These are just guidelines and suggestions, if you have an advanced or avid reader then you don’t have to stick to the grade range (eg: elementary aged kids can read middle school books) Most of these books I have read except for the older books. Surprisingly some books I read but I come back to just because they’re so good.
Elementary:
- Anne of Green Gables (TV Anne with and E)
- Alice in Wonderland (Movie)
- The tale of Desperaux
- The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe (Movie)
- Harry Potter series (Movie)
- Ramona and Beezus (Movie)
- Charlotte’s Web
- Where the Sidewalk ends
- Stuart Little
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Movie)
- Frog and Toad
- Peter Rabbit
- Dr. Suess books (Eg: Cat in the hat, green eggs and ham)
- Where the wild things are
- Goodnight moon
- The very hungry caterpillar
- The bridge to Terabithia (Movie)
- Bud not buddy
- Goodnight Zoo
- Diary of a wimpy kid series (Movie)
- The lord of the rings series (Movie)
Middle School:
- Rick Riordan books (Eg: Heroes of Olympus) (Some movies)
- Wonder (Movie)
- Enders Game series (Movie)
- The Hunger Games series (Movie)
- Night
- The Breadwinner `
UPDATE – 5/13/20
- Holes
- The Lightning Thief
- Outsider
- Bridge to Terabithia
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
- The Hobbit
- The Book Thief
- Matilda
- catching Fire
- Wrinkle in Time
- Divergent
- The Princess Bride
- Little Women
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- The Lord of the Ring Series
- Little House on the Prairie
- The Secret Garden
- The Fault in our Stars
High School:
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- The Westing Game
- The Giver
- To kill a mockingbird
- The catcher in the rye
- Lord of the flies
- Of mice and men
- Fahrenheit 451
UPDATE – 5/13/20
- Great Gatsby
- Pride and Prejudice
- Copper Sun
- Brave New World
- The Adventure of Tom Sawyer
- The House on Mango Street
- Gulliver’s Travels
College+:
- Dark Matter
- Recursion
- Pines
- Altered Carbon
- Brilliance
- Wayward
- A better world
- The last town
- Written in fire
- Can’t hurt me
- Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
I hope this book list helped, and if you read any of the books be sure to leave a comment below and tell me how it was!
Sincerely, Chaia
OK. I can’t sleep. So yeah… Here we go.
ELEMENTARY
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” with Johnny Depp or “Willy Wonka” with Gene Wilder? Both are excellent but completely different.
Did you know they made a movie of “Where the Wild Things Are”?
If you should ever catch a hint of it in your general vicinity… RUN AWAY
“The Bridge to Tarabithia” is sad AF
and “The Lord of the Rings” is dark AF.
Both are excellent but not sure they’re elementary reading.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
I read the Rick Reardon books, enjoyed them, can’t remember a damn thing about them. What I’d call bubble gum.
The “Enders Game” book series is awesome. Can’t think of anything written by Orson Scott Card that I haven’t liked. The movie? I really, really, really wanted to like it. But I didn’t.
Read and watched all of “The Hunger Games” series and enjoyed them both. The ending of the book series is quite a bit different than the movies.
HIGH SCHOOL
Wow! You must have really loved “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It is good.
I read “The Giver” and it was OK. I think “Anthem” by Ayn Rand is a much better example of the same theme.
“The Catcher in the Rye” was supposedly groundbreaking in its time. (1951) I read it after its time and found it pretty boring and self-absorbed.
“The Lord of the Flies” is absolute shite. William Golding was a mean and bitter man and he wrote a mean and bitter book. What he wrote was not “Human Nature” but William Golding nature.
“Of Mice and Men” well yeah. Really well written, evocative, and depressing AF. Steinbeck, Hemingway, Salinger all of the mid 20th century writers were great at making you feel awful when you finished their books.
“Fahrenheit 451” Love me some Ray Bradbury but the same sentiment as the authors mentioned above. An overall pessimistic view of humankind.
COLLEGE +
The only one of these I’ve read is “Altered Carbon” which I quite enjoyed. Different riff on the “stored consciousness” theme.
Now for some of my recommendations.
As I said, pretty much anything written by Orson Scott Card. Some is science fiction like “Enders Game” but the “Makers” series which starts with “Seventh Son” is completely different.
Although I think there are some serious flaws in her philosophy; her definition of the intrinsic value of each human life is refreshing. So Ayn Rand. Start with “Anthem” and work your way up.
Stephen King is one of the greatest when it comes to character development. If you haven’t read “It” you’re missing out.
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is absolutely delightful. It starts out silly, light and funny with “The Colour of Magic” then gets progressively less silly, less light, but always funny for the next 40 books.
That’s probably enough for tonight. Thanks for listening.