Children's Books to Inspire Reading and Foster Imagination
Generally best enjoyed by children between five and eight years old; but every child is unique, so only you know best.
Published: 2017
Theme: Kindness
Best for: 8 and up
“The five kids started exchanging ideas for winning over the man on the third floor. Operation Beiderman had officially begun.” Each of the five siblings in this story have to dig deep to find out how to be kind to someone they don’t know…
Published: 1960
Theme: Imaginative Play
Best for: 5 to 7
“There was a sign on Rosie’s door. It read, ‘If you want to know a secret, knock three times.'” Pure delight is the best description for this classic, and not-well-known children’s book by beloved writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak.
Published: 2012
Theme: Kindness and Friendship
Best for: 7 to 9
“The little girl peered out of the carriage and saw two bears lumbering quickly ahead, pulling the carriage through patches of twisting trees and over hills dotted with early blooms.” This book weaves the magical and unreality together in a way that you begin to feel you are reading an old-fashioned fairy tale, which in some ways it is.
Published: 1955, republished 1960
Theme: Fairy and Other Tales
Best for: 7 to 12
“The Goldfish stopped jumping, because his joy had been damped by doubt. “How can the world be more than I can see?’ he asked the Ship. ‘If I am really in the world, I ought to be able to see it all…'” Each tale in this children’s book is a literary work, complete with sometimes difficult language, almost always a moral, and something to think about…
Published: 2016
Theme: Self-acceptance
Best for: Girls 7 – 9
“Did Mom know she hired a witch as a babysitter?” In this second children’s book in the Backyard Witch series, we watch a young girl grow into her own qualities, which are different from her mother’s expectations.
Published: 1996
Theme: Curiosity
Best for: 5 to 8
“Once upon a time there was a bat–a little light brown bat, the color of coffee with cream in it. He looked like a furry mouse with wings.” This poetic little fable about animals, and one bat in particular, will be a sweet bedtime story.
Published: 2007
Theme: Love the World
Best for : 5 to 8
“The boat docked in Africa, and Jules kissed the ground; the earth so precious, so fragile, so round” A simple, beautifully illustrated children’s book, that gently reminds us that all the creatures on earth need our protection and love.
Published: 2000
Theme: Easy Reader Bedtime
Best for: 5 to 8
“Once there were three little dragons. They lived in a dark cave. The cave was in a dense forest. The forest was in a faraway kingdom. The poor little dragons were very lonely in their deep dark cave.” A must-have, read-aloud bedtime story that’s perfect for every child…
Published: 2015
Theme: Welcoming Diversity
Best for: 5 to 7
“The trouble with having a tiny elephant for a pet is that you never quite fit in.” A simple children’s book like this begins the process of opening hearts and minds to the beauty of diversity at an early age.
Published: 2005
Theme: Norse Myth
Best for: 8 to 11
“I had never been in the Great Hall of Asgard before. Even from outside, it was the most amazing building I had ever seen, vaster and grander than I could have imagined possible…” This children’s book is very easy to get through, and would make a nice complement to the third graders after they work with the original Norse myth…
Published: 1982
Theme: Overcoming Bullies
Best for: 8 to 10
“Dreams,” he said, “is very mysterious things. They is floating around in the air like little wispy bubbles. And all the time they is searching for sleeping people.” If you are in need of a cheerful happy ending story, as a children’s book BFG is perfect…
Published: 1939
Theme: Historical Fiction Biography
Best for: 8 – 11
“All of these ill-informed scribblers seemed astonished at Ben’s great fund of information, at his brilliant decisions, at his seeming knowledge of all that went on about him. I could have told them, It was ME.” A biography like this is perhaps the best way to bring history to children without bringing tears of boredom..
Published: 2016
Theme: Learning Something New
Best for: 6 to 9
“My name is Juana. It is spelled J-u-a-n-a, and it is pronounced Who-Ah-Nah…Bogota is where I am. And where school is and where Mami and my abuelos and Lucas are…” This perfect multi-cultural children’s book introduces us to Juana, who needs to learn English for her trip to the USA, and resists it.
Published: 2016
Theme: Biography
Best for: 5 to 8
“John loved to tell the chicks the Good News. When he fed and watered them, he spoke about the value of hard work and patience…” The illustrations alone could make this an important book, but the subject matter is what we really want to read…
Published: 2008
Theme: Wildlife in Africa
Best for: 6 to 9
“They came to a halt beside the hut… It had been made out of tree branches and the trunks of saplings, all tied together with twine and then poked firmly into the ground.” The small first chapter book is set in the bush in Africa, and gives wonderful images of African children, wildlife, and insights into baboon behavior.
Published: 2016
Theme: Cat Adventure
Best for: 7 to 11
“Goose pats Stick Cat on the head. Then he scratches him behind the left ear. Stick Cat allows Goose to do all this. It’s how Stick Cat rewards Goose for working all day and buying him food.” If there are second and third grade children who need encouragement to read, this series of books is a great addition to your home or school library.
Published: 2016
Theme: Biography, Equality
Best for: 6 and up
“Boys were expected to grow up, go out in the world, and do big things. Girls? Girls were expected to find husbands.” This very appealing illustrated children’s book is perfect because it can spark important family conversations about justice…
Published: 2016
Theme: Children, Poets, and Dogs
Best for: 7 to 10
“I’m a dog. I should tell you that right away. But I grew up with words. A poet named Sylvan found me at the shelter and took me home. He laid down a red rug for me by the fire…” Prepare to have your heart strings plucked by master storyteller MacLachlan, as a dog and two children comfort each other.
Re-Published: 1993
Theme: Dealing with Obstacles
Best for: 5 to 8
“Ming Lo and his wife lived in a house at the bottom of a large mountain. They loved their house, but they did not love the mountain.” This story reads like a classic Chinese folktale. It’s filled with lovely Asian artwork, and it offers a simple life lesson…
Published: 2014
Theme: Biography Henri Matisse
Best for: 4 to 6
“If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France where the skies were gray, and you wanted color and light and sun, what might you become?” The images and wonder of Matisse’s imagination come to life in a beautifully crafted children’s book.
Published: 2001
Theme: Math Riddle
Best for: 5 to 8
“Aziza learned all there was to know. But her favorite subject was numbers. And her favorite game was riddles.” This is a simple and enjoyable way to present numbers and riddles to young children who are already showing signs up interest in numbers.
Published: 2014
Theme: Dragons
Best for: 6 – 9
“Drake looked over at his friend Bo. he could tell Bo was thinking the same thing he was: How did the king know one of the dragons was sick?” Our school librarian gets a high demand for books about dragons, especially from the lower grade students. So she and I were delighted to find this one.
Published: 2010
Theme: Be Yourself
Best for: 6 to 9
“Blue Jay Girl had a good family who loved her, and a little dog of her own. He was called Kiyu. Until now, her life had always pleased her. But today she was the very saddest girl in the village.” This small children’s book is a great addition to Native American folk literature. It reads like an oral story that has been converted to a children’s book.
Published: 1967
Theme: Faery
Best for: 7 – 10
“There was a village once, not very long ago for those with long memories, not very far away for those with long legs. Wootton Major it was called because it was larger than Wootton Minor…” A truly magical yet profound tale of the skeptic world and those who ‘do believe in fairies’…
Published: 2008
Theme: Tolkien Fantasy
Best for: 7 and up
“Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold…” This collection of shorter stories by Tolkien has something for all ages, including adults who love Tolkien’s fantasy worlds.
Published: 1998
Theme: Fantasy
Best for 8 and up
“Not every old man with ragged trousers is a bad old man: … a few, a very few, are wizards prowling round on a holiday looking for something to do. This one was a wizard, the one that now walked into the story.” Early on, Tolkien crafted several short novellas out of stories that he made up for his own children, and Roverandom is one of them.
Published: 2015
Theme: Monsters
Best for: 7 to 8
“Yes, he had to admit, Ruffleclaw had been quite a pest. Always hungry. Always tired. And he spat absolutely everywhere. And still… Tommy missed him.” Let’s start by admitting that this children’s book is aimed at being gross, and aimed at young boys who like to be gross…
Published: 2008
Theme: First Chapter Book
Best for: 6 to 8
“They sat down for lunch at a cafe. “Bonjour,” said the waiter. “That means ‘Hello'”, Dodsworth told the duck. “Oh well then, ‘banjo’ to you, too,” said the duck.” As a first chapter children’s book, this little book is more than meets the eye, with lovely illustrations, and authentic information about Paris.
Published: 2014
Theme: Being yourself
Best for: Third graders
“It was all new and fascinating to Annika. She had never know that baking had so much math in it–so much tasty math!” Here’s a lovely addition to those hard to find interesting first chapter books, which, uncommonly, focuses on the early grade student’s relationship to math.
Published: 2010
Theme: Math Biography
Best for: 6 to 9
“You can call me Blockhead. Everyone else does. One day when I was just a boy, Maestro wrote out a math problem and gave us ten minutes to solve it. I solved it in two seconds.” If you have any young children who love numbers, this is definitely a children’s book they should read – a superb biography about Fibonacci.