In 2016, I started a Facebook group called Your Kid’s Next Read with everyone’s favourite teacher-librarian/blogger Megan Daley from Children’s Books Daily.
Our idea was to bring together a community of parents, teachers, booksellers, librarians and other interested parties to recommend great children’s books to each other, ensuring that every kid – be they a reluctant reader or an advanced reader – would have a ‘perfect next book’ for their reading journey.
Not long after we started, we created a recommended reading list, which was an overview of books that were recommended over and over in the group. There are two parts to that list:
Your Kid’s Next Read: recommended reading lists for kids 3-9+
Your Kid’s Next Read: recommended reading lists for kids 10+, 12+, YA for tweens
Both of these lists are terrific and the books and authors on these lists are STILL recommended over and over within our group.
BUT, time passes, new members join and amazing new books come out all the time.
Your Kid’s Next Read (2018)
Today, our YKNR community has 5000+ members and it’s a thriving, busy place (you should join us here). So, Megan and I, and our excellent moderator Allison Rushby, decided it was time for an update of our list. So we threw it open to our membership once again.
These are the books that YKNR members thought were missing from our reading lists, along with some stellar reads that the YKNR Admin Team wouldn’t want you to miss. Click the book title* to find out more about each book to help you decide if it’s right for your kid.
Between the new list and our earlier one, we just know you’ll find an amazing next read for your kid right here!
Books for kids 10+
Storm Boy by Colin Thiele
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
The Turnkey by Allison Rushby
The Mulberry Tree by Allison Rushby
Nevermoor (series) by Jessica Townsend
Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan (I highly recommend the audio book for this one – Heather, YKNR member)
The Penderwicks (series) by Jeanne Birdsall
His Name Was Walter by Emily Rodda
City of Orphans (series) by Catherine Jinks
Tarin Of The Mammoths by Jo Sandhu
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
York: The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
The Ateban Cipher (series) by A.L. Tait
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Ratcatcher’s Daughter by Pamela Rushby
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The YKNR Admin team would add:
Figgy In The World (series) by Tamsin Janu
Woo’s Wonderful World Of Maths by Eddie Woo
The Shop at Hooper’s Bend by Emily Rodda
Missing by Sue Whiting
Kensy and Max by Jacqueline Harvey
Lenny’s Book Of Everything by Karen Foxlee
The Boy and The Spy by Felice Arena
The War I Finally Won by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Glaser
The Endsister by Penni Russon
Lockwood & Co (series) by Jonathon Stroud
A Ghost in my Suitcase (series) by Gabrielle Wang
Greenglass House (series) by Kate Milford
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
The Snow Pony by Alison Lester
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
Swallow’s Dance by Wendy Orr
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
Freedom Swimmer by Wai Chim
Whimsy and Woe by Rebecca McRitchie
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
How to Bee by Bren MacDibble
Natural Born Loser by Oliver Phommavanh
Books for kids 12+
A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird series) by Claudia Gray
Frogkisser by Garth Nix
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
Alanna: The First Adventure (Song Of The Lioness series) by Tamora Pierce
The YKNR Admin team would add:
The Skeleton Tree by Iain Lawrence
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Arkanae (The Medoran Chronicles series) by Lynette Noni
The Fall by Tristan Bancks
Liars (series) by Jack Heath
The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree by Paola Peretti
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness
The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
The Riders Of Thunder Realm (Paladero series) by Steven Lochran
Ice Wolves (Elementals series) by Amie Kaufman
Books for kids 14+
Divergent (series) by Veronica Roth
Carve The Mark (series) by Veronica Roth
The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Across the Nightingale Floor (series) by Lian Hearn
Chaos Walking (series) by Patrick Ness
Road to Winter (Wilder series) by Mark Smith
The YKNR Admin Team would add:
I Am Out With Lanterns by Emily Gale
White Night by Ellie Marney
Living On Hope Street by Demet Divaroren
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology (Edited by Danielle Binks)
After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
Brontide by Sue McPherson
Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia (edited by Anita Heiss)
The Things That Will Not Stand by Michael Gerard Bauer
Warcross (series) by Marie Lu
Bro by Helen Chebatte
Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon
The Bogan Mondrian by Steven Herrick
Just Breathe by Andrew Daddo
Don’t forget to check the original recommended reads list here as well.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
*NB: This site uses affiliate links. You’ll find more information here. Most of the books on the lists are also available at your local independent bookshop, on Amazon, or at your preferred online bookseller.
Do you only recommend books that are traditionally published? If you read indie books how do you connect with indie authors?
Hi Val, thanks for your comment. The books recommended on these lists mostly come from members of the YKNR community. The three members of the YKNR team read a huge number of books between us, and will recommend books we love in the group, though, of course, we can’t read everything published just due to time constraints. Two of us are authors, writing our own books, and one of us is a teacher-librarian, so we are well immersed in the children’s book community and will pick up indie authors on our radar that way. Hope this helps.