Your Kid’s Next Read

If you’re looking for the ‘next book’ for a child, tween or teen, the Your Kids Next Read Facebook group is the place where all the cool kids are hanging out. The lovely Allison Tait set up this fast-growing group and invited me on board as a moderator. It is the place to share your thoughts on books your children have read, links to relevant children’s book review blog posts, and, of course, feel free to ask the group for suggestions and recommendations about books for your child to read next.

There is featured books, links to interviews with authors and lots of lots of great book ideas for your kids – it is a happy and inspiring little Facebook space in which to hang out in. You can join here. 

Quite some time has been spent (not by me!) putting together some master lists of books which get mentioned time and time again in this group and you can see the ‘Early Childhood’ (birth to eight years) lists below, other lists to follow. Please note that these lists are member generated and not edited with my teacher librarian hat on! Some books may be more suitable for slightly older readers as independent reads, but will work brilliantly as read-alouds for bedtime books.

Use the lists below how best suits your child, student or library patrons.

Popular Kindergarten Reads (Age 3-5) from Your Kid’s Next Read Members

The ‘Tashi’ series by Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble (ill.)

‘Pig the Pug’ by Aaron Blabey

‘The Bad Guys’ by Aaron Blabey

‘Samurai vs Ninja’ by Nick Falk and Tony Flowers (ill.)

‘Winnie the Pooh’ by A.A. Milne

The ‘Selby’ series by Duncan Ball

‘Engibear’s Dream’ and ‘Engibear’s Bridge’ by Andrew King and Benjamin Johnson (ill.)

The ‘Moomintroll’ series by Tove Janssen

‘Cook Me a Story’ by Bryan Kozlowski

The ‘Ruby Red Shoes’ series by Kate Knapp

‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson

‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ by Giles Andreae

‘Cheeky Monkey’ by Andrew Daddo and Emma Quay (ill.)

The ‘Eddie’ series  by Sarah Garland

Because I can’t help myself with suggestions, my own fav kindergarten age reads are ‘Billie’s Super Dooper Adventures’ here, my Top Ten Early Childhood books of last year are here and a link to all my ‘birth-5’ read ideas are here.

Popular Starting School Reads (Age 5-7) from Your Kid’s Next Read Members

The ‘Riddle Gully’ series by Jen Banyard

Roald Dahl various

The ‘Zac Power’ series by H.I. Larry

The ‘Captain Underpants’ series by Dav Pilkey

The ‘Selby’ series by Duncan Ball

The ‘Fizz’ series by Lesley Gibbes

The ‘Mr Men’ series by Roger Hargreaves

‘Ben 10’ by C.B Lee

‘The Huge Bag of Worries’ by by Virginia Ironside and Frank Rodgers (ill.)

‘Pippi Longstocking’ by Astrid Lindgren and Lauren Child (ill.)

‘What Mr Darwin Saw’ by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (ill.)

The ‘Treehouse’ series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (ill.)

The ‘Riddle Gully’ series by Jen Banyard

The ‘Ivy and Bean’ series by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackwell (ill.)

Roald Dahl various

The ‘Clementine Rose’ series by Jacqueline Harvey

The ‘Clarice Bean’ series by Lauren Child

The ‘Famous Five’ series by Enid Blyton

The ‘Violet Mackerel’ series by Anna Branford

‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton

The ‘Treehouse’ series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (ill.)

The ‘Sparkle Spa’ series by Jill Santopolo

The ‘Lulu Bell’ series by Belinda Murrell

The ‘Lotta’ series by Astrid Lindgren

‘What to do when your temper flares’ and ‘What to do when you worry too much’ by Dawn Hueber

The ‘Billie B Brown’ series by Sally Rippin

‘The girl who never made mistakes’  by Mark Pett

The ‘Squishy Taylor’ series by Ailsa Wilde

Popular Lower Primary (age 7-8) from Your Kid’s Next Read Members

The ‘Treehouse’ series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (ill.)

The ‘WeirDo’ series by Ahn Do and Jules Faber (ill.)

The ‘Captain Underpants’ series by Dav Pilkey

‘The Magic Pudding’ by Norman Lindsay

‘The Tale of Despereaux’ by Kate DiCamillo

‘Goosebumps’ by R.L. Stine

‘Trixie Belden’ by Julie Campbell

The ‘Samurai Kids’ series by Sandy Fussell

The ‘Geronimo Stilton’ series 

The ‘Land of Stories’ series by Chris Colfer

‘Captain Jimmy Cook discovers Third Grade’ by Kate and Jol Temple

‘Flora and Ulysses’ by Kate DiCamillo

‘Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing’ and ‘Superfudge’ by Judy Blume

‘The Naughtiest Girl’ series by Enid Blyton

‘The Anti-Princess Club’ series by Samantha Turnbull

‘City of Ember’ by Jeanne DuPrau

‘Where the sidewalk ends’ by Shel Silverstein

The ‘Horse Crazy’ series by Alison Lester

‘The Worry Tree’ by Marianne Musgrove

The ‘Our Australian Girl’ series by various authors

‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ series by Lemony Snicket

The ‘Emily Eyefinger’ series by Duncan Ball

‘Charlotte’s Web’ by E.B. White

The ‘Fairy Detective Agency’ series by Sally Gardner

‘Ramona the pest’ by Beverley Clearie

‘Nim’s Island’ by Wendy Orr

‘What Katy Did’ series by Susan Coolidge

‘The Worst Witch’ series by Jilly Murphy

‘Withering-by-Sea’ by Judith Rossell

‘Black Beauty’ by Anna Sewell

The ‘Ruby Redfort’ series by Lauren Child

The ‘Friday Barnes’ series by R.A. Spratt

‘On Track’ and other verse novels by Kathryn Apel

‘Finding Serendipity’ by Angelica Banks

The ‘Verity Sparks’ series by Susan Green

‘The Quigleys’ series by Simon Mason

The ‘Casson Family’ series by Hilary McKay

‘The Red Wind’ by Isobelle Carmody

‘Anne of Green Gables’ by L.M. Montgomery

The ‘Max Remy Super Spy’ series by Deborah Abela

The ‘Truly Tan’ series by Jen Storer

‘Harriet Clare’ series by Louise Park

‘The One and Only Ivan’ by Katherine Applegate

Some lists I  compiled, which are now several years old but still relevant, can be found here (for 9 Years+) and here (for 12 years+). You’ll also find a list of Your Kid’s Next Read recommendations for older kids (10+, 12+, YA for tweens) here.