Reddit mentions: The best literature books for children

I second the Tamora Pierce suggestion. Also definitely Gregor the Overlander! Suzanne Collin's lesser known series (she wrote Hunger Games). I recently finished reading (it's a 5-book series) and it was FANTASTIC. Just amazing. It's a YA series. The House of the Scorpion is also great, might be for your stronger readers. Eragon series is fun, and Dealing with Dragons is still one of my all-time favorite dragon books/series. Bruce Coville is a great author, and his work might be a little young but it's good to have a mix. I absolutely loved everything of his I have read, but especially Aliens Ate My Homework and the rest of that series. Most of these will appeal to the young men, hopefully.



When I was a young lady, I read pretty much anything, but I know a lot of boys like books with a boy main character. I really was a bit horse crazy, so here's some you might look into for your young ladies. The Saddle Club is a very long series about 3 girls and their horse-y adventures. It was really fun and it's great to find longer series because, if they like the first one, there's a lot to enjoy. (Oh a thought - you could always get the first one in a series, then just tell them to get the rest from the library or something, if there's budget concerns) I also liked the Thoroughbred Series and the wonderful Marguerite Henry horse books, especially the famous Misty of Chincoteague but really any of her books is a good read. My all time favorite horse series was and still is The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. Oh, how I loved that book.


There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom was fantastic the first time I read it, and I also like the "Wayside School" books which are both by Louis Sachar. Judy Blume is fun as is Beverly Cleary. Redwall gets a lot of kids into reading, you also might consider some high-level comics/graphic novels to reach a different audience. The Hobbit Graphic Novel has great illustration and I loved reading it so much when I found it one day in a store.


I found history pretty boring so avoided those books but I did enjoy The King's Swift Rider about Robert the Bruce and Scotland, might be the only vaguely historical book I remember reading around those ages. I tried to avoid mystery books more or less, but I loved Encyclopedia Brown (even though according to Amazon it's for younger ages). I enjoyed Harriet the Spy she was a pretty cool girl role-model at the time. My Side of the Mountain was absolutely fantastic and such a great adventure, though I enjoy everything Jean Craigshead George writes. I feel like Julie of the Wolves is pretty standard reading material, maybe not anymore, but what a great story. Oh my gosh, I just about forgot The Indian in the Cupboard, that was such a good story. Anything Roald Dahl is wonderful as is Jane Yolen, I especially recommend the Pit Dragon trilogy. The Golden Compass, So You Want to be A Wizard, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Kiki Strike, Dinotopia, Song of the Gargoyle and The City of Ember.


I am sure that is way more than you need, but my mind started racing. It was hard to stop once I started -- thank you for that enjoyable tour through my past. Lots of great memories of time spent reading. Hope you find some of this helpful, at least.

Hmm what's his reading level like? Is he catching on quick, or is he learning a little more slowly? In my son's kindergarten class, his teacher read the Mercy Watson books to them, which are hilarious. Some of the kids were able to read them by themselves, but my son was not at that level until the end of first grade.. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type is another good one - my son LOVED it. He was able to read that one in kindergarten though partly because he'd memorized it from hearing me read it to him so so so many times - but many kindergarteners are able to read it by themselves. The classics like Dr. Seuss are always a good stand-by too. Green Eggs and Ham is especially great because it's the same 50 words over and over, so it's easier for beginning readers.

If he's not a very strong reader (and if he likes animals/nature), he might enjoy the National Geographic kids series of books - pre-reader level. They're great for giving more confidence to readers who get overwhelmed by small print and lots of words. Hoot Owl was my son's favorite; I even got him a snowy owl plushie because he loved it so much. But we also had the Safari one, the Rainforest one, the one about bugs.. If you want to get him something with an educational angle, the Bob books are really good at teaching sight words and building reading ability.

Green eggs and ham. Oh how many times have we read that book here? Millions? Surely. I think your daughter (aged 1) might love any of the Margaret Wise Brown books. Our personal favorite was Big Red Barn. Because children's books are my absolute passion though, I'm going to throw out a couple more. If your daughter loves to look at faces (mine did) - I loved this book, Global Babies. It's a picture board book and the photography is stunning. My daughter also loved Touch and Feel books, have you guys tried those? And if she likes bright colors, my daughter loved Planting a Rainbow.

Can I throw out a few for later? Just because I love these books so much. A lesser known book that came to me by chance and became my favorite thing ever is Open Me, I'm a Dog by Art Spiegelman. Also, make sure that you get Janell Cannon's books, Verdi and Stellaluna as she gets older, especially if she is an animal lover. Stellaluna can be scary though, or at least it was for my daughter, so in a few years might be best. OH and we love the Alexander books.

My son is a wee bit obsessed with the Lego Movie, which is odd since we still haven't seen it. But he's wanting to read this novel about it for $4.61.

Mostly though, I wanted to talk about books. And kids. Because I love them both very much. Thanks for a great contest!

The Phantom Tollbooth

How exciting for your son! So many adventures await him. I love that he's been caught reading under the covers. That's how you know you have truly enthusiastic reader!

Scholastic Book Wizard is an amazing resource. You can search for books by reading level, grade level, interest, and similar books.

Some books my advanced first graders love that are around the levels you mentioned:

My Weird School Series - humor

Bailey School Kids Series - mystery

Horrible Harry - humor

Black Lagoon Chapter Books - humor

Geronimo Stilton - humor/action/adventure

Good luck! And happy reading!

Seven Chinese Brothers is an all time classic. I bought it for my girls. Younger but fun.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School used to be pretty short, but I think someone's turned it into a series now? Still super fun.

Miss Nelson is Missing is another classic. Bought this again for my kids too.

For slightly older, The Three Investigators was my go-to. Read everything a few times. Chapter book.

The Boxcar Children is another neat series of mysteries I loved as a young boy. Chapters also, IIRC.

Hey there!

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You get the Kindle version for free when you purchase the paperback as well. Based on the reviews, it's a great book for both kids and adults and I'm glad that I can reach that wide of an audience. Hope you guys enjoy it.

There are a lot of cheap kid's books on Amazon; for example, if they like Frozen, the 6 and 4 year olds might enjoy this book or this one, both of which are under $5. Fun and educational! For something you don't have to buy, perhaps an semi-long art or baking project. It will be fun for the kids and keep them busy (and maybe tire them out) and you will all have something to enjoy looking at/eat when you're done!

As for my item, I'd like Anna's Best Friends... for my inner child.

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The Harry Potter series has many surprises, a big one that carries through to book 7 about a major character. But yeah, not a good selection for multiple reasons.

Nobody Listens to Andrew is an old, nice, very short picture book about nobody believing Andrew when he says there's a bear in his bedroom. And, of course, we readers probably believe Andrew is full of it. But, there really is a live bear in his bedroom. It's not really for your target age range though, but if you found it for cheap, I guess would be OK as a supplement.

My Cousin the Alien fits the bill. The main character has a cousin who is convinced he's an alien (the cousin) being chased by other aliens. The main character eventually believes his cousin and tries to protect him. As it turns out, the main character is the alien, and the other aliens have been chasing the main character the whole time.

It's billed for 8-11 year olds, and is light reading at 152 pages with a large font and some illustrations. You've never heard of it because it's not Scholastic. I know of it only because it's by an author local to me. I've not read it, but my daughter recommended it. And she reads about one book a day.

It was actually Frankenstein but an elementary school version. My god I haven’t thought of it in years, it was truly an amazing experience. I think I was around 9 as well. this one.

Happy birthday!! I like XTC. Midori, Blue Curacao, Bacardi, pineapple juice & lemonade. NOM NOM NOM. We usually make it up in jugs, so I guess doing a shot of each alcohol and then to taste with the juice and lemonade (and by lemonade, I mean a Sprite-like drink, not American lemonade). Bottoms up!

This video never fails to amuse.

I would like this for my daughter.

Books! Kids should start reading at a young age. Young readers are forever readers. You can get them books related to their interests or something different. I love the How to Train Your Dragon series and The Guardians. There are many different books for young kids that are great!

One of the shittiest and most overhyped works of literature of all time


Edit:

I think I make some really fair points below about the book's failings, but I cannot deny that even though I didn't love the book, it had some of the most memorable and exciting moments in literature that I've ever experienced. I'm interested in how the movie will develop, and think that in general, it's a lot better than most books out there.

It's not Ibsen, nor is it like William Gibson, but it doesn't totally suck a la a Spongebob Superstar

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

(Do I have to do everything myself?)
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars®-Secrets-Galaxy-Deluxe/dp/1452159254?keywords=star+wars+rebel+files&qid=1537611749&sr=8-6&ref=mp_s_a_1_6 https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Awakens-Survival-Replica/dp/0794435696?keywords=star+wars+journals+rey&qid=1537611827&sr=8-1&ref=mp_s_a_1_1 (there's a ton of these so I'm not gonna look them all up but you can look in the recommended to find the rest) https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Guardians-Galaxy-Intergalactic-Survival/dp/0794440703?keywords=gotg+rocket%27s+rules&qid=1537612130&sr=8-1-fkmr1&ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr1_1 https://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Oliver-Dossier-Nick-Aires/dp/1783295228?keywords=Oliver+queen+dossier&qid=1537612197&sr=8-1-fkmrnull&ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmrnull_1 https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Files-Matthew-Manning/dp/1449481329?keywords=the+batman+files&qid=1537612254&sr=8-1&ref=mp_s_a_1_1 (and if your hunger still isn't satisfied) https://www.amazon.com/Betty-Veronicas-Guide-Disney-Group/dp/0786855673?keywords=disney+guide+to+life+books&qid=1537612435&sr=8-16&ref=mp_s_a_1_16 https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Meets-World-Mastering-Middle/dp/1484727878?keywords=disney+guide+to+life+books&qid=1537612499&sr=8-2&ref=mp_s_a_1_2 https://www.amazon.com/Forces-Marcos-Guide-Mastering-Dimension/dp/1484774191?keywords=disney+guide+to+life+books&qid=1537612499&sr=8-3&ref=mp_s_a_1_3 https://www.amazon.com/S-T-R-Labs-Ramons-Journal/dp/1785651277?keywords=cisco+ramon+journal&qid=1537612666&sr=8-1&ref=mp_s_a_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/Tobins-Spirit-Guide-Official-Ghostbusters/dp/1608877086/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H1NAHC5CKM6KR406NWPQ https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Our-Past-Figuratively-Paranormal/dp/1101906006/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KJTGXHC5D28RZ2Y2DW05 https://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-Handbook-2016-Movie-ebook/dp/B0167565VE/ref=pd_aw_sim_351_of_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ABDC7B745X68RR3RXXE0 https://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-Ectomobile-Troy-Benjamin/dp/1608875121/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_23?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3S1SGC323GY6WQX81P9Q https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Universe-Travel-Guides-Guardians/dp/1608878546 (the last 3 are personal favorites, I really do like these kinds of books though because they immerse you so much. Have fun.)

Childhood Fav. Book Series

Ok, so since you like cats let me tell you a story all about how I had a kitten and I named it Selena. Well about a year later I was playing with Selena when out of nowhere appeared balls that were never there. Now I could tell that this cat was rare because his balls came out of nowhere. I asked my mom what the heck was up....She said it must have took a while for his balls to drop. I said what the heck we will just keep calling him Selena....and that's how I found out my cat was a male.

I'm going to go with the very awesome Magic Tree House books :)

>Mars Colony by Robert Cutting

>In the year 2130, the Chang family is chosen out of 128 families to be sent to Mars to form the first human colony there.

That's the closest one I pulled up in a search of graphic novels, 3rd grade reading level, 4-8 grade interest level.

The one other hit seems less likely:

>The Frozen Men of Mars by David Orme

>While Billy and Wu Hoo take a trip to Mars, they find three frozen scientists who have been asleep for centuries. Suddenly, Billy spots a huge comet heading toward Earth, and he awakens the sleeping scientists in time to save Earth.

My favorite books as a kid that I remember fondly:

The Rainbow Fish

Stellaluna


Longer books for when she is older

Amelia Bedelia

Madeline

I believe it was this book.

It also had a bit where they tried to prevent the students from bumping into each other by telling everyone to walk on the right hand side going up the stairs and the left hand side going down...

The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein, Joanna Hurwitz.

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ali-Baba-Bernstein/dp/0380723492

Don't forget to flair this as solved :)

Sideways Stories at Wayside School
...i think i read those when i was 9-10.
SO GOOD.

I was being funny. The network didn't go live until 2009.

This is from Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween Movie Novel. It was published this year. Actually published like two weeks ago, August 28th.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DR9K7X6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The Passage

Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Man, I forgot how much I loved that...

How about Holes, or maybe Sideways Stories from Wayside School, both by Louis Sachar. I think Holes would be a fun read.

They're on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Sideways-Stories-Wayside-School-Sachar/dp/0380731487

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

There is a story from a kids' book I read, oh, about twenty years ago, about a nasty child who is just dirty raincoats all the way down to a small, smelly rat. Thanks for reminding me of it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0380731487/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link , starts on page 56.

This reminds me of reading this book as a kid, which has a story in it about the fabled 13th floor and how it was full of all sorts of awful and nasty things (I don't remember exact details, it's been well over 10 years since I read it)

I really liked The Monster at the End of this Book, The Poky Little Puppy, Persnickety, Corduroy, Where the Wild Things Are, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Rainbow Fish, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man, Miss Nelson is Missing, Go Away Big Green Monster, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Stone Soup, Frog and Toad, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and, of course, every Dr. Seuss book.