Family Stories

"Family stories" isn't really a recognized genre, but it should be. Sure, most novels deal with families on some level, but we aren't talking about the dysfunctional ones so common in modern (and Russian) fiction. For us, family stories are those that celebrate family life through a particular family's story, whether it's a Ma and Pa taking their girls across country in a covered wagon, an Austrian count saving his wife and kids from the Nazis, or a Jewish family in New York prior to World War I.

Tolstoy's famous observation that "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," is constantly disproved in these stories. Unhappy families are usually unhappy as a result of selfishness and sin, while happy ones enjoy remarkably diverse experiences that broaden each individual member and the whole family unit together. That's not to say happy families never suffer—they often suffer even more than others, but the difficulties bring them closer together and build character.

By extension, families who take heed of these real and fictional families' response to hardship will find themselves similarly bonded, thankful for each other instead of resentful, happy to sacrifice individual desires for the benefit of the group rather than demanding special favors. Other than Christ's Body, the family is the most important social group for Christians, and we prefer family stories that reflect a pursuit of godliness—the too-often-neglected Papa's Wife is an excellent example.

Some of the stories here are just for fun, though. Cheaper by the Dozen may not spur you on to piety, but it will make you laugh till your sides hurt. The Sarah, Plain and Tall books aren't churchy, but the love of Jacob Witting for his children and the woman who becomes their mother is instructive for us all. Family stories make good family reading, too, because the best ones appeal to each member. Besides, any activity that brings everyone together can never be considered a waste of time.

Did you find this review helpful?
83 Items found Print
Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), Hardcover
And Then There Were Eight
by Paul Molloy
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$21.99
Cheaper By the Dozen
by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
1st edition 1st printing from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Cheaper By the Dozen
by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, notes by Frederick Houk Law
2nd School Edition from Globe Book Company
Family Stories for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dear Papa
by Thyra Ferré Bjorn
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Elephant in the Garden
by Michael Morpurgo
from Feiwel & Friends
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
by Margaret Sidney, illustrated by Anna Marie Magagna
1962, Second Printing from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Age
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Ten Speed Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Heidi
Macmillan Classics
by Johanna Spyri, illustrated by Greta Elgaard
from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Louise Brooks and illustrated by Roberta MacDonald
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Marian Edwardes and illustrated by Janet Good
from Longmeadow Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Marian Edwardes and illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi
Windermere Series 4
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright
1938 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi
Rainbow Classics
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Marian Edwards and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
1st Printing from World Publishing Company
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Marian Edwardes with uncredited illustrator
from J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi
Windermere Readers #3
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Heidi
Windermere Series 3
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright
1938 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi Grows Up
by Charles Tritten
from Golden Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Heidi Grows Up
Thrushwood Book
by Charles Tritten
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi Grows Up
by Johanna Spyri
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heidi Grows Up
A Sequel to Heidi
by Charles Tritten, illustrated Jean Coquillot
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Home Has a Heart
by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jack and Jill
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jack and Jill
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Beatrice Stevens
from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jo's Boys
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little House - Hardcover Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$139.11
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Peter Spier
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Harry Toothill
from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Graham Rust
from David R. Godine
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Men
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Men
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Little Men
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Louisa May Alcott
from Reader's Digest
for 4th-9th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Little Men
by Louisa May Alcott
from Garden City Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Men
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Men
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Men
by Louisa May Alcott
from Grosset & Dunlap
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Men
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Little Men
Rainbow Classics
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hilda van Stockum
from World Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Men
Whitman Classics Library (Unabridged)
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by David K. Stone
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Little Town on the Prairie (Pictorial Cover)
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Women
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Little Women
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
Centennial Edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hilda Van Stockum
Centennial Edition from World Publishing Company
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Women Treasury
by Carolyn Strom Collins, Christina Wyss Eriksson
from Penguin Putnam
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Maizy Chen's Last Chance
by Lisa Yee
from Yearling
for 4th-8th grade
2023 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Mama's Way
by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Mary Poppins
by P. L. Travers
from Harcourt Children's Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Mary Poppins
by P. L. Travers, illustrated by Mary Shepard
from Reynal & Hitchcock
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool
1st edition from Delacorte Press
for 6th-10th grade
2011 Newbery Award Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.00
New Land
by Sarah Lindsay Schmidt
from Robert M. McBride & Co.
for 7th-10th grade
1934 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Michael McCurdy
from Holiday House
Family Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Michael McCurdy
from Lippincott
Family Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Papa's Daughter
by Thyra Ferré Bjorn
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
Family Stories for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Papa's Wife
by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Railway Children
by E. Nesbit, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst
from Derrydale Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Railway Children
Puffin Classics
by E. Nesbit, illustrated by C. E. Brock
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Family Stories for 4th-8th grade
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Son of a Hundred Kings
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Super Jake and the King of Chaos
by Naomi Milliner
from Running Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Swiss Family Robinson
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Stories/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann David Wyss, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Rainbow Classics
by Johann David Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Jeanne Edwards
from World Publishing Company
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Children's Classics
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston, and illustrated by T.H. Robinson, Milo Winter, and Louis Rhead
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Stories/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss, Illustrated by T.H. Robinson
from Barnes & Noble
for 4th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swiss Family Robinson
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Johann Wyss, translated by W.H.G. Kingston and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-9th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Swiss Family Robinson
Everyman Children's Classics
by Johann Wyss, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Stories/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss, illustrated by David Gentleman
from Heritage Press
for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss
ca 1920 from Hurst Publishing
for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss, translated by David Clarke and illustrated by Charles Folkard
from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
This Is My Life
by Thyra Ferré Bjorn
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Time Sight
by Lynne Jonell
from Henry Holt and Company
Time Travel Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Under the Lilacs
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Garden City Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Under the Lilacs
by Louisa May Alcott
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Year Down Yonder
by Richard Peck
1st edition from Sun Dial Press
for 4th-9th grade
2001 Newbery Award Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (2 in stock)