Kids' Home
Ngā Rārangi Pukapuka Booklists
Need something to read? Try one of our booklists below - we have Adventure, Animals, Comics, Mystery and detective, Fantasy & sci-fi, Historical stories, Quick reads, Fairytales, and Spooky stories booklists, and you can browse them in a list, or by their bookcovers. And if you want to print off a booklist, here are some printable versions:
Adventure booklist
Realism, action, journeys & quests!
Animals
Animal stories and animal themes!
| Title: | Author: | Year: |
|---|---|---|
| Just So Stories | Rudyard Kipling | 1902 |
| The Wind In The Willows | Kenneth Grahame | 1908 |
| The Velveteen Rabbit | Margery Williams | 1922 |
| Winnie the Pooh (series) | A A Milne | 1926 |
| Charlotte's Web | E. B. White | 1952 |
| Dog | Daniel Pennac | 1982 |
| Redwall (series) | Brian Jacques | 1986 |
| Sophie (series) | Dick King Smith | 1988 |
| Esio Trot | Roald Dahl | 1989 |
| Catwings (series) | Ursula K Le Guin | 1994 |
| The diary of a killer cat (series) | Anne Fine | 1994 |
| Welkin Weasels (series) | Garry Kilworth | 1997 |
| Shadrach Trilogy | Joy Cowley | 1997 |
| Silverwing (series) | Kenneth Oppel | 1997 |
| The Tale Of Desperaux | Kate DiCamillo | 2003 |
| Hoot (series) | Carl Hiaasen | 2003 |
| Snake and Lizard | Joy Cowley and Gavin Bishop | 2007 |
| Strat and Chatto | Jan Mark | 2008 |
| Kingdom of the Lost (series) | Isabolle Carmody | 2010 |
| Lulu (series) | Hilary McKay | 2011 |
| Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, detectives extraordinaire! | Polly Horvath | 2012 |
Comics
Adventure, mystery, fantasy -- cool comics for everyone!
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Fungus the bogeyman | Raymond Briggs | 1977 |
| Artemis fowl: the graphic novels | Eoin Colfer | 2007 |
| Amulet | Kazu Kibuishi | 2008 |
| Adventures in cartooning | James Sturm | 2009 |
| Binky | Ashley Spires | 2009 |
| Amelia Rules! | Jimmy Gownley | 2009 |
| Big Nate | Lincoln Pierce | 2010 |
| Hildafolk | Luke Pearson | 2010 |
| Olympians | George O'Connor | 2010 |
| Three thieves | Scott Chantler | 2010 |
| Rust | Royden Lepp | 2011 |
| Adventure Time comics | Ryan North | 2012 |
| Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales | Nathan Hale | 2012 |
| Leo Geo | Jon Chad | 2012 |
| Lio | Mark Tatulli | 2012 |
| Snarked | Roger Langridge | 2012 |
| Giants beware | Jorge Aguirre | 2012 |
| Dogs of war | Sheila Keenan | 2013 |
| Batman Li'l Gotham | Dustin Nguyen | 2014 |
| The vanishing | Bruno Gazzotti | 2014 |
Historical fiction
Stories from times gone by, including specific time periods and events
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Heidi | Johanna Spyri | 1880 |
| Anne of Green Gables (series) | L. M. Montgomery | 1908 |
| Little House On The Prairie (series) | Laura Ingalls Wilder | 1935 |
| The Eagle of the Ninth (series) | Rosemary Sutcliff | 1954 |
| The Silver Sword | Ian Serraillier | 1956 |
| When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | Judith Kerr | 1971 |
| A Faraway Island (series) | Annika Thor | 1996 |
| The birchbark house (series) | Louise Erdrich | 1999 |
| The Royal Diaries (series) | (various authors) | 1999 |
| At the sign of the Sugared Plum | Mary Hooper | 2003 |
| Stop the Train! (series) | Geraldine McCaughrean | 2003 |
| No Safe Harbour | David Hill | 2004 |
| Hunter | Joy Cowley | 2004 |
| Leonardo and the death machine | Robert J. Harris | 2005 |
| Victory | Susan Cooper | 2006 |
| Seeds of America (series) | Laurie Halse Anderson | 2008 |
| The evolution of Calpurnia Tate | Jacqueline Kelly | 2009 |
| One Crazy Summer | Rita Garcia-Williams | 2010 |
| Moon Over Manifest | Clare Vanderpool | 2010 |
| Plague: A Cross On The Door (series) | Ann Turnbull | 2013 |
Fairytales, fables & classics
Fairies, folk tales, myths and legends, magic, and medieval themes
Fantasy, sci-fi & magic
Sci-fi, magical, supernatural and magical quests
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (series) | Alan Garner | 1960 |
| A Wrinkle In Time (series) | Madeleine L'Engle | 1962 |
| The Chronicles of Prydain | Alexander Lloyd | 1964 |
| Earthsea Cycle (series) | Ursula Le Guin | 1968 |
| The Halfmen of O (series) | Maurice Gee | 1982 |
| Howl's Moving Castle (series) | Diana Wynne Jones | 1986 |
| The Magician's House Quartet (series) | William Corlett | 1990 |
| The Queen's Thief (series) | Megan Whalen Turner | 1996 |
| Pure Dead Magic (series) | Debi Gliori | 2001 |
| Artemis Fowl (series) | Eoin Colfer | 2001 |
| Dealing With Dragons (series) | Patricia C Wrede | 2002 |
| Whispering to Witches (series) | Anna Dale | 2004 |
| The Sea of Trolls (series) | Nancy Farmer | 2004 |
| The Young Merlin Trilogy (series) | Jane Yolen | 2004 |
| Riding Tycho (series) | Jan Mark | 2006 |
| Stanley Wells Mystery (series) | Joel Stewart | 2007 |
| Cosmic | Frank Cottrell Boyce | 2008 |
| The Magician's Elephant | Kate DiCamillo | 2009 |
| The Familiars (series) | Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson | 2010 |
| Darius Bell and the glitter pool (series) | Odo Hirsch | 2010 |
| North of Nowhere | Liz Kessler | 2013 |
Mystery & detective stories
Realism, mysterious happenings, and detective stories
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Famous Five & The Secret Seven | Enid Blyton | 1942 / 1949 |
| Encyclopedia Brown (series) | Donald J Sobol. | 1963 |
| Father's Arcane daughter | E L Konigsburg | 1976 |
| Nancy Drew (series) | Carolyn Keene | 1987 |
| The Hardy Boys (series) | Franklin W Dixon | 1991 |
| Emily Eyefinger (series) | Duncan Ball | 1992 |
| The Fire-Raiser | Maurice Gee | 1992 |
| Antonio S, and the Mystery of Theodore Guzman | Odo Hirsch | 1997 |
| Sammy Keyes (series) | Wendelin Van Draanen | 1998 |
| Mystery | Arthur Geisert | 2003 |
| Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars | Tracy Mack | 2006 |
| Framed | Frank Cottrell Boyce | 2006 |
| Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp | Odo Hirsch | 2007 |
| When You Reach Me | Rebecca Stead | 2009 |
| Mockingbird | Kathryn Erskine | 2009 |
| The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (series) | Maryrose Wood | 2010 |
| Benjamin Pratt & Keepers of the School (series) | Andrew Clements | 2010 |
| Truly Tan (series) | Jen Storer | 2013 |
| Moxie and the art of rule breaking : a 14 day mystery | Erin Dionne | 2013 |
| Art detective : spot the difference! | Doris Kutschbach | 2013 |
| Timmy Failure (series) | Stephan Pastis | 2013 |
Spooky stories
Ghosts, scary, horror, supernatural, aliens and more
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | 1831 |
| Dracula | Bram Stoker | 1897 |
| The Children Of Green Knowe (series) | Lucy M Boston | 1954 |
| The Halloween Tree (YA) | Ray Bradbury | 1972 |
| The House With a Clock in Its Walls | John Bellairs | 1973 |
| Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series, short stories) | Alvin Schwartz | 1981 |
| The Witches | Roald Dahl | 1983 |
| Tremors (series) | Various Authors | 1998 |
| House of ghosts | Anne Turnbull | 2000 |
| Beware! : R. L. Stine picks his favorite scary stories | R. L. Stine | 2002 |
| Mortlock | Jon Mayhew | 2010 |
| The Zombie-Chasers (series) | John Kloepfer | 2010 |
| The Books Of Elsewhere | Jacqueline West | 2010 |
| The devil walks | Anne Fine | 2011 |
| Ghost Club (series) | Deborah Abela | 2012 |
| Ghost Knight | Cornelia Funke | 2012 |
| Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron | Jonathan Strahan | 2012 |
| Wardstone Chronicles | Joseph Delaney | 2012 |
| Scary Tales | James Preller | 2013 |
| Eerie (series) | S. Carey | 2013 |
Reluctant readers
Large text, pictures, cartoons, something short'n'sweet
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Madeline | Ludwig Bemelmans | 1952 |
| Flat Stanley (series) | Jeff Brown | 1964 |
| Frog and toad are friends | Arnold Lobel | 1970 |
| The Worst Witch (series) | Jill Murphy | 1974 |
| Wayside School (series) | Louis Sachar | 1978 |
| Mr Majeika (series) | Humphrey Carpenter | 1984 |
| The Hodgeheg | Dick King Smith | 1989 |
| Horrid Henry (series) | Francesca Simon | 1994 |
| Secrets of Droon (series) | Tony Abbott | 1999 |
| Andrew Lost (series) | J C Greenburg | 2002 |
| Wacky Families (series) | Jackie French | 2003 |
| The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil | Wiley Miller | 2006 |
| Ottoline (series) | Chris Riddell | 2008 |
| Big Nate (series) | Lincoln Peirce | 2009 |
| The Dunderheads (series) | Paul Fleischman | 2009 |
| Battle Boy (series) | Charlie Carter | 2009 |
| Bink & Gollie (series) | Kate DiCamillo | 2010 |
| The 13-Storey Treehouse | Andy Griffiths | 2011 |
| Fortunately, The Milk | Neil Gaiman | 2013 |
| Ed and Ted and Ted's Dog Fred | Andy Griffiths | 2013 |
| Don't Look Now (series) | Paul Jennings | 2013 |
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Stories from around the world
Stories from different countries around the world - advanced readers
| Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Emil and the detectives | Erich Kastner | 1929 |
| The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | 1940 |
| Emil (series) | Astrid Lindgren | 1963 |
| Anno's journey (wordless) | Mitsumasa Anno | 1977 |
| The Adventures of Young Krishna | Diksha Dalal Clayton | 1991 |
| The Old Man Mad about Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai | Francois Place | 1997 |
| Chinese Cinderella (series, YA) | Adeline Yen Mah | 1999 |
| The great tug of war and other stories | Beverley Naidoo | 2001 |
| Danger by moonlight | Jamila Gavin | 2002 |
| Moon Festival | Ching Yeung Russell | 2003 |
| Mannekin Pis - The Simple Story of a Boy Who Peed on a war | Vladimir Radunsky | 2003 |
| Shauzia | Deborah Ellis | 2003 |
| South & North, East & West: 25 Stories From Around the World | Michael Rosen | 2007 |
| Two Good Thieves | Daniel Finn | 2009 |
| Where The Mountain Meets The Moon (series) | Grace Lin | 2009 |
| Boys Without Names | Kashmira Sheth | 2009 |
| The great wall of Lucy Wu | Wendy Wan-Long Shang | 2011 |
| Flying the dragon | Natalie Dias Lorenzi | 2012 |
| The Wishbird | Gabrielle Wang | 2013 |
