Every Child Should Read! (And Grownups Too!)

Picture Books | Easy Readers | Fiction | Nonfiction | Fairytales & Folktales

With thousands of children’s books published each year, how do you choose which ones to read?  Here are the ones the staff of the Niles Public Library Children’s Department feels that every child (and grownup!) should read.  These are the best of the best!

Picture Books

Miss Nelson Is Missing! The kids in Room 207 take advantage of their teacher's good nature until she disappears and they are faced with a vile substitute.	Allard, Harry
Madeline Set in picturesque Paris, this tale of a brave little girl's trip to the hospital is as appealing today as it was in 1940.	Bemelmans, Ludwig
Goodnight Moon Goodnight to each of the objects in the great green room: goodnight chairs, goodnight comb, goodnight air.	Brown, Margaret Wise
The Runaway Bunny A little rabbit who wants to run away tells his mother how he will escape, but she is always right behind him.	Brown, Margaret Wise
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel When Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Ann, lose their jobs to the gasoline, electric, and diesel motor shovels, they go to a little country town where they find that one new job leads to another.	Burton, Virginia Lee
Stellaluna After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother.	Cannon, Janell
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Follows the progress of a hungry little caterpillar as he eats his way through a varied and very large quantity of food until, full at last, he forms a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep and wakes up a butterfly.	Carle, Eric
Strega Nona: An Old Tale When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.	De Paola, Tomie
Corduroy Corduroy, a lonely bear in green overalls, must first find his lost button before he can be Lisa's very own bear.	Freeman, Don
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Lilly loves everything about school, especially her teacher, but when he asks her to wait a while before showing her new purse, she does something for which she is very sorry later.	Henkes, Kevin
The Snowy Day The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day	Keats, Ezra Jack
The Carrot Seed Everyone tells a small boy that the carrot seed he has planted will never grow, but his patience is rewarded.	Krauss, Ruth
The Story of Ferdinand Ferdinand likes to sit quietly and smell the flowers, but one day he gets stung by a bee and his snorting and stomping convince everyone that he is the fiercest of bulls.	Leaf, Munro
Swimmy Swimmy meets a group of small fish who are scared to swim in the ocean.	Lionni, Leo
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Children see a variety of animals, each one a different color, and a teacher looking at them.	Martin, Bill
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom An alphabet rhyme/chant that relates what happens when the whole alphabet tries to climb a coconut tree	Martin, Bill
Make Way for Ducklings Mr. and Mrs. Mallard proudly return to their home in the Boston Public Garden with their eight offspring.	McCloskey, Robert
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Relating the cycle of requests a mouse is likely to make after you give him a cookie takes the reader through a young child's day.	Numeroff, Laura Joffe
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Peter disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor's garden and almost gets caught.	Potter, Beatrix
Curious George The curiosity of a newly-captured monkey gets him into continual trouble.	Rey, H.A.
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs The wolf gives his own outlandish version of what really happened when he tangled with the three little pigs.	Scieszka, Jon
Where the Wild Things Are Max, sent to bed without supper, sails to the land of the wild things, where he becomes their king.	Sendak, Maurice
The Lorax The Once-ler describes the results of the local pollution problem.	Seuss, Dr.
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories Includes three humorous stories in verse: Yertle the Turtle, Gertrude McFuzz, and The Big Brag	Seuss, Dr.
Caps for Sale A band of mischievous monkeys steals every one of a peddler's caps while he takes a nap under a tree.	Slobodkina, Esphyr
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble In a moment of fright, Sylvester the donkey asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then cannot hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.	Steig, William
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Recounts the events of a day when everything goes wrong for Alexander	Viorst, Judith
The Napping House In this cumulative tale, a wakeful flea atop a number of sleeping creatures causes a commotion with just one bite.	Wood, Audrey
Harry the Dirty Dog When a white dog with black spots runs away from home, he gets so dirty his family doesn't recognize him as a black dog with white spots.	Zion, Gene

Easy Readers

Are You My Mother? A baby bird has a number of adventures while looking for its mother after falling out of its nest.	Eastman, P.D.
Danny and the Dinosaur A little boy is surprised and pleased when one of the dinosaurs from the museum agrees to play with him.	Hoff, Syd
Frog and Toad Are Friends (series) Five tales recounting the adventures of two best friends--Frog and Toad	Lobel, Arnold
Amelia Bedelia (series) A literal-minded housekeeper causes chaos in the Rogers household when she attempts to make sense of some instructions.	Parish, Peggy
Henry and Mudge (series) Henry, feeling lonely on a street without any other children, finds companionship and love in a big dog named Mudge.	Rylant, Cynthia
The Cat in the Hat Two children sitting at home on a rainy day are visited by the cat who shows them some tricks and games.	Seuss, Dr.
Green Eggs and Ham Illustrates resistance to something new as two friends learn that they both like green eggs and ham	Seuss, Dr.
Hop on Pop Pairs of rhyming words are introduced and used in simple sentences such as "Day. Play. We play all day. Night. Fight. We fight all night."	Seuss, Dr.
Nate the Great (series) Nate the Great solves the mystery of the missing picture.	Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman

Fiction

Tuck Everlasting The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.	Babbitt, Natalie
The Wizard of Oz After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy must seek out the great wizard in order to return to Kansas.	Baum, L. Frank
Alice in Wonderland A little girl falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world of nonsensical and amusing characters.	Carroll, Lewis
Ramona the Pest Ramona meets lots of interesting people in kindergarten class, like Davy whom she keeps trying to kiss and Susan whose springy curls seem to ask to be pulled.	Cleary, Beverly
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.	Curtis, Christopher Paul
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.	Dahl, Roald
Harriet the Spy Harriet's ambition to become a writer motivates her to write down in a secret notebook everything she sees, which causes her to get into big trouble when her notebook is found and read out loud by her classmates.	Fitzhugh, Louise
The Wind in the Willows The escapades of four animal friends who live along a river in the English countryside--Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger.	Grahame, Kenneth
Bunnicula (series) Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.	Howe, Deborah
A Wrinkle in Time (series) Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.	L’Engle, Madeleine
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (series) Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.	Lewis, C.S.
Sarah, Plain and Tall When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.	MacLachlan, Patricia
Winnie-the-Pooh (series) The adventures of Christopher Robin and his friends in which Pooh Bear uses a balloon to get honey, Piglet meets a Heffalump, and Eeyore has a birthday	Milne, A.A.
The Borrowers (series) Miniature people who live in an old country house by borrowing things from the humans are forced to emigrate from their home under the clock.	Norton, Mary
Island of the Blue Dolphins Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.	O’Dell, Scott
Bridge to Terabithia The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.	Paterson, Katherine
Hatchet (series) After a plane crash thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.	Paulsen, Gary
The Westing Game The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.	Raskin, Ellen
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (series) Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.	Rowling, J.K.
Holes As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.	Sachar, Louis
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.	Taylor, Mildred D.
The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.	Tolkein, J.R.R.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a Mississippi River town in the early nineteenth century	Twain, Mark
Charlotte’s Web Wilbur, a pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner, until his spider friend Charlotte decides to help him.	White, E.B.
Little House on the Prairie A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire.	Wilder, Laura Ingalls

Nonfiction

Anno's Math Games Picture puzzles, games, and simple activities introduce the mathematical concepts of multiplication, sequence and ordinal numbering, measurement, and direction.	Anno, Mitsumasa
Book of Greek Myths Myths of Ancient Greece	D’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl The journal of a Jewish girl in her early teens describes both the joys and torments of daily life, as well as typical adolescent thoughts, throughout two years spent in hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation of Holland.	Frank, Anne
Lincoln: A Photobiography Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.	Freedman, Russell
The Skyscraper Book Discusses skyscrapers, from the first one constructed in Chicago in 1884 to those of today, and points out the problems skyscrapers have helped solve and create	Giblin, James
The New Way Things Work Text and numerous detailed illustrations introduce and explain the scientific principles and workings of hundreds of machines. The book includes new material about digital technology.	Macaulay, David
The Great Fire A veritable cinematic account of the catastrophe that decimated much of Chicago in 1871, forcing more than 100,000 people from their homes.	Murphy, Jim
Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark Retraces the Lewis and Clark journey and blends their observations of previously unknown animals with modern information about those same animals	Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw
Where the Sidewalk Ends A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings.	Silverstein, Shel
The Moon An introduction to Earth's nearest neighbor, the moon, covering Apollo 11's first landing, the mystery of moonquakes, and the genesis of craters	Simon, Seymour
Tibet: Through the Red Box The author recreates a journey his father took through Tibet in the 1950s, describing the colorful people and places he saw.	Sis, Peter
Joan of Arc A biography of the fifteenth-century peasant girl who led a French army to victory against the English and was burned at the stake for witchcraft	Stanley, Diane

Fairytales & Folktales
(A Traditional Version of Each of These Folktales)

Aesop’s Fables	(J 398.2 A)
Anansi & the Moss-Covered Rock	(J 398.2096 K Africa)
Cinderella	(J P Folktales, J 398.20944 P France)
The Emperor’s New Clothes	(J  398.209489 A Denmark)
Hansel and Gretel	(J P Folktales, J 398.20943 G Germany)
Jack and the Beanstalk	(J P Folktales, J 398.20942 England)
Little Red Hen	(J P Folktales)
The Princess and the Pea	(J P Folktales, J 398.209489 A Denmark)
Rapunzel	(J P Folktales, J 398.20943 G Germany)
Rumpelstiltskin	(J P Folktales, J 398.20943 G Germany)
Sleeping Beauty	(J 398.20943 G Germany)
Snow White	(J P Folktales, J 398.20943 G Germany)
Stone Soup	(J 398.20944 France)
The Three Bears	(J P Folktales)
The Three Billy Goats Gruff	(J P Folktales, J 398.209481 Norway)
The Three Little Pigs	(J P Folktales)
The Ugly Duckling	(J P Folktales, J 398.209489 A Denmark)