As we enter the last stretch of summer before school starts again, we present our big annual book list — and this year, we're focusing on great reads for kids.
Back in June, NPR's Backseat Book Club — our book club for young readers — asked you, the NPR audience, to nominate your favorite books for kids age 9-14. More than 2,000 of you replied, giving us hundreds and hundreds of titles to consider. So we turned to our expert panel (read more about them — and their Newbery honors! — here), who combined audience favorites with their own choices to come up with a curated list of 100 must-reads.
And our final Backseat Book Club list has a little bit of everything: tales of trying to fit in, escaping to magical lands, facing prejudice, coming of age and fighting to survive. There are animal stories, pioneer sagas, science-fiction adventures and, of course, beloved classics.
So if you're looking for a new book for the young readers in your life — or you want to relive that age yourself — please stick around and browse our bookshelf. (Here's a printable version of the list, too.) And if your favorite book is missing, please tell us about it — nicely! — in the comments. Happy reading!
American Stories
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Caddie Woodlawn
The House on Mango Street
The Birchbark House
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Long Way from Chicago Series
Esperanza Rising
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
The Witch Of Blackbird Pond
Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry
All-Of-A-Kind Family Series
Little House Series
Animal Kingdom
Watership Down
The One and Only Ivan
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Poppy
Because of Winn-Dixie
Misty of Chincoteague
Bunnicula
The Redwall series
The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Cricket in Times Square
Charlotte's Web
Biography, Memoir And History
The Lincolns
Anne Frank the Diary of a Young Girl
Eleanor Roosevelt
Bomb
Everyday Magic
Tuck Everlasting
James and the Giant Peach
Half Magic
The Graveyard Book
The Borrowers
Harry Potter series
A Series of Unfortunate Events books
Mary Poppins
Family Life
Little Women
Ramona series
Walk Two Moons
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Catherine, Called Birdy
Danny the Champion of the World
The Saturdays
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Anne of Green Gables series
One Crazy Summer
Fantasy Worlds
The Chronicles of Prydain series
Peter Pan
Oz series
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The City of Ember
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
The Earthsea Cycle series
Chronicles of Narnia series
The Giver
The Wee Free Men
His Dark Materials series
The Hobbit
Friendships And Finding Your Place
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda series
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
The Secret Garden
The Hundred Dresses
Harriet the Spy
Wonder
Bridge to Terabithia
Holes
Okay for Now
Maniac Magee
Good For A Laugh
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Matilda
The Phantom Tollbooth
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Graphic Novels
The Bone Series
The Arrival
American Born Chinese
Mysteries And Thrillers
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The House With a Clock in Its Walls
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
When You Reach Me
The Egypt Game
Myths And Fairy Tales
The Dark Is Rising series
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
The Little Prince
Ella Enchanted
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
The Sword in the Stone
Poetry
Inside Out & Back Again
Science Fiction
Ender's Game
The House of the Scorpion
A Wrinkle in Time series
Survival And Adventure
My Side of the Mountain
Julie of the Wolves
Number the Stars
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Hatchet
The Twenty-one Balloons
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