Sep 10
Though we read mostly adult books, we here at Books on the Nightstand are fans of kids books, too. Below is a running list of children’s and young adult books that we’ve talked about. Click on the title to go to the blog post or podcast episode where the book was featured. This list will stay “live” and you can always reach it by clicking the “Kids/YA Books” tab at the top of the blog.
We’ve done a rough sort into age category to make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for, but please know that we are not reading specialists and that your definition of “middle grade reader” and “young adult” may vary significantly from ours.
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| Picture Books/Beginning Readers |
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| Duck in the Truck |
Alborough, Jez |
| Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree |
Barry, Robert |
| The Curious Garden |
Brown, Peter |
| Snowmen at Christmas |
Buehner, Caralyn |
| Snowmen at Night |
Buehner, Caralyn |
| Dinotrux |
Gall, Chris |
| Bats at the Library |
Lies, Brian |
| The Red Lemon |
Staake, Bob |
| The Donut Chef |
Staake, Bob |
| Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct |
Willems, Mo |
| Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale |
Willems, Mo |
| Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity |
Willems, Mo |
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| Middle Grade Readers |
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| Sounder |
Armstrong, William |
| The Penderwicks (audiobook) |
Birdsall, Jeanne |
| Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret |
Blume, Judy |
| The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys, Book 1) |
Dixon, Franklin W. |
| The Secret of Skull Mountain (Hardy Boys, Book 27) |
Dixon, Franklin W. |
| The City of Ember |
DuPrau, JeAnne |
| The Thief Lord (audiobook) |
Funke, Cornelia |
| The Graveyard Book (audiobook) |
Gaiman, Neil |
| Old Yeller |
Gipson, Fred |
| Pandora Gets Jealous |
Hennesy, Carolyn |
| Tales from the Odyssey #1: One-Eyed Giant, The |
Osborne, Mary Pope |
| The 39 Clues (The Maze of Bones, Book 1) |
Riordan, Rick |
| The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: (audiobook) |
Riordan, Rick |
| The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) |
Riordan, Rick |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Audiobook) |
Rowling, J.K. |
| Holes |
Sachar, Louis |
| The 13 Clocks |
Thurber, James |
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| Young Adult |
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| Feed |
Anderson, M.T. |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian |
Alexie, Sherman |
| Candor |
Bachorz, Pam |
| The Hunger Games |
Collins, Suzanne |
| Catching Fire |
Collins, Suzanne |
| The Chocolate War |
Cormier, Robert |
| D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths |
d’Aulaire, Ingrid |
| The Maze Runner |
Dashner, James |
| Gone |
Grant, Michael |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
Haddon, Mark |
| Genghis: Birth of an Empire |
Iggulden, Conn |
| The Giver |
Lowry, Lois |
| Youth in Revolt |
Payne, C.D. |
| The Burn Journals |
Runyon, Brent |
| The Forest of Hands and Teeth |
Ryan, Carrie |
| House of Stairs |
Sleator, William |
| Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus) |
Spiegelman, Art |
| When You Reach Me |
Stead, Rebecca |
| Uglies |
Westerfield, Scott |
| The Book Thief |
Zusak, Markus |
image credit: Valerie Everett via Flickr
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Thank you for this wonderful list!
Fantastic! I just posted about When You Reach Me today.
You should absolutely add Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman to the list- I read it with my daughter and was extremely impressed by the amount of real-life issues touched upon with such poignancy in this book. A marvelous YA find!
This is great! I always appreciate a list of books for the younger generation. We love “Snowmen at Night” and I was excited to see there is also a Christmas version of that book!
At the risk of bragging or coming across as spamming, can I suggest adding the Bluford Series books (Townsend Press) to the YA list? They are purposefully geared toward young urban readers who really have very few books meant for them. As the young woman my wife mentors said: “Why would I want to read about vampires?”
Disclaimer: my wife wrote one of the most recent Bluford books, but gets no additional money based on sales. It’s also worth pointing out the company sells these books for $1. You heard me: $1.
Now to check out those picture books…
PS – Ann and Michael: if this comment is inappropriate, feel free to keep it off the blog; I just think the series is great.
Just a point of clarification for everyone: This is just an index — a list of books that we’ve already talked or written about at Books on the Nightstand, so that there is easy access to those discussions for people who are primarily interested in children’s books. As we write and talk about more children’s books, the links to those posts will be added to this list.
Stephen, I’m going to keep your comment on because you have long been part of the Books on the Nightstand community and because I believe in the low price offering of books for kids.
But for everyone else: this is just an index to posts we’ve already made, not a complete list of recommended books.
Thanks.
Ann (and all),
I apologise that in my haste to join the discussion, I didn’t carefully read the point of your list: that it’s an INDEX of Kids/YA books you’ve discussed on the podcast rather than a DISCUSSION of great Kids/YA books. A subtle, but important distinction. Unfortunately, I couldn’t delete the comment, once published.
Given that the list is meant to be an ongoing resource AND carries an implied endorsement of the books on it, I think you should delete the comment. I don’t want to confuse future readers of the list or appear to hijack the authority of the work that you and Michael do and for which I have the utmost respect.
Stephen-
I’m going to back up Ann here and say there’s no need for us to delete your comment. These types of things are what comments are for. It’s a discussion.
You misunderstood the purpose of the post, but it doesn’t make those books any less valuable. I’m going to check them out for when my son is older!
Thanks for contributing!
well, fine. if you two are going to be all understanding. . .:)
Yours a lovely resource – a YA list that’s classy and classic! You’re probably already fans (the Random House connection), but in our school (BC,CA), YALSA favorite Susanna Vance (Sights, Deep) is a classroom favorite as well. They fancy the ethical rule-breakers, like Judy Blume and Robert Cormier
Thank you, Sydney. I don’t know Susanna Vance, but I shall rectify that immediately. Robert Cormier is and always has been my favorite, and I love your description as an “ethical rule-breaker”. Bravo. Thanks.