Here is a list of books that my children have enjoyed reading, listed from easier to more difficult (for a shorter list of math and science books, see here.). We have marked some of our favorites with one, two, three, or four stars. We’ve tried to put them roughly in order of increasing difficulty, but many are no doubt horribly misplaced in this regard. In most cases we’ve found its easy enough to order them from our local library.
Books to read to your child
One can read books of very different levels of difficulty to your children from a young age, which will help them to learn to enjoy reading. Some of our favorites have been Who Says Quack, Big Red Barn, Maisy, Boxcar children, Miss Pickerell, and Cardamom Town.
Just starting to read
*Margaret Hillert (e.g. *Dear Dragon)
*Paola Opal (*Simply Small Series)
Sandra Boynton (e.g. Blue Hat, Green Hat)
*Dick and Jane (still works well!)
**Mo Willems (e.g. **Elephant and Piggie series, *Pigeon series, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs)
Dr. Seuss Beginner Books (e.g. One Fish, Two Fish etc.)
A bit harder
Dr. Seuss Classics (e.g. The Lorax, Yertle the Turtle, etc.)
*Young Cam Jansen (David A. Adler; also the author of Bones series).
Adventures of Benny and Watch Series
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos
*Ordinary People Change the World Series (e.g. I am George Washington)
Dodsworth Series (Tim Egan)
A bit harder
**Magic School Bus (easier ones)
Cam Jansen (chapter books)
Bernstein Bears (chapters books)
Ursula LeGuin (e.g. Catwings series)
Theodore Turtle (Ellen MacGregor)
Mr. Pingle and Mr. Buttonhouse (Ellen MacGregor)
Secrets of Droon books (Tony Abbot; cf. here)
Daisy Meadows Fairy books series
Beverly Cleary (e.g. ***Ramona books)
A bit harder
*Magic School Bus (chapter books)
Cynthia Rylant (e.g. *Cobble Street Cousins, Annie and Snowball)
Cam Jansen (chapter books)
Nancy Clancy (Fancy Nancy chapter books)
*Recipe for Adventure (Giada De Laurentis)
*Ron Roy (e.g. *A to Z Mysteries, *Calendar Mysteries, *Capital Mysteries)
*The Macbears series (Richard Bauckham)
**The Fantastic Flying Journey
Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives
Einstein Anderson (cf. here)
The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow (Tim Kehoe)
* Sir Cumference series (Cindy Neuschwander)
Women Who Broke the Rules Series (e.g. Sonia Sotomayor)
George E. Stanley (e.g. Adam Sharp, Third-Grade Detectives, etc.)
Sports Mysteries series (T. J. Edwards)
Ballpark mysteries (David A. Kelly and Mark Meyers)
Elen Conford (Jenny Archer, Annabel the Actress)
Wiggy and Boa (Anna Fienberg)
Elvis and Olive (Stephanie Watson, x2)
Beany Series (Susan Wojciechowski)
Barbara Park (Junie B. Jones series)
A bit harder
Mary Pope Osborne (e.g. **Magic Tree House, Tales from the Odyssey, etc.)
Kate McMullan (e.g. **Dragon Slayers Academy)
Jon Scienzka (*Time Warp Trio, Frank Einstein)
Jarrett Lerner (e.g. Enginerds)
Astrid Lindgren (e.g. *Pippy Longstocking, Noisy Village series, etc.)
Sven Nordquist (e.g. Findus and Pettson series)
*Marcia Williams books (e.g. Shakespeare etc.)
Mary Norton (e.g. The Borrowers Series, Are All the Giants Dead)
Kendall Haven (e.g. Marvels of Math, Marvels of Science)
Hazel Richardson (e.g. How to Live on Mars, How to Build a Time Machine)
Clive Clifford (e.g. How to Build a Robot, How to Meet Aliens)
Roald Dahl (e.g. James and the Giant Peach)
A bit harder
****Boxcar children
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Paidraic Column (e.g. The Children’s Homer, The Golden Fleece and the Heroes who lived before Achilles)
**The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
*A Series of Unfortunate Events Series
Enid Blyton (here; e.g. Famous Seven, Famous Five, Barney Mysteries)
A bit harder
**Eva Ibbotson (e.g. Abominables, The Secret of Platform 13, Island of the Aunts, etc)
Jessica Day George (e.g. Tuesdays at the Castle, Dragon Slippers; cf. here)
**The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
**Miss Pickerell series (e.g. Goes to Mars, Moon, Geiger, goes undersea)
*Puzzling World of Winston Breen Series
*Blue Balliett books (e.g. *Chasing Vermeer, *The Wright 3, The Calder Game, Hold Fast, Out of the Wild Night)
Caroline Lawrence (Roman Mysteries Series)
A Problematic Paradox (Eliot Sappingfield)
*Sisters Grimm series) (Michael Buckley)
Georgia Byng (e.g. *Molly Moon book series; cf. here)
Liesl Shurtliff (e.g. Rump, Jack, Red etc.)
Marvin and the Moths (Matthew Holm/Jonathan Follet )
Lucy&Stephen Hawking (George’s Secret Key Books)
Mark Kelly (e.g. Astrotwins Series)
Wendy Mass (e.g. The Candymakers; cf. here)
A bit harder
S. L. Engdahl (e.g. Enchantress from the Stars)
Louisa May Alcott (e.g. Little Women, Little Men, etc.)
Mark Twain (e.g. Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, etc.)
Jinx series (Sage Blackwood)
Gary Blackwood (e.g. *Mysterious Messages, Around the World in 100 Days)
John Claude Bemis (e.g. The Wooden Prince, Lord of Monsters)
Kate Milford (e.g. **Greenglass House; cf. here)
Madeline L’Engle (e.g. **A Wrinkle in Time)
*The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland Series
Natalie Lloyd (e.g. *A Snicker of Magic, The Key to Extraordinary, *Problim Children)
George Hagen (Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle [there is also a sequel])
Colin Meloy (e.g. *Wildwood Chronicles; cf. here)
Karina Yan Glaser (e.g. *The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street)
*The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Adrienne Kress (e.g. Explorers Society series)
***Percy Jackson Series (cf. here)
**Henry H, Neff (e.g. The Tapestry Series; cf. here)
Trenton Lee Stewart (e.g. ****Mysterious Benedict Society Series, **Secret Keepers)
****Harry Potter series and related books
Tonke Dragt (e.g. The Letter for the King)
Robin Stevens (e.g. The Guggenheim Mystery)
Alan Cumyn (North to Benjamin)
Addendum
If your child likes learning new words, we also recommend:
Vocabulary Cartoons: Elementary Edition
German for Neutestamentler 