If you were to take a look at my Pinterest page you would find typical boards such as recipes and crafts. However, my favorite and most frequently used board is my ‘to read’ board. I needed to create one to support my love of book lists, for myself and for my kids. Lists of books all children must read before turning 12, best books for girls, mystery book lists, books turned into movies…I can’t get enough!
My adoration has happily spilled over to my children who now create their own book lists. Their Scholastic book order flyers are heavily marked with circles and our library cards get frequent workouts.
Last year I created 110 Chapter Books for Ages 4-10. Since then, every time I would read a new book with my kids or they told me about a new favorite I would wish I could have included it in the list. Then it dawned on me that I should just go ahead and create another list!
I hope you and your children find something new and wonderful in this list, and feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorites.
Ages 4-5
Freckleface Strawberry-series by Julianne Moore 5+
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same-series by Grace Lin 5+
Penny and Her Song-series by Kevin Henkes 4+
The Complete Tales & Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne 5+
Martha Speaks-series by Susan Meddaugh 4+
Ages 6-8
The Twits by Roald Dahl 8+
The Doll People-series by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin 8+
Zapato Power-series by Jacqueline Jules 7+
Jackson Friends-series by Michelle Edwards 6+
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel-series by Nikki Grimes 7+
Ruby and the Booker Boys-series by Derrick Barnes 7+
Song Lee-series by Suzy Kline 7+
Akimbo-series by Alexander McCall Smith 7+
Clubhouse Mysteries-series by Sharon M. Draper 8+
STAT books-series by Amar’e Stoudemire 8+
Miami Jackson Books-series by Patricia McKissack 6+
Sugar Plum Ballerinas-series by Whoopi Goldberg 7+
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston 8+
Nancy Drew-series by Carolyn Keene 8+
DC Super Hero Girls-series by Lisa Yee 8+
Milo Speck, Accidental Agent by Linda Urban 7+
The Map to Everywhere-series by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis 8+
Half Magic-series by Edward Eager 7+
The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph 8+
Ronia,The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren 8+
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl 6+
Here’s Hank-series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver 6+
Lunch Money by Andrew Clements 8+
The Year of the Book: Anna Wang Book 1-series by Andrea Cheng 6+
EllRay Jakes Is a Rock Star-series by Sally Warner 7+
Elvis and the Underdogs by Jenny Lee 8+
Lowriders in Space-series by Cathy Camper 8+
Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective-series by Octavia Spencer 8+
Dreamer, Wisher, Liar by Charise Mericle Harper 8+
A Whole New Ballgame: Rip & Red-series by Phil Bildner 8+
Bad Kitty-series by Nick Bruel 7+
Dory Fantasmagory-series by Abby Hanlon 6+
The Legend of Diamond Lil-series by Doreen Cronin 7+
Nancy Clancy-series by Jane O’Connor 7+
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library-series by Chris Grabenstein 8+
Alvin Ho-series by Lenore Look 6+
Justin Case-series by Rachel Vail 7+
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 7+
Secrets of Droon-series by Tony Abbott 7+
Flat Stanley-series by Jeff Brown 8+
Agatha: The Girl of Mystery-series by Steve Stevenson 7+
Keena Ford-series by Melissa Thomson 6+
My Weird School-series by Dan Gutman 6+
Zack Files-series by Dan Greenburg 7+
The Littles-series by John Peterson 7+
Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix 8+
The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone 8+
By the Grace of Todd & In Todd We Trust by Louise Galveston 8+
House of Robots-series by James Patterson 8+
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman 8+
The Jacket by Andrew Clements 8+
Ollie’s Odysssey by William Joyce 7+
Pinky and Rex-series by James Howe 6+
Dragon Slayer’s Academy-series by Kate McMullan 7+
The Year of the Dog-Pacy series by Grace Lin 8+
Space Taxi-series by Wendy Mass 7+
The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency-series by Jordan Stratford 8+
Young Cam Jansen-series by David A. Adler 6+
Ages 9-12
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg 11+
Septimus Heap-series-by Angie Sage 9+
One Crazy Summer-Gaither Sisters series by Rita Williams-Garcia 11+
Mouse Guard-series by David Peterson 9+
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech 9+
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit 9+
If You Come Softly by Jaqueline Woodson 12+
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith 11+
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine 10+
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata 11+
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling 9+
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper 10+
Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker 10+
The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow 9+
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai 10+
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George 10+
The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan 10+
Rules by Cynthia Lord 9+
El Deafo by Cece Bell 9+
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery 9+
Big Nate-series by Lincoln Peirce 9+
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 9+
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 10+
Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank 11+
The Penderwicks-series by Jeanne Birdsall 9+
Sisters by Raina Telgemeier ages 9+
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman 9+
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume 9+
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares 12+
The Wide-Awake Princess-series by E.D. Baker 10+
Diary of a Wimpy Kid-series by Jeff Kinney 9+
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 10+
The Call of the Wild by Jack London 12+
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr 9+
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden 9+
Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition by Catherine Ryan Hyde 9+
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai 9+
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo 10+
Lumberjanes-series by Noelle Stevenson 10+
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R.J. Palacio 10+
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm 10+
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami 10+
Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly 9+
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata 10+
Junonia by Kevin Henkes 9+
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis 9+
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton 9+
Thank you! I see some of our favorites here, but many we haven’t read. So fun, thanks!!!
Totally printing this off and bringing with me to the library! My boys aren’t as excited about reading as your kids are so i need some good suggestions to keep them going. I’m still hoping some day they find a love for reading. Thanks for the list!