For almost a year now, I’ve been compiling a list of good children’s books – titles I want my own children to read, and ones I would love to keep in our home library.
My children are new readers, but I know that once they take off it’ll be difficult to keep them supplied with good books that are appropriate for their age.
Some of these titles are books I read as a girl, others I’ve discovered in the last few years. You may not agree with my age classifications, but books in the older age group are there because they are more intense, or have deeper themes that a younger child may not grasp, or some romance. I put a star beside my favorite titles.
I hope my list can help you if you are looking for good books for school age children, and if you have more to add, leave them in the comments!
BOOK LIST
Sophie Mouse (Poppy Green)
Mr. Putter and Tabby series (Cynthia Rylant)
Henry and Mudge series (Cynthia Rylant)
Mouse Soup
Hey Jack! series from Paper Pie (Usborne books)
I Can Read! Scholastic series level 1
Little Bear (Else Holmelund Minarik)
Frog and Toad books (Arnold Lobel)
Poppleton (Cynthia Rylant)
Early readers level 1 from Paper Pie (Usborne books)
Bright and Early Berenstain Bears
Little House on the Prairie chapter books
Saving Sammy (Eric Walters) 6+
*My Father’s Dragon series (Ruth Stiles Gannett) 6+
*James Herriot children’s collection 6+
Other books by Cynthia Rylant
*The Whipping Boy (Sid Fleischmann) 8+
Betsy-Tacy (Maud Hart Lovelace) 8+
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) 8+
Cam Jansen mystery series (David A. Adler) 8+
Thornton Burgess animal stories (Freddy Fox, Jimmy Skunk etc) 8+
The Nerviest Girl in the World (Melissa Wiley) 8+
The Courage of Sarah Noble (Alice Dalgliesh) 8+
*Charlotte’s Web (E. B. White) 8+
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson) 8+
Heidi (Johanna Spyri) 8+
*The Happy Hollisters series (Jerry West) 8+
Winnie the Pooh Collections (A.A. Milne) 8+
Paddle to the Sea (Holling Clancy Holling) 8+
Balto and the Great Race (Elizabeth Kimmel) 8+
Anak the Eskimo Boy (Piet Prins) 8+
*Cabin on Trouble Creek 8+
The Secret Garden
One Dog and His Boy (Eva Ibbitson) 8+
Leo of Alaska (Edith J. Agnew) 8+
*The Boxcar Children series 8+
Mr. Poppers Penguins (Richard Atwater) 8+
*Grandma’s Attic series (Arlene Richards) 8+
*Henry Huggins (Beverly Cleary) 8+
Ribsy (Beverly Cleary) 8+
The Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White) 8+
The Incredible Journey (Sheila Burnford) 8+
*Henry and the Paper Route (Beverly Cleary) 8+
*Socks (Beverly Cleary) 8+
*Henry and Beezus (Beverly Cleary) 8+
*Henry and the Clubhouse (Beverly Cleary) 8+
*Little House series (Laura Ingalls Wilder) 8-10+
The Tale of Despereaux (Jamie Michalak) 10+
*Misty of Chincoteague and other books by Marguerite Henry 10+
BFG (Roald Dahl) 10+
Bob and Arty mystery series (Jeff Barth) 10+
All-of-a-Kind-Family series (Sydney Taylor) 10+
Swiss Family Robinson 10+
Gentle Ben (Walt Morey) 10+
The Sign of the Beaver (Elizabeth George Speare) 10+
The Borrowers 10+
*Treasures of the Snow and other titles by Patricia St John 10+
The Golden Road (L. M. Montgomery) 10+
The Story Girl (L.M. Montgomery) 10+
Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery) 10+
*Anne of Green Gables series (L.M. Montgomery) 10+
*Ruby Holler (Sharon Creech) 10+
*The Black Stallion series (Walter Farley) 10+
Frindle and other titles by Andrew Clements 10+
Rascal (Sterling North) 10+
The Treasure Seekers (E. Nesbit) 10+
The Call of the Wild (Jack London) 10+
The Chronicles of Narnia series (C.S. Lewis) 10+
*A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 10+
Emily’s Runaway Imagination (Beverly Cleary) 10+
Sled Dog School (Terry Lynn Johnson) 10+
Tiger and Tom and other stories 10 +
A Lantern in the Window 10+
Twig the Collie (Craig Massey) 10+
The Wolf Dog (Ken Anderson) 10+
The Secret of Saturday Cove (Barbee Oliver Carleton) 10+
Jim Ugly (Sid Fleischmann) 10+
*Little Britches series (Ralph Moody) 10+
The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) 10+
*Snow Treasure (Marie McSwigan) 10+
*Moni the Goat Boy and other stories (Johanna Spyri) 10+
The Winged Watchman (Hilda Van Stockum) 10+
*Tree Castle Island (Jean Craighead George) 10+
*The Mysterious Benedict Society series (Trenton Lee Stewart) 10+
*The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (Trenton Lee Stewart) 10+
*My Side of the Mountain series (Jean Craighead George) 10+
*From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L.Konigsburg) 10+
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren) 10+
Jim Kjelgard dog stories 10+
Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) 10+
*Kavik the Wolf Dog 10+
Enemy brothers 10+
*Sweet Home Alaska (Carol Estby Dagg) 10+
*Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series 10+
The Jungle book and other stories (unabridged) 10+
The Young Man and the Sea 10+
*Mystery of the Black Diamonds (Phyllis A. Whitney) 10+
*The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs 10+
Island of the Blue Dolphins and sequel Zia (Scott O’Dell) 10+
Undefeated (Steve Sheinkin) 10+
A Gathering of Days – a new England girl’s journal 1830-1832 (Joan w. Blos) 10+
The Swallow’s Flight (Hilary McKay) 10+
The Little White Horse (Elizabeth Goudge) 10+
The Railway Children (E. Nesbit) 10+
*A Place to Hang the Moon (Kate Albus) 10+
*By the Great Horn Spoon (Sid Fleischmann) 10+
Summer of the Monkeys (Wilson Rawls) 10+
Bandit’s Moon (Sid Fleischmann) 10+
*Shades of Grey (Carolyn Reeder) 10+
The Hero Two Doors Down (Sharon Robinson) 10+
*Down the Yukon and other books by Will Hobbs 12+
The Wingfeather Saga (Andrew Peterson) 12+
Regina Silsby’s Secret War and
Regina Silsby’s phantom militia (Thomas J Brodeur) ages 12+
The Pushcart War 12+
The Night Diary (Vera Hiranandani) 12+
Surviving the Applewhites (Stephanie Tolan) 12+
Carry On Mr. Bowditch (Jean Lee Latham) 12+
Dive series (Gordon Korman) 12+
Climb series (Gordon Korman) 12+
Titanic series (Gordon Korman) 12+
Island series (Gordon Korman) 12+
A Single Shard (Linda Sue Park) 12+
Rowan of Rin series (Emily Rodda) 12+
Adventures of the Northwoods series-12+ – (lots of boy/girl stuff)
The Bonemender, The Bonemender’s Oath, and The Bonemender’s Choice (Holly Bennet) 12+
The War That Saved My Life, and sequel The War I Finally Won (Kimberly Brubaker Bradley) 12+
Number the Stars (Lois Lowry) 12+
The Bronze Bow (Elizabeth George Speare) 12+
Things Not Seen (Andrew Clements) 12-14+
Kilmeny of the Orchard (L.M Montgomery) 12+
*Blue Castle (L.M Montgomery) 12+
The Road to Paris (Nikki Grimes) 12+
*Hattie Big Sky (Kirby Larsen) 12+
*Moccasin Trail (Eloise Jarvis McGraw) 12+
Within the Palace Gates (Anna P. Siviter) 12+
Ghost Canoe (Will Hobbs) 12+
The Light in the Forest (Conrad Richter) 12+
*The 7 Professors of the Far North (John Fardell) 12+
*Shadow Spinner (Susan Fletcher) 12+
*The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare) 12+
Itch (Simon Mayo)14+
Itch Rocks (Simon Mayo) 14+
Not Regina (Christmas Carol Kauffman)14+
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor) +14
The Giver series (Lois Lowry) 14+
Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy (Jean Webster) ages 15+ (has some evolution)
Shooting Kabul (N.H. Senzal) 14+
Refugee (Alan Gratz) teens
For our boys, they enjoyed
. the Sugar Creek Gang series (Paul Hutchins) 9-12
. Loved Grandma’s Attic
Some favorites of myself and my children when they were young were books by Bill Peet. Jan Brett is another favorite author. Fun stories and pictures for young children. I always watch at thrift stores for these books.
Thank you for making this list. I have a first grader this year and feel an urgency to curate a good book collection!
And I’ll also be referring back to the books for older children for ideas for my reading. I’m finding that it’s almost better for me to read middle grade books because I don’t get quite as absorbed in the story and that’s handy when you’re a mom who had a few things to do besides read;)
Did you ever look up “The Dock” from Faith Builders? It has a recommended reading list for preschool and each grade up to 12th. I haven’t read all of them myself, but would trust their judgement. There’s overlap between their list and yours, but you might find some that they recommend that aren’t on your list. Winter is a good time to cozy up with a good book, when you have chance. Hope your children will become bookworms, but likely if they have parents who read to them a lot, they will. Books can be friends, too!