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