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Kid Books

matchstick kidbooks: children's literature, emphasizing books that promote child development

This is a list I began compiling years ago, when I knew several families with children ranging in age from 2 through mid-adolescence.

It's essentially all the books that won at least one award.

The categories correspond to a range of children's ages.
For younger ages, the higher number is the average age of child who would enjoy reading the book, while the lower number is the age of the child who would enjoy listening to the book being read.
Reading level is different for every child, so the numbers given for each category may be above or below your child's level.

Book recommendations for 3 to 5 year olds

Pre-school

    Eric Carle


  • The Very Lonely Firefly - 1994
  • The Very Quiet Cricket - 1990

  • The Very Busy Spider - 1985
  • The Grouchy Ladybug - 1977
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar - 1971

    • Norman Stiles


  • Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum - 1974

    4 to 7

      The "I Can Read" Series


    • The Josefina Story Quilt - 1985
    • The Long Way to a New Land - 1986
    • The Big Balloon Race - 1992

    • The Long Way Westward - 1992
    • Chang's Paper Pony - 1993
    • Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express - 1996
    • Dust for Dinner - 1997

      • Philip D. Eastman


    • Go, Dog, Go! - 1976

    • Sam and the Firefly - 1972

      • Dr. Seuss


    • Green Eggs and Ham
    • The Cat in the Hat

      Tomie de Paola


    • Strega Nona: An Original Tale

      Richard Scarry

    • Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?
    • Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go - 1998

      • Beatrix Potter


    • The Tale of Peter Rabbit

      Maurice Sendak


    • In the Night Kitchen
    • Where the Wild Things Are : Caldecott Medal Winner, 1964

    • Chicken Soup with Rice
    • Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months - 1991

      • Margaret Wise Brown


    • Goodnight Moon
    • The Runaway Bunny - 1991

      6 to 9

      Books of pretend, with an element of the fantastic

        Tove Jansson


      • Finn Family Moomintroll

        Crocket Johnson

      • Harold and the Purple Crayon

        • A. A. Milne


      • Winnie-the-Pooh
      • The House at Pooh Corner

        8 to 11

        More sophisticated fantasy and moving toward realism

          Laura Ingalls Wilder


        • Little House in the Big Woods
        • A Little House on the Prairie
        • On the Banks of Plum Creek
        • Farmer Boy
        • By the Shores of Silver Lake

        • The Long Winter
        • Little Town on the Prairie

          • Judy Blume


        • Superfudge
        • Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
        • Blubber

          Beverly Cleary


        • Henry Huggins

        • Ramona's World

          • Norton Juster


        • The Phantom Tollbooth

          Lewis Carroll


        • Alice in Wonderland
        • Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

          Thomas Rockwell

        • How to Eat Fried Worms

          • E. L. Konigsburg


        • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler : Newbery Medal Winner, 1968

          Eleanor Estes


        • Ginger Pye : Newbery Medal Winner, 1952

          William Pene Du Bois


        • The Twenty-One Balloons : Newbery Medal Winner, 1948

          Carol Ryrie Brink


        • Caddie Woodlawn : Newbery Medal Winner, 1936

          Hugh Lofting


        • The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle : Newbery Medal Winner, 1923

          9 to 12

          More social interactions, more sophisticated vocabularies

            Lloyd Alexander


          • The Black Cauldron
          • The Book of Three
          • The High King : Newbery Medal Winner, 1969

            Christopher Paul Curtis

          • Bud, Not Buddy : Newbery Medal Winner, 2000

            • John D. Fitzgerald


          • The Great Brain

            C.S. Lewis


          • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
          • Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
          • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
          • The Silver Chair

          • The Horse and His Boy
          • The Magician's Nephew
          • The Last Battle

            • Robert C. O'Brien


          • Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH : Newbery Medal Winner, 1972

            Scott O'Dell


          • Island of the Blue Dolphins : Newbery Medal Winner, 1961

            Katherine Paterson


          • Jacob Have I Loved : Newbery Medal Winner, 1981
          • Bridge to Terabithia : Newbery Medal Winner, 1978

            Lemony Snicket


          • The Bad Beginning - 1999
          • The Reptile Room - 1999
          • The Wide Window - 2000

          • The Miserable Mill - 2000
          • The Austere Academy - 2000
          • The Ersatz Elevator - 2001
          • The Vile Village - 2001
          • The Hostile Hospital - 2001

            • Teenage and older

              Douglas Adams


            • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 1979
            • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - 1980

            • Life, the Universe, and Everything - 1982
            • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - 1984
            • Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 1987
            • The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul - 1988

              • J. R. R. Tolkien


            • The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again
            • The Fellowship of the Ring

            • The Two Towers
            • The Return of the King

              • Madeleine L'Engle


            • A Wrinkle in Time : Newbery Medal Winner, 1963