Children's Books

On the Children's Books shelf you will find picture books built for reading aloud at bedtime, and Dr. Seuss's What was I scared of? is the clearest example, a story about a pair of pale green pants that walk by themselves and the fear they stir in the dark. Cory Doctorow's Little Brother sits at the other end of the age range, a novel for older readers about a teenager who uses his technical skill to push back against surveillance after a city is locked down.

Books for the Very Young

Sam McBratney's Guess how much I love you, illustrated by Anita Jeram, is a bedtime book built on a game of one-upmanship between two hares, and it works because the competition is affectionate rather than sharp. Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo sends a mouse through a forest inventing a monster to scare off predators, and the pleasure is in the rhyme scheme and the mouse's nerve. Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham (1988) traps its narrator in a relentless pitch to try a new food, and the repetition is the point: by the last page a child can read along without knowing they are reading.

Middle Grade and Early Chapter Books

Roald Dahl's Matilda gives a five-year-old with a library card and terrible parents a way to fight back, and the book's tone is conspiratorial: it assumes the child is smarter than the adults around her. Jeff Kinney's Cabin Fever is the sixth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, and it strands Greg Heffley indoors during a snowstorm, which turns the series' usual school politics into a domestic siege. Kinney's Double Down is the eleventh in the same series, and it asks Greg to commit to a Halloween costume and a film project at once, so the comedy comes from his inability to finish anything. Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle puts a cursed hatmaker's daughter into a walking house with a vain wizard, and the plot is a puzzle box: every detail you noticed early turns out to matter.

Young Adult and Crossover

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game trains a child in zero-gravity war games and then asks what the training was for, and the book is a standalone novel that later grew into a series. Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower is told in letters from a high school freshman, and its subject is the gap between what a teenager notices and what he can say. Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty returns its narrator to the same beach house each year, and the tension is in how much has changed since the last visit. Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces follows a girl leaving treatment and trying to build a life in a new city, and it is the most direct of these about self-harm and recovery.

Where should I start with Roald Dahl?

Matilda is the best entry point because it puts a child's intelligence at the centre of the story. If you want the same tone with a different setting, try The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, which shares the pleasure of a small character outwitting a larger one.

What is the difference between a picture book and an early chapter book?

Guess how much I love you by Sam McBratney is a picture book: the words and illustrations carry equal weight, and an adult usually reads it aloud. Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney is an early chapter book with cartoons on every page, so a child can read it alone.

Which of these authors writes for teenagers rather than younger children?

Kathleen Glasgow and Stephen Chbosky both write for teenagers. Girl in Pieces deals with self-harm and recovery, while The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a freshman finding friends and facing what happened to him.

How long is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series?

Jeff Kinney's series runs well past the two books here. Cabin Fever is the sixth and Double Down is the eleventh, so a reader who starts with one can continue for many volumes.

Is Howl's Moving Castle part of a series?

Diana Wynne Jones wrote it as a standalone novel, though it has two companion books. Howl's Moving Castle works on its own, and the plot resolves fully by the last page.