If you are looking for lists of Accelerated Reader titles by grade, click here.
For general reading recommendations, see below.
For general reading recommendations, see below.
Books are recommended based on a combination of any of the following factors: timelessness, high-level interest, educational value, literary award status, creativity, and/or story quality. Reading levels are approximate. Selections for each category are listed in alphabetical order by title. Lists are compiled with a diverse array of readers in mind but are not intended to be comprehensive; not all titles will appeal to or be appropriate for every young person. Our ultimate philosophy of recommendation mirrors that of Maya Angelou: "Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."
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Picture Story Books (children preK and K)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day--Judith Viorst Arthur series--Marc Brown The Complete Tales--Beatrix Potter Blueberries for Sal--Robert McCloskey The Book of Mistakes--Corinna Luyken The Boy and the Airplane--Mark Pett The Boy Who Cried Wolf--classic folklore Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?--Bill Martin The Carrot Seed--Ruth Krauss Circle, Square, Moose--Kelly L. Bingham Clifford the Big Red Dog series--Norman Bridwell Corduroy--Don Freeman Curious George series--HA and Margret Rey The Day the Crayons Quit--Drew Daywalt Don't Push the Button!--Bill Cotton The Dot--Peter Reynolds Du Iz Tak?--Carson Ellis The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh!--Anne Kennedy Float--Daniel Miyares Giraffes Can't Dance--Giles Andreae Goodnight Moon--Margaret Wise Brown Harold and the Purple Crayon--Crockett Johnson Harry the Dirty Dog--Gene Zion Henny Penny--classic folklore How Loud Is a Lion--Clare Beaton If You Give a Mouse a Cookie--Laura Numeroff It Looked Like Spilt Milk--Charles G. Shaw Joseph Had a Little Overcoat--Simms Taback The Little Engine That Could--Watty Piper The Little House--Virginia Lee Burton The Little Red Hen--classic folklore Little Wolf's First Howling--Laura McGee Kvasnosky Looking for a Moose--Phyllis Root Lost. Found.--Marsha Diane Arnold Madeline--Ludwig Bemelmans Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel--Virginia Lee Burton Miss Nelson Is Back--Harry Allard Miss Nelson Is Missing--Harry Allard Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!--Candace Fleming My Friend Rabbit--Eric Rohmann Near, Far--Silvia Borando The Night before Christmas--Clement Clarke Moore No, David!--David Shannon Now You See Me, Now You Don't--Silvia Borando Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run--Mike Twohy The Other Side of the Story series--Trisha Speed Shaskan and Nancy Loewen Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?--Bill Martin The Polar Express--Chris Van Allsburg Press Here--Herve Tullet Say Zoop!--Herve Tullet Shh! We Have a Plan--Chris Haughton Steamboat School--Deborah Hopkinson Stone Soup--classic folklore Strega Nona--Tomie dePaola Sylvester and the Magic Pebble--William Steig The Storyteller--Evan Turk That Neighbor Kid--Daniel Miyares There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly--classic folklore There's a Bear on My Chair--Ross Collins They All Saw a Cat--Brendan Wenzel This Bridge Will Not Be Gray--Dave Eggers This Is Not My Hat--Jon Klassen The True Story of the Three Little Pigs--Jon Scieszka The Very Hungry Caterpillar--Eric Carle We're Going on a Bear Hunt--Michael Rosen What Do You Do with an Idea?--Kobi Yamada What Do You Do with a Problem?--Kobi Yamada What to Do if an Elephant Stands on Your Foot--Michelle Robinson Where the Wild Things Are--Maurice Sendak You Are (Not) Small--Anna Kang Z Is for Moose--Kelly L. Bingham Early Nonfiction Books (grades 1-4) Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer--Diane Stanley Aesop's Fables--classic folklore Balderdash! John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books--Michelle Markel Dangerous Jane--Suzanne Slade Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion--Chris Barton The Good Fight: The Feuds of the Founding Fathers (and How They Shaped the Nation)--Anne Quirk Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls--Elena Favilli Heroes for My Daughter--Brad Meltzer Heroes for My Son--Brad Meltzer The House That Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams--Tanya Lee Stone Locomotive--Brian Floca Long-armed Lucy and the First Women's Olympics: Jean LS Patrick The Man Who Loved Libraries: The Story of Andrew Carnegie--Andrew Larsen The Man Who Walked between the Towers--Mordicai Gerstein Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber--Sue Macy Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands--Katherine Roy Noah Webster's Fighting Words--Tracy Nelson Maurer The Random House Book of Poetry for Children--Jack Prelutsky Separate Is Never Equal--Duncan Tonatiuh Seven and a Half Tons of Steel--Janet Nolan She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World--Chelsea Clinton Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness--Donna Janell Bowman The Story of Ruby Bridges--Robert Coles Who Was biographries--multiple authors Mid-range Nonfiction Books (grades 4-7) Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities and Thought Experiments--Jerome Pohlen The American Revolution for Kids: A History with 21 Activities--Janis Herbert The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind--William Kamkwamba Brown Girl Dreaming--Jacqueline Woodson Castle--David Macauley The Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities--Janis Herbert Courage Has No Color, the True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers--Tanya Lee Stone The Dangerous Book for Boys--Conn Iggulden Falling Up--Shel Silverstein Geology Is a Piece of Cake--Katie Coppens The Great Depression for Kids: Hardship and Hope in 1930s America, with 21 Activities--Cheryl Mullenbach Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books--Gary Paulsen Henry's Freedom Box--Ellen Levine How-to Guides for Fiendish Rulers series--multiple authors The Industrial Revolution for Kids: The People and Technology That Changed the World, with 21 Activities--Cheryl Mullenbach I'm Just No Good at Rhyming--Chris Harris Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker--Patricia Hruby Powell Marie Curie for Kids: Her Life and Scientific Discoveries, with 21 Activities and Experiments--Amy M. O'Quinn Michelangelo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities--Simonetta Carr Perspectives on History series--multiple authors The Plot to Kill Hitler--Patricia McCormick Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story--Caren Stelson Survivors: Extraordinary Tales from the Wild and Beyond--David Long Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly--Deborah Noyes Thomas Edison: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities--Laurie Carlson What We Get from Celtic Mythology--Katie Marsico What We Get from Chinese Mythology--Katie Marsico What We Get from Egyptian Mythology--Lisa Owings What We Get from Greek Mythology--Katherine Kreig What We Get from Norse Mythology--Katherine Kreig What We Get from Roman Mythology--Margaret Mincks Where the Sidewalk Ends--Shel Silverstein Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World--Rachel Ignotofsky World War I for Kids: A History with 21 Activities--R. Kent Rasmussen World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities--Richard Panchyk You Choose (Interactive Espionage Adventures) series--multiple authors You Choose (Interactive History Adventures) series--multiple authors You Wouldn't Want To series--multiple authors Young Adult Nonfiction Books (grades 7+) The Boys Who Challenged Hitler--Philip Hoose The Diary of a Young Girl--Anne Frank Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors and Submarines in the Pacific--Deborah Hopkinson The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia--Candace Fleming The 57 Bus: The True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives--Dashka Slater I Am Malala--Malala Yousafzai Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War--Steve Sheinkin Mythology--Edith Hamilton No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, and Their Incredible True Story of Friendship and Survival in World War II--Robert Weintraub Radioactive! How Irene Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World--Winifred Conkling The Red Bandanna--Tom Rinaldi Secrets of a Civil War Submarine--Sally M. Walker Sinking the Sultana--Sally M. Walker A Storm Too Soon: A Remarkable True Survival Story in 80 Foot Seas--Michael J. Tougias We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler--Russell Friedman Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland--Sally M. Walker |
Beginning Readers (children grades K-2)
Amelia Bedelia series--Peggy and Herman Parish Are You My Mother?--PD Eastman Berenstain Bears series--Jan, Stan, and Mike Berenstain Cat in the Hat--Dr. Seuss Danny and the Dinosaur--Syd Hoff Dr. Seuss's ABC--Dr. Seuss Elephant and Piggie series--Mo Willems Nancy Clancy series--Jane O'Connor Fox in Socks--Dr. Seuss Frog and Toad series--Arnold Lobel Green Eggs and Ham--Dr. Seuss Henry and Mudge series--Cynthia Rylant Hop on Pop--Dr. Seuss Little Bear series--Else Holmelund Minarik Mr. Putter and Tabby series--Cynthia Rylant Mouse Soup--Arnold Lobel Mouse Tales--Arnold Lobel Nate the Great series--Marjorie Sharmat Oh Say Can You Say?--Dr. Seuss Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!--Dr. Seuss One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish--Dr. Seuss Owl at Home--Arnold Lobel Pete the Cat series--James and Kim Dean Pinkalicious series--Victoria Kann Sammy the Seal--Syd Hoff Splat the Cat series--Rob Scotton Ten Apples up on Top--Dr. Seuss There's a Wocket in My Pocket--Dr. Seuss Early Chapter Books (grades 2-3) A-Z Mysteries series--Ron Roy Bad Kitty series--Nick Bruel Big Nate series--Lincoln Peirce The Borrowers--Mary Norton The Boxcar Children series--Gertrude Werner Calendar Mysteries series--Ron Roy Cam Jansen series--David A. Adler Charlotte's Web--EB White Encyclopedia Brown series--Donald Sobol Fancy Nancy series--Jane O'Connor Geronimo Stilton series--Geronimo and Thea Stilton Hank the Cowdog series--Jon Ericson Heidi--Johanna Spyri Horrible Harry series--Suzy Kline Little House on the Prairie series--Laura Ingalls Wilder Magic Tree House series--Mary Pope Osborn Mr. Popper's Penguins--Richard Atwater The Mouse and the Motorcycle--Beverly Cleary Pippi Longstocking--Astrid Lindgren Ralph S. Mouse--Beverly Cleary Ramona series--Beverly Cleary Stuart Little--EB White Mid-range Chapter Books (grades 3-7) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer--Mark Twain Alice's Adventures in Wonderland--Lewis Carroll American Girl series--multiple authors Anne of Green Gables series--LM Montgomery Because of Winn-Dixie--Kate DiCamillo The BFG--Roald Dahl Black Beauty--Anna Sewell The Black Stallion--Walter Farley Bridge to Terabithia--Katherine Paterson Bud, Not Buddy--Christopher Paul Curtis Call of the Wild--Jack London Children of Christmas--Cynthia Rylant Chronicles of Narnia series--CS Lewis The Cricket in Times Square--George Selden Dear America series--multiple authors Diary of a Wimpy Kid series--Jeff Kinney Dicey's Song (Tillerman series)--Cynthia Voigt Echo--Pam Munoz Ryan Freedom over Me--Ashley Brian From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler--EL Konigsburg The Girl Who Drank the Moon--Kelly Barnhill Great Expectations--Charles Dickens Grimm's Fairy Tales--Brothers Grimm Gulliver's Travels--Jonathan Swift Hardy Boys mysteries--Franklin W. Dixon Harriet the Spy--Louise Fitzhugh Hatchet series--Gary Paulsen Holes--Louis Sachar How to Train Your Dragon series--Cressida Cowell I Funny series--James Patterson I Survived series--Lauren Tarshis The Incredible Journey--Sheila Burnford The Indian in the Cupboard--Lynn Reid Banks The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog--Adam Gidwitz Journey to the Center of the Earth--Jules Verne Land of Stories series--Chris Colfer A Little Princess--Frances Hodgson Burnett Little Women--Louisa May Alcott A Long Way from Chicago--Richard Peck Maniac Magee--Jerry Spinelli Mary Poppins--PL Travers Matilda--Roald Dahl Maximilian P. Mouse, Time Traveler series--Philip Horender Middle School series--James Patterson Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH--Robert C. O'Brien Nancy Drew mysteries--Carolyn Keene Number the Stars--Lois Lowry Old Yeller--Fred Gipson On My Honor--Marion Dane Bauer One Crazy Summer--Rita Wiliams-Garcia Peppermints in the Parlor--Barbara Brooks Wallace Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry--Mildred Taylor Rush Revere series--Rush Limbaugh Sarah, Plain and Tall--Patricia MacLachlan The Secret Garden--Frances Hodgson Burnett A Series of Unfortunate Events series--Lemony Snicket Sounder--William H. Armstrong Swiss Family Robinson--Johann David Wyss The Tale of Despereaux--Kate DiCamillo Theodore Boone series--John Grisham The Time Machine--HG Wells Treasure Island--Robert Louis Stevenson Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea--Jules Verne The War That Saved My Life--Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Warriors series--Erin Hunter The Watsons Go to Birmingham--Christopher Paul Curtis White Fang--Jack London Wolf Hollow--Lauren Wolk The Wonderful Wizard of Oz--Frank L. Baum A Wrinkle in Time--Madeleine L'Engle Where the Red Fern Grows--Wilson Rawls Young Adult Fiction Books (grades 7+) The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes--Conan Doyle Animal Farm--George Orwell The Book Thief--Markus Zusak Chinese Handcuffs--Chris Crutcher The Chocolate War--Robert Cormier Cinder series--Marissa Meyer Crispin: The Cross of Lead--Avi Divergent series--Veronica Roth Ella Enchanted--Gail Carson Levine Emma--Jane Austen Fahrenheit 451--Ray Bradbury The Fault in Our Stars--John Green Frankenstein--Mary Shelley Freak the Mighty--Rodman Philbrick The Giver--Lois Lowry Grapes of Wrath--John Steinbeck Hamlet--William Shakespeare Harry Potter series--JK Rowling The Hobbit--JRR Tolkien The Iliad--Homer Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte Johnny Tremain--Esther Forbes Julius Caesar--William Shakespeare The Jungle--Upton Sinclair The Kite Runner--Khaled Hosseini Lord of the Flies--William Golding The Lord of the Rings trilogy--JRR Tolkien Macbeth--William Shakespeare Magnus Chase series--Rick Riordan Maximum Ride series--James Patterson Maze Runner series--James Dashner Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children--Ransom Riggs Night Witches--Kathryn Lasky 1984--George Orwell The Odyssey--Homer The Once and Future King--TH White Out of the Dust--Karen Hesse The Outsiders--SE Hinton Percy Jackson series--Rick Riordan Pride and Prejudice--Jane Austen The Red Badge of Courage--Stephen Crane Romeo and Juliet--William Shakespeare The Scarlet Letter--Nathaniel Hawthorne The Selection series--Kiera Cass Sense and Sensibility--Jane Austen The Scarlet Pimpernel--Baronness Orczy Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes--Chris Crutcher Stotan--Chris Crutcher The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--Robert Louis Stevenson Summer of My German Soldier--Bette Greene A Tale of Two Cities--Charles Dickens The Three Musketeers--Alexandre Dumas To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee Trials of Apollo series--Rick Riordan The Wave--Todd Strasser Witness--Karen Hesse |
