Books for Kids, Tweens and Teens featured on Books on the Nightstand

Sep 10

Books for Kids, Tweens and Teens featured on Books on the Nightstand

By Ann Kingman Kids/YA Books Add comments

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.


Picture Books/Beginning Readers

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


Middle Grade Readers

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

Young Adult

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

http://page247.wordpress.com Gavin

Thank you for this wonderful list!
http://page247.wordpress.com Gavin

Thank you for this wonderful list!
http://carolinebyline.blogspot.com Caroline Starr Rose

Fantastic! I just posted about When You Reach Me today.
http://carolinebyline.blogspot.com Caroline Starr Rose

Fantastic! I just posted about When You Reach Me today.
Margot

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!
Margot

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!
Tiffany

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!
Tiffany

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!
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

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.
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

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.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

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.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

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.
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

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.
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

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.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Michael Kindness

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!
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Michael Kindness

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!
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

well, fine. if you two are going to be all understanding. . .:)
http://twitter.com/sawinkler Stephen

well, fine. if you two are going to be all understanding. . .:)
Sydney Thatcher

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
Sydney Thatcher

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
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

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.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

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.