So, my niece is 8 years old, soon to be 9 and she has taken after me, being a huge nerd and bookworm. But so far all her books have been in the "diary of wimpy kid" style. Illustrated, stylized and '"easy"(i love the series btw). Now she wants to graduate to "big girl books". Her parents are readers but much prefer non fiction and asked me for help getting her books.

She is quite smart for her age. She liked the harry potter movies and wants to read the series. I read them when I was 10 and i could grasp everything quite well. I think she can handle them, and she wants to try, so that's one.

However, i'm completely lost on what else to recommend. I never really read children's and tween's books when i was younger, i totally skipped to teen/adult books as early as 11 (and probably read a lot of things I shouldn't have so I'm not about to recommend those and have her parents mad at me lol). My mom trusted me and left me quite free to pick what I wanted, but my brother (probably because he knows the amount of shit I have read) wants to vet the books before he buys them.

So please, give me your best recommendations of children's books(that do not treat children like they are dumb) for a quite smart almost-nine year old.

For more info: she loves dinosaurs and all sorts magical stuff. She is also in a magical girl phase.

Edit: I can't reply to every single message, but thank you so much for all your wonderful recommendations! I am currently building a list for my niece with her parents with the book covers and a mini synopsis so she can choose what she wants to read! You guys have been a huge help! (I even got some recommendations i would love to read, so thank you!)

Update (5/14/25): Wow, thank you so much to everyone who took the time to give suggestions! Your kindness is very much appreciated! I thought I'd get like 10 comments max lol. Even if I can't respond to everyone individually, I want you all to know that I've been reading everyone's suggestions and kind words and slowly putting all the books into a spreadsheet. My plan is to work through the list by borrowing from the library and reading them myself, then buying a copy for the kids to pass along if I think it will meet my parents' standards. I'm going to try to send them a book or two every month. I do have some messaging contact with the kids, so if any of my sisters message me after reading a book that was recommended, I'll try to find the original commenter and let you know what they thought of it. :) I don't know the rules for this subreddit and if posts get archived after a certain amount of time, but on my side I plan to keep the comments open and will definitely be revisiting this post as I work through my list. So if you're seeing this long after I originally posted and have a rec you'd like to share, please feel free! Thank you all again!! I feel a lot of hope right now. It feels great to get to do even a small thing to help the girls instead of watching helplessly.

Original Post (5/13/25):

Hello! I've got a difficult request. I'm an adult looking for books for my little sisters, aged 15 and 12. They love reading, but after I moved out my parents turned into fundamentalist Christian nationalists, so there's very little the girls are allowed to read outside of Little House on the Prairie, Narnia, these newer Christian fantasy series that seem to be thinly veiled Christian nationalist propaganda. I really want to find good books that will help them understand the world around them a bit more and develop their reading and literacy skills, but unfortunately, anything I give them needs to meet my parents' strict standards or it will automatically be tossed. Right now I'd settle for anything that's not religious brainwashing material or the same books they've read a million times because they have nothing else.

If you are up for a challenge, a summary of my parents' criteria is below. If you've got a suggestion and it meets most but not all of the list below, please do suggest it anyway. Certain things can fly under the radar some of the time. I know the girls like fantasy and mystery, but I think they'd be open to most genres. And I think the 12 year old may not quite read at her age level, so feel free to include middle grade or elementary school level books.

I know that my parents' constraints take out a lot of really great options. I hope my sisters will escape and read all the great books they'd like to some day, but for now they are stuck where they are and I've got to work with what I've got. We all know how formative the books we read as children were to us, so it breaks my heart to read reviews of the few books they are allowed and find that the only female characters in the book are submissive wives who are given no voice within the story. Even if I can give them a book and its only redeeming quality is that it has a female lead with a personality of her own, that will be better than what they have now. Thank you in advance to anyone who comments!

What's not allowed

Profanity - Nothing beyond "damn" or "hell"

Sexuality - Nothing more than a middle grade level of sexual content is allowed. Anything LGBTQ+ related (even a brief mention) is automatically not allowed if even there's no overt sexual content. Absence/inclusion of Christian morals for sex/dating/marriage could go either way depending on the context.

Religion (other than Christianity) - Most of the books they read paint other religions in a negative light. I think my parents would allow mentions of other religions in a neutral way but nothing too in depth. 

Magic/Spirituality - My family is a Narnia yes, Harry Potter no, and Lord of the Rings yes (only because my parents view it as an allegory even though it's not) kind of family. Magic is allowed, but only if it doesn't look too much like witchcraft or any religion besides Christianity. Or if it could reasonably fit in a Jesus allegory box.

Violence - Go crazy, they're God's little warriors after all lol. Jk but not really. Anything your average teenager would be able to handle is fine, except when limited by the above

Parents/Family - No household outside of a husband, wife, and/or kids framework is allowed even a mention. Single parents are allowed but on thin ice. Anything where a kid is permitted to be "too rude" or "too disagreeable" with parents is not allowed.

I want her baby to have the coolest book collection of some of my favorites that helped me grow up! I don’t want it to be too school syllabus or Top 100 list or whatever. I think I edited down to something basic. Help me with my list!

I will also include a note and reading prompts.

Age 1

Colors for Kids

Age 2

A Snowy Day — Ezra Jack Keats

Age 3

The Legend of the Doozer Who Didn’t — Louise Gikow

Age 4

Where the Wild Things Are — Maurice Sendak

Age 5

Junie B. Jones — Barbara Park

Age 6

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 — Beverly Cleary

Age 7

Sideways Stories from Wayside School — Louis Sachar

Age 8

Coraline — Neil Gaiman

Age 9

Esperanza Rising — Pam Muñoz Ryan

Age 10

Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock — Carolyn Keene

Age 11

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - By E.L. Konigsburg

Age 12

Elsewhere — Gabrielle Zevin

Age 13

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging — Louise Rennison

Age 14

The Importance of Being Earnest — Oscar Wilde

Age 15

Persepolis — Marjane Satrapi

Age 16

Brontë Sisters Collection

Age 17

The Artificial Silk Girl — Irmgard Keun

Age 18

Orlando — Virginia Woolf

Come As You Are — Emily Nagoski

Gentle stories with good vocabulary, but not including romantic, war, death, or teenage / adult themes

My son is 7 but apparently has a reading age of 14 according to his teacher. He's autistic and has ADHD which makes him very picky, if he finds a book even slightly boring he'll give up immediately. We've somehow ended up with a new bedtime routine where he reads for 2 entire hours before bed each evening so he's immediately run out of books. I'm looking for suggestions that will hopefully be engaging and ideally a series so that he will be able to just pick up the next book instead of having to choose a new one each night.

When he was younger he liked Mr Men and Dr Seuss but he's starting to prefer chapter books now. We read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Great Glass Elevator together which he loved but he doesn't seem interested in the rest of the Roald Dahl books (he only read the first two after watching the movies). He is obsessed with Minecraft but doesn't find the Minecraft story books interesting enough. He enjoys absurdist humour and silliness but nothing that feels too "babyish". He has started a few Rainbow Magic books but got bored too easily.

He loves learning and so would probably enjoy some non-fiction, but if it seems too complicated he gives up immediately. He loves maths, science, human biology, neuroscience, psychology, computing, technology, space, animals (especially cats), and nature.

He is quite mature so he can cope with some topics such as death as long as it's written in an age appropriate way. Even a few swear words isn't really a problem if there's any teen books that fit the other requirements. Not sure whether he would enjoy books with monsters because he does like scary video games but also has anxiety when alone in his bedroom. So some light child appropriate horror might be okay.

Also we will likely get him an e-reader so text size doesn't really matter, but anything too focused on images and colours probably wouldn't work.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. would not consider Harry Potter

I work in the children's room of a library and there's a five year old who's an exceptional reader. All she wants to do is read and she devours books so quickly! It's gotten to the point that I'm struggling with suggestions for her.

Basically, I'd love suggestions for long chapter books that don't have any gritty themes, death, excessive romance or violence. Maybe books that are a bit old-timey but aren't "classics" specifically. Books that aren't so obvious. She loves Anne of Green Gables, Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Wood, My Father's Dragon, Penderwicks, Hamster Princess, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, etc... anything that's longer with a gentle, wholesome kind of vibe

My 11 year old daughter loves fantasy books and anything with animals (especially cats). She is in gifted reading/English classes and I am in search of young adult books that are challenging while still age appropriate for her. She is still quite innocent for her age. She just finished the Wings of Fire series which had some violence so that's fine, I'm looking for novels without sex or drugs or anything too advanced like that. Thank you !

My step daughter is really into reading. I need to get her a book series for the holidays, but I’m not sure what to get for her

She already read all the Harry Potter books. It was her favorite.

She’s read Percy Jackson series. And she is currently in the middle of the hunger games series.

She is more advanced in her reading, so I was thinking something more to YA. But we definitely want to avoid anything romantasy type. Kissing is okay. But not sex.

Shadow and bone series came up, but I’m not sure if that’s too much romance (I haven’t read them).

Any suggestions would be great!

Hello, (desperately) looking for book suggestions for my avid 9 year old reader. Boy. Is reading faster than I can find books for him to read. This list is not a complete list of book he’s read. We are reading Harry Potter as a family so slowly working our way through them. Not interested in the LOTR. My son is never without a book, and I would like to keep him very interested and engaged so I need great suggestions. THANK YOU!

Percy Jackson (7 book series)

Series of Unfortunate Events (13 books)

The Mysterious Benedict Society (3 Books)

The Wayside School (4 books)

The Wild Robot (3 books)

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Book 2

Book 3

Roald Dahl — James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny the Champion of the World, Billy and the Minpins,
Fantastic Mr Fox, The Twits,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, The Magic Finger, Charlie & The Great Glass Elevator, The Witches, George’s Marvelous Medicine, Esio Trot

Spy School (13 books)

Little Women

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (all)

Harry Potter (1-3…)

The Westing Game

The Vanderbeekers didnt like

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The Penderwicks didnt like

Holes

Hatchet

Flora & Ulysses

Most of the I Survived Books

My 11-year-old daughter is on crutches for another 3 to 4 weeks due to a soccer injury. Her and I love to read books together and then watch the movies. We’ve already read/watched the Harry Potters, Percy Jacksons, A Wrinkle in Time, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Chronicles of Narnia, Ella Enchanted, all the Roald Dahls, and I’m sure others that I have forgotten. I’m tempted to do Hunger Games but I am worried she’s too young. Any suggestions? Thanks!

She read the whole Diaries of a Wimpy Kid and liked it. Now I want to recommend her something to read.

I'd prefer a books series so she gets occupied for a longer time but a book also works.

Needs to be advanced enough to keep him interested but not adult enough to bore or scar him.

He really enjoyed Harry Potter last year up to book 6. When he got bored.

He liked the narnia series and the hobbit and LotR. He really enjoys comic books.

Was thinking maybe Enders game but never read it myself. Does it have any graphic scenes?

Or do you have any better options?

Despite my suggestion of waiting to read the second half of the series, she has determinedly persevered with them. Now she is almost done with book 7. I would like to get her some books for Christmas that are exciting but not so emotionally demanding. She takes character deaths hard.

She’s really loving the diary of a wimpy kid books that she’s reading for school. She’s rereading Impossible creatures by Katherine Rundell, but this is also an emotional book without a happy ending.

Contemporary gems would be ideal as we have already done the usual classics like Narnia and the hobbit. She likes funny books, and I’m particularly fond of hearing her giggling quietly while reading.

I live 3000 miles away from my family and am expecting my first baby. I've been feeling sad about the fact that my child won't get to know my family with the same ease as their cousins.

I've had an idea to ask my family members to record themselves reading short stories that I can play for my daughter when she arrives, so she can get to know their faces and voices!

What are some short stories for children that might take 3-5 minutes to read out loud?

My daughter loves to read. Currently she reads Percy Jackson like her life depends on it. Other books she likes are impossible creatures by Katherine Rundell and Skandar and the Unicorn thief by A F Steadman. Any suggestions what she could read next?

Edit: thanks everyone! Got a lot of really cool suggestions that will keep her busy for a long time!

Hey Reddit!

I'm looking for some book recommendations for my younger female cousin (age 13). She loves Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Fablehaven, Keeper of The Lost Cities, The Hunger Games. If that sort of gives you a vibe; upper middle grade to young YA fantasy/adventure.

Trouble is these books need to be pretty clean, her parents are slightly strict, which is totally understandable. Violence I wanna say is okay, drinking/smoking fine. Mostly we're just worried about sex/nudity and language, or other mature elements (like brothels or spicy clubs lol)

I just recommended and got her the Legend Series by Marie Lu. However, I think the last book has a scene in it that might not be very appropriate, according to her parents, so I'll be bitting my nails over here to see how that goes.

Anyways, do y'all have any clean, but FUN book recs that kind of fit that description?

I have been wanting to find a specific genre of children’s books written by authors who went through this thought process: “This important lesson about life’s cruel realities isn’t landing. I know! I’ll make it accessible to kids!”

You can feel the author’s shadow looming over these stories, insisting “The pain is the point!”. Books like Animal Farm, Where the Red Fern Grows, masterpiece designed to break a kids heart by a little

I found it darkly hilarious that humanity have produced must-read classics full of pain for their children to read, and we unanimously decide that this is a good idea. Let us build the ultimate syllabus for childhood dread. What books should be on it? Are there any good books that destroyed you as a child?

Here is my list so far:

The Mild Classics:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson

 Not much to say about these three. They are good.

The Intermediate level:

Where the Red Fern Grows – This book is about the journey about Billy and his dogs. It is a wonderful journey full of love, dedication and determination, and then the dogs die.

Charlotte’s Web – A classic for kids that touches on friendship and inevitability of death. Charlotte dies in the end.

Bride to Terabithia – This comes out from my research, I skimmed its summary, will read it soon. A celebration of friendship and imagination that teaches about the sudden, senseless nature of tragedy.

Old Yeller – Haven’t read this too. I heard that this book touches upon love and unbearable responsibility. The boy must shoot his own beloved, rabies-infected dog.

Coraline – Now this is just evil. There is no lesson, just a story specifically designed to inflict horror to the child. It takes mundane everyday things and gives them a fearful twist. When the child feels afraid and try to reach out to an adult, the way adult dismiss them is just like what happens in the book.

The Advanced level:

Animal farm – Imagine someone read the dystopian 1984 and decided that this is a lesson that kids should learn.

Lord of the Flies – The author took one look at the classic, optimistic adventure stories and said, "Absolutely not." Being a WWII officer, he argued that the default state of humanity isn't innocence—it's savagery. Thus in his story he strands a bunch of schoolboys on an island and letting their inner assholes run wild, exploring the fragility of civilization.

Metamorphosis – The famous Gregor Samsa that turns into the bug.  The real horror is the alienation, familial rejection, and the bleak pointlessness of Gregor's existence and death

We Children from Bahnhof Zoo – German shock education. There was once a child has her life wrecked by drugs by age 13. So, the Germans write a chronicle about it, and decided to prevent such happenings, its should be shown to 12 years old kids. Thus a “kids’ book” with drug addiction, child prostitute, withdrawal symptoms and such is born. On my reading list.

What am I missing? What books would you recommend to put into this list?

My 9-year-old has had her reading age assessed as being age 15, which is great!

However, she is grossed out about anything to do with sex or relationships. Most things for that age in any Genre focus in on that as something people that age are interested in.

She mostly likes fantasy novels, or comedy. Things she has read and enjoyed recently:

Harry Potter Lord of the Rings His Dark Materials Percy Jackson Ender's Game <-- I thought this would be heavy for her but she enjoyed it.

She reads as fast as me and I am running out of suggestions very quickly! Her school has never had someone with a reading age as high as her, and they're not sure what she should read either.

Was there a book that just felt like yours, one that affected you in a way (like it shifted your perspective, made you feel seen, taught you to love words and reading, or had some other impact on your formative self) that marks you to this day?

I was obsessed with Bridge To Terabithia, I must have read it a dozen times. I loved the descriptions, the characters, I felt the grief. I'm currently reading it with my 9yo, and seeking other books she might enjoy. She mostly likes graphic novels, which I encourage, and l'd like to get her into chapter books more.

Any recommendations for age appropriate books (any genre, graphic novel or chapter book) that are well written, smart-both interesting for her and worthwhile as a story are appreciated.

What was YOUR book growing up?.

My 3 year old daughter has developed a fear of bugs, especially ants and spiders. I’m looking for great books to help teach her about them in the hopes that it help.

She doesn’t typically like books that just feature facts. She likes stories. So I’m hoping to find books that will package facts with a nice story. She also likes rhyming books, so I think a rhyming book that’s more fact heavy and has less story may also work. She’s starting to like slightly longer books than a lot of what you find for babies. Think 3-4 sentences per page rather than 1-2 sentences per page.

Post was edited to add some more details of what I’m looking for based on the suggestions I’ve received thus far.

My son age 14 loves to read, but he’s at the age where adult books are too adult and kids books are too childish. He really wants to read Stephen King, I let him read Life of Chuck and The Long Walk (he hated how both of them ended). I am trying to avoid smut/sex/ extreme violence for as long as possible lol. His favorite books right now are The Martian and Project Hail Mary, he also loves historical fiction. He doesn’t love fantasy (for example he wouldn’t read His Dark Materials) Any books that are adult but still not about graphic sex/murder??

Hello,

I am a 4th grade teacher, and I have a few students who read at about a second grade level. The whole class is getting ready to read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I would like to chose a book that is better suited to their reading level, but also has similar fantasy themes. It is a group of all boys. Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

ok so as a kid I didn’t read. I’m trying to heal parts of my childhood and I would love nothing more for you all to suggest your favorite books that you read when you were a kid. CHAPTER BOOKS please. I recently read ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ and loved it!! Please suggest any that goes along with the title of this post!

TLDR: Book recs for a creative tween that are not picture based and require use of her imagination. We are not abusing our child. I’m not in need of any parenting advice. We are not forcing her to read our books, War and Peace, Moby Dick or anything of that caliber. Comics are legitimate but not what we’re deficient in atm. We have a library. It’s limited. We love our kid very much. I’m not in need of any parenting advice!! Why am I having to say all this in a book sub?!?

Could use some recs here. I have an 11yo 6th grade girl that is allergic to reading. Her mom and I have a house rule where we read for an hour before bed. The kid “doesn’t know what to read” and I don’t know what to suggest. She hated Harry Potter. Lately it’s been graphic novels which feel like cheating. Especially the ones she chooses- it’s some series that seems to be two guys hugging and crying a bunch. lol. Queer content is fine but this just seems corny AF. 😂 I’m kind of desperate to find something interesting for her. She likes moody Taylor Swifty, Billie Eilish, Chappel Roan. She writes her own songs. Takes dance class and makes up her own choreography. She paints. Likes horror movies but will only watch during the day. She’s afraid of the dark but reads fairly graphic horror comics when she finds them. I’m trying to convince her that every great songwriter is well read. I don’t want this to be hard. I want her to get into reading and find her own style that she likes. We don’t do much screen time and would like to do even less. A popular series perhaps? One that other tweens are into do they can gab about it at the burger joint they all hang out at after school. 😂 Help!!

EDIT: Whoops! Thought this was a book rec sub and not a parenting sub. While appreciate childless people giving me advice on parenting from a comedic POV, that’s actually not what I’m asking for here. It’s fine if you don’t have any recs. Or don’t want to get some quality books in front of a kid. But I assure you, our parenting skills are fine. Most parents seem fine with just putting a phone in their hand and sidestepping parenting altogether. 🤷🏻‍♂️

No, we are not forcing her to read anything in particular. We would just like something that asks more of her imagination. Yes, reading time is mandatory. Everyone in the house does it. No screens. No, this is not child abuse. WTF?!? Those that kinda suggest it have not experienced actual abuse (I have) and should STFU. I can’t believe I’m having to say half of this shit in a book sub!!! Why is this the timeline I’m in?!?

You don’t need to defend comics to me. We have a bunch. I have all the Gaiman/Moore type stuff and a few random others. Not any of the superhero stuff as I just never got into that as a kid. The $ to word ratio makes it difficult to justify. She will go thru a graphic novel every two days. At $20 a pop it gets expensive. The library has some. But not a ton. So even she read thru everything they have, we’re gonna run out by the end of the year.

My 8yo daughter wants to read a book about, "murder". Zero issues helping her navigate this; she's smart, stable, kind, and awesome. Kid just wants to read about murder. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Specifically, she says the perfect book would have the following:

• Dying people by being shot
• Murder
• Who did it?
• Why did they do it?
• Details about the shooting

What book(s) should I try first? She's not a reader yet, so I'll read these to her.