Fantasy
Mary Pope Magic Tree House Boxed Set (Volumes 1-4) ages 5-8Join Annie and Jack on different adventures that always start from their magic treehouse. Each book concentrates on a subject, giving a wealth of facts in a fictional setting. These books come very highly recommended from my own second grader.
Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted (Trophy Newbery) ages 9-14
Levine’s novel is a retelling of the Cinderella story with a different twist. Upon her birth, a Ella receives the “gift” of obedience from a fairy and she must do anything that anyone tells her to do. This Newberry Honor winner was recently made into a movie.
Corneilia Funke Dragon Rider ages 9-12This fantasy tale is about two dragons trying to find the rim of heaven, the only place where dragons can be safe. Along the way, they meet Ben, an orphan who quickly becomes their friend. Their adventure becomes life threatening when they discover a dragon hunter is following them. This is the newest American release from the award winning German children’s author.
Terry Pratchett The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky ages 9-12
Although Pratchett had numerous adult books set in his Discworld, these three are the first children’s books set there. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is about an alley cat who runs a Pied Piper scam. The novel won the Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature. In The Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching decides she will become a witch, which is good since her brother has been kidnapped by the evil Queen of faerie. Along with the Nac Mac Feegle (the Wee Free Men) Tiffany tries to save her brother. In Hat Full of Sky Tiffany begins her apprenticeship as a witch.
Lloyd Alexander The Chronicles of Prydain ages 10+In the land of Prydain, an assitant pig-keeper, Taran, has many adventures as he grows from a boy to a man. The Black Cauldron is a 1966 Newberry Honor book and The High King is a 1969 Newberry Award Winner.
Natalie Babbitt Tuck Everlasting ages 12+
Winnie discovers that the Tuck family has the “gift” of eternal life, but soon finds that some would use their secret for their own purposes. This is a classic book from award winning author Natalie Babbitt.
Lynne Reid Banks The Indian in the Cupboard ages 9-12
Omri, discovers a secret in an old cabinet. Turn the key once and the toy inside comes to life; turn it again and it goes back to a toy. This first book in a series was made into a 1995 movie of the same name.
Science Fiction
Margaret Peterson Haddix Shadow Children Series ages 9-12In a totalitarian future, families are only allowed two children. Luke is the third child in his family, a shadow child, and lives in hiding. When a new housing development is built next to his family’s farm, he sees another child’s face in a window where two other children already live.
Robert C O’Brien Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh Ages 9-12
Mrs Frisby, a widowed rat with an ill son, turns to a group of lab-enhanced rats for help. This novel has won many awards, including the Newberry Award.
Jane Yolen The Devil's Arithmetic ages 10-14
During a Passover seder, Hannah is transported to 1942 Poland where she assumes the life of a young girl captured by Nazis.
Orson Scott Card Ender's Game Boxed Set: Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon ages 12+
In a future Earth, Ender is one in a group of children bred to be military geniuses. The Earth has been attacked by aliens and these children are trained to fight them.
Clement, Andrew Things Not Seen Age12+
Bobby wakes to find he has turned invisible. His parents, trying to keep him from the media, start to control his life. He meets a blind girl to whom he tells his secret.
Garth Nix Shade's Children ages 12+
On a child’s 14th birthday, the Malevolent Overlord kills him to create a fighting beast. Shade, a computer generated adult, takes in the few children that escape their fate and uses them to fight the overlord.
Madeliene L’Engle The Time Quartet Box Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters) 9+ In A Wrinkle in Tine, Meg’s Father, a physicist, has been experimenting with time travel and disappeared. Meg and her family must rescue him. In the second book, A Wind in the Door, Meg’s brother, Charles Wallace, is ill. Meg and her friend must journey into space and fight evil forces to save him. In A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Charles Wallace must stop a mad dictator from starting a nuclear war by traveling back in time. Many Waters Focuses on the youngest Murrays, the twins. In the middle of winter they are transported into a desert, and find themselves in biblical times with Noah.
Ursula K Le Guin The Word for World is Forest ages 12+
The Athsheans live in a world of water and trees. The Terrans only want the forest and enslave the Athsheans to get it. Le Guin’s Novel won a 1973 Hugo Award.
