Books for children and teens

If you’re trying to encourage your child to read but feel like it’s a bit of an uphill battle, don’t despair. All it can take is finding one book that really grabs their interest and opens them up to the joy of discovering a whole new world of words.

Here are some favourite books we’ve loved over the years.

Books for babies:

(Birth to two years)

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

• Where’s Spot by Eric Hill

• Peepo! by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

• Miffy by Dick Bruna

• Maisy books by Lucy Cousins

• Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

• Are You My Mother? by Philip D Eastman

• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

• Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram

• The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss

• What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scarry

• Gorilla by Anthony Browne

• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffl er

• Thomas the Tank Engine by Rev W Awdry

• Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

Books for younger schoolkids:

(Five to seven years)

• The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne

• The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

• Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

• The Charlie and Lola series by Lauren Child

• The Twits by Roald Dahl

• Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey

• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

• The Fairy series by Daisy Meadows

• Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

• The Berenstain Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Books for older schoolkids:

(Eight to twelve years)

• The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

• The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

• Clarice Bean books by Lauren Child

• The Tintin series by Hergé

• Stig of the Dump by Clive King

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• The Borrowers by Mary Norton

• 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith

• Famous Five series by Enid Blyton

• The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson

• Mary Poppins by PL Travers

• The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

• Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

• Peter Pan by JM Barrie

• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• Coraline by Neil Gaiman

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

• Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

• The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landry

• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

• The Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket

Books for teens:

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

• His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• Before I Die by Jenny Downham

• Holes by Louis Sachar

• The Outsiders by SE Hinton

• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

• Eragon by Christopher Paolini

• Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

• The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

• Good Night, Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian

• Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Favourite reads by Kiwi authors

For younger kids:

• Mrs Wishy-Washy by Joy Cowley

• My Brown Bear Barney by Dorothy Butler

• Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! by Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo and John O’Reilly

• A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy and Jenny Williams

• The Were-nana by Melinda Szymanik and Sarah Anderson

• The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith and Katz Cowley

• The Aunt Effie series by Jack Lasenby

• Perky the Pukeko by Michelle Osment

• Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd

For older kids and teens:

• Kaitangata Twitch by Margaret Mahy

• Under the Mountain by Maurice Gee

• Bow Down Shadrach by Joy Cowley

• Alex by Tessa Duder

• See Ya Simon by David Hill

• Pony Club Secret series by Stacy Gregg

• The 10pm Question by Kate de Goldi

• Buddy by VM Jones

• Jane Blonde series by Jill Marshall

My top six children’s books

This is a bit like trying to decide which of your children is your favourite! But here is my list of six kids’ books for varying ages (in no particular order) that I think should be in every household:

1. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd

2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

3. Charlotte’s Web by EB White

4. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

6. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Related stories

Previous

BOOK REVIEW: The Predictions

Native ad body.

Sponsored by %%sponsor_name%%

Benefits of reading to your children

Next

---