100+ Chapter Books My 7-Year-Old Loved (A Homeschool Reading List)

How Reading Became Part of Our Family Again

There was a season when we hardly read at all.

We weren't against books. We still read the occasional picture book before bed. But somewhere between pregnancies, babies, moving, and the busyness of life, reading slowly slipped out of our family culture.

Looking back, it makes me sad to think about what we missed out on.

The funny thing is, it wasn't always that way.

When my husband and I were newly married, we were poor college students living in a little house with no cell phone service and no money for internet. When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I spent hours reading aloud to her before she was even born.

After she arrived, we kept reading. Story after story. Book after book. Looking back, I think those early years helped shape her into the book-loving child she is today.

But then life changed.

We moved. I became pregnant with twins. COVID arrived. Our family grew, and our days became louder, busier, and more chaotic.

Reading quietly slipped out of our daily routine.

Years passed where we read very little. I rarely made time to read myself, and most of the reading I did with my children was short and rushed.

Then, in 2024, as I prepared to homeschool my oldest daughter, I started asking for book recommendations.

For some random, God-led reason, one of the first books I picked up was The Read-Aloud Family.

And I listened to the audiobook.

That may not sound like a big deal, but at the time it felt revolutionary. I had always believed audiobooks were somehow "cheating." I had never listened to one before.

But with four young children, sitting down to physically read a parenting book felt nearly impossible.

That audiobook changed more than my opinion on audiobooks.

It reminded me how much I missed reading with my children.

I found myself longing for those moments again. I wanted my kids gathered around me on the couch. I wanted us to get lost in stories together. I wanted them to hear stories told in their mother's voice.

So we started reading.

And goodness, did we read.

We spent hours with picture books, chapter books, poetry, and audiobooks. We built reading back into our days little by little.

I watched stories become part of our family culture again.

Characters became household names.

Books sparked conversations around the dinner table.

My children began asking for "just one more chapter."

Reading quickly became something we genuinely looked forward to.

Life has changed again since then. We welcomed our fifth child, and finding long stretches of uninterrupted reading time is harder than ever.

These days we rely on a combination of physical books, audiobooks, Yoto cards, and our library app. Reading doesn't always look the way I imagined it would.

But stories are once again woven into the fabric of our family life.

And I'm so grateful they are.

If you're in a season where reading has slipped through the cracks, I hope this encourages you. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Sometimes all it takes is one good book, one chapter, or one audiobook to begin again.

My Daughter's Favorite Books (Age 7)

I asked my seven-year-old daughter to rank all of the books she has read/listened to this past year.

Below you'll find her rankings, along with links to the books in case you're looking for your child's next favorite read.