20 Must Read Books for Children by Age

Reading has a special place of its own among the numerous habits that should be seeded into a child’s brain at an early age. Reading has countless benefits that help in carving the character of your child in the best way possible. In this regard, English novels and books carry a significant role. The teachings or moral lessons, that are sometimes hard to teach in real life, can be easily made accessible and graspable for a child through these fiction stories.

Reading also broadens the perspective from which your child sees the outside world. He learns how to cipher the meaning of words by this great habit of reading only. And the children books and novels are written in such a way so as to provide tender lessons to your child in an interactive manner. It is immersive experiences that help in building noble qualities that eventually and gradually lead to the character development of your child.

In the article below, we have listed a few books, as per ages, that are very helpful in enhancing a child’s knowledge.

Importance of Reading

Let us firstly go through the points that make reading such an important habit and a good deed to introduce your child to.

  • Improves Brain Connectivity
  • Improves Vocabulary And Comprehension
  • Builds Connection Between the words Spoken and Written
  • Safe medium of introducing strong lessons
  • Perspective building
  • Personality development
  • Sharpens focus
  • Gives a sharp thought process
  • Maintains mental well-being
  • Helps in boosting self confidence

Must Read Books for Children

Not every type and genre of book is made for everyone. Someone likes thrill and suspense while someone may prefer fun and adventure. But these are subjective to one’s liking or disliking. But, what should be the case when a child is in the exploration stage only. In the growing years of your children, it is imperative to introduce him to such books that are light, tender and help in shaping his mental health in a constructive manner.

That’s why we have listed some of the best books for children along with the age groups. In that way, you’ll have a clear understanding of which book you should introduce your child to, in what specific age.

Age 2-3 Years

In these early years of your child’s education, he cannot read or write properly. Hence, you must read those books for him which help him in understanding the word and sentence formation. The best books in this category are:

  • Goodnight Moon – It is an American novel written by Margaret Wise Brown and is a light collection of bedtime stories. It has sentences having three or fire simple words to teach sentence building. The book follows a bed-time ritual of a Bunny, who wishes “Good Night” to every non-living object present in his room.
  • The very hungry caterpillar – It is a children’s book written by Eric Carle. It has a repetitive sense of wordings and depicts the story of a hungry caterpillar, who eats and narrates his story of becoming a butterfly.
  • Noddy Goes to Toyland – Noddy is a very popular fictional children character made by Enid Blyton. The characters have a number of shows and books under his name and follow his early life adventures.
  • The Snowy Day – This book is written by Ezra Jack Keats. It shows the experiences of a child named Peter, who explores his neighborhood after the first snowfall.
  • Harold and his purple crayon – It is the most popular book written by Crockett Johnson, which led to various other adaptions. It features a 4 years old boy named Harold, who has his purple crayon and he makes a world of his own using that crayon and his imagination.

Age 4-6 Years

This is an appropriate age to introduce your child to mild reading. However, you must not force the habit onto his mind. But, rather read with them. This way, they’ll feel connected with the books and get some vocabulary lessons.

  • The Velveteen Rabbit – It is an American fictional book written by Margery Williams. It shows the clear feelings of a stuffed rabbit to transform into a real and living being with the love of his owner.
  • Alice in Wonderland – It is a simple yet effective story written by Lewis Carroll. The novel was so popular that resulted in the making of a movie. It follows the adventures of Alice, who fells into a rabbit hole and gets a new perspective towards life.
  • The Panchtantra tales – These are a set of inspirational and learning stories originally written and combined in Hindi language. Their English adaption is quite a reading experience, even for adults.
  • The Complete tales and Poems of Winnie-The Pooh – All of us are well aware with the famous cartoon Winnie. This novel Book comprises the poems revolving around the life of the cartoon.
  • The Giving Tree – A great poetic collection written by Shel Silverstein. The book shows the positive behavior of a tree that is ready to provide a child with everything he has. Whereas, the behavior of the boy is abusive at the beginning and slowly gets affected by the tree.

Age 7-9 Years

As your child is getting a hold of reading and realizing what advantages does reading offer. It is time to introduce him to some elevated grammar and emotional language.

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone – The famous book series is written by J.K. Rowling. The series follows the events of magical importance and this is the first part where Harry is introduced to the world of wizards.
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – It is the first novel in the series of books which were a part of the Chronicles of Narnia. It is a book of fictional theme by C S. Lewis and revolves around the time of Christmas adventures.
  • The Charlotte’s Web – It is a fictional yet convincing novel of E.B. White. The moral is that story is friendship is immortal and can prevail between two worlds apart organisms as well.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate factory – The book is a clear picturization of the fantasy if many children. It is written by Roald Dahl and depicts the adventures of Charlie who ends up in a chocolate factory.
  • Stuart Little – The set of short stories is conceptualized by E.L.B. White. It is a vocabulary enhancing novel which helps the child grasp great grammar knowledge.

Age 10-12 years

In these matured years of your child’s growth, the books and novels should be more exploring and innovative in nature. Several life changing and moral virtues should be involved in a child’s reading at this age only.

  • The Harry Potter series – The magical world of wizards created by J.K. Rowling stretches over a number of novels. These books are pretty matured and give the learning mind a sense of exploration.
  • Famous Five – Enid Blyton successfully depicts the life and adventure of five children in these books.
  • The Hobbit – A much popular and widely admired magical novel is the Hobbit. The novel is an imagination of JRR Tolkein and follows the life of character named Bilbo Baggins.
  • Malgudi Days – This great work of imagination and picturization is penned under the name of R.K. Narayan. You’ll get to know the life of the people of Malgudi village in the summer season.
  • Secret Seven – It is a series of 7 novels which are thrilling and detective oriented. They are written by Enid Blyton and will make you fall in love with suspense thrill genre.

These are few of the best books your child should read in his growing years.