're ready to move to a twaddle-free curriculum based on quality literature, switch to Sonlight.