Recommended Reading

Ages 8-12 Years

Your child will enjoy reading or listening to the following books.

If you purchase a volume, try to find a hard-bound edition with the original illustrations. It would be an excellent gift for a special occasion. This could begin a priceless collection of literature.

For Biographies, several different series are really enjoyable for readers of this age group: Landmark, Childhood of Famous Americans, Signature, Vision, and Windeatt.

• Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys

• Anderson, Hans Christian: Fairy Tales

• Atwater, Richard & Florence: Mr. Popper's Penguins

• Bagnold, Enid: National Velvet

• Barrie, J.M.: Peter Pan

• Baum, L. Frank: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

• Belloc, Hilaire: Cautionary Tales for Children

• Brink, Carol R.: Caddie Woodlawn

• Burnett, Frances Hodgson: Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden

• Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass

• Cleary, Beverly: Henry Huggins, Ramona the Pest, & many more

• Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol

• Dodge, Mary Mapes: Hans Brinker

• Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: Boy's Sherlock Holmes, Tales of Sherlock Holmes

  

• Farley, Walter: The Black Stallion

• Gipson, Fred: Old Yeller

• Grahame, Kenneth: The Wind in the Willows

• Irving, Washington: Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

• Kipling, Rudyard: The Jungle Book, Just So Stories

• Kjelgaard, Jim: Big Red

• Knight, Eric: Lassie Come Home

• Lewis, C.S.: The Chronicles of Narnia

• Lofting, Hugh: Dr. Doolottle

• London, Jack: The Call of the Wild

• Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables

• O'Henry: The Gift of the Magi

• Pyle, Howard: Robin Hood

• Sewell, Anna: Black Beauty

• Shakespeare, William: Comedy of Errors

• Snedeker, C.D.: Downright Dencey

• Sperry, A.: Call It Courage

• Spyri, Johanna: Heidi

• Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped, Treasure Island

• Stratton-Porter, Gene: A Daughter of the Land, Freckles, A Girl of the Limberlost, The Harvester, Her Father's Daughter, The Magic Garden, Michael O'Halloran,

• Tarkington, Booth: Penrod and others

• Taylor, Sydney: All-of-a-Kind Family

• Tolkien, J.R.: The Hobbit

• Trevor, Meriol: The Rose Round

• Tunis, J. R.: Silence Over Dunkerque

• Twain, Mark: Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer

• Verne, Jules: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days, Journey into the Interior of the Earth,

• White, E. B.: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan

• Wilder, Laura Ingalls: The Little House of the Prairie series

• Wyss, Johann: Swiss Family Robinson

Try to find the original stories. Some of these have been updated. Please read or check through them first if you decide to get the newer ones.

• Dixon, Franklin W.: The Hardy Boys

• Keene, Carolyn: Nancy Drew

• Myers & Johnson: McGee and Me

• Sobol, Donald: Encyclopedia Brown

• Warner, Gertrude: The Box-Car Children (The first 19 volumes are by this author. Look through the others to determine if they suit your family.)

Most of the books are available at the library or your favorite bookseller. Happy Reading!

Family Read Aloud

Recommended Books for 13-16 Year-Olds

More Suggestions

And Still More...

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