Treasury · Merit
The lists themselves
Fifteen lists, made by different people for different reasons, none of them trying to agree with the others. This door shows them as they are, and then the small overlap where two or more of them name the same book.
Don't miss these
The books on at least two of these lists, the ones on the most lists first. This is the only place the page lets the lists outvote each other — and it is agreement, not a ranking of quality.
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, 1950 · ages 8–13 · Lexile 940L · AR 5.7
- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
- Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
- Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, 1985 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 660L · AR 3.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, 1926 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 790L · AR 4.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Little House on the Prairie
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1935 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 600L · AR 5.3
on 4 lists Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful
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The Door in the Wall
by Marguerite De Angeli, 1949 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 920L · AR 6.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
on 4 lists Beautiful Feet, Deep Roots Grade, Newbery Award, The Good & The Beautiful
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The Matchlock Gun
by Walter D. Edmonds, 1941 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 860L · AR 5.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
on 4 lists Beautiful Feet, Mensa Kids, Newbery Award, The Good & The Beautiful
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All-of-a-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor, 1951 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 520L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
on 3 lists Mensa Kids, NY Public Library, The Good & The Beautiful
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Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 650L · AR 4.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
on 3 lists Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids, TJEd Early Recommended
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Boxcar Children
by Gertrude Chandler Warner, 1942 · ages 8–9 · Lexile 580L · AR 3.9 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
on 3 lists Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, The Good & The Beautiful
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Encyclopedia Brown
by Donald J. Sobol, 1963 · up to age 10 · Lexile 610L · AR 4.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
on 3 lists Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, The Good & The Beautiful
64 books are on that many lists; these are the 12 on the most.
The lists, one by one
Fifteen different ideas about what is worth reading, in alphabetical order because putting a favourite first would be a judgement of a different kind. Each one is folded shut; open it to see the books the catalog holds from it.
The Association for Library Service to Children's notable children's books, chosen and annotated by librarians every year since 1940. The list itself ↗
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7 X 9 = Trouble!
by Claudia Mills, 2002 · ages 6–11 · Lexile 670L · AR 4.3 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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A Black Hole Is Not a Hole
by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, 2012 · ages 8–13 · Lexile 900L · AR 6.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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A Book of Coupons
by Susie Morgenstern, 2001 · ages 8–13 · Lexile 790L · AR 5.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Absolutely Almost
by Lisa Graff, 2014 · ages 8–17 · Lexile 750L · AR 4.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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A Chicken Followed Me Home: Questions and Answers about a Familiar Fowl
by Robin Page, 2015 · ages 4–9 · Lexile 710L · AR 3.5 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Adventures in Cartooning
by James Sturm, 2009 · ages 6–11 · Lexile 460L · AR 2.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
A history curriculum taught entirely through literature — this is the reading it assigns, book by book. The list itself ↗
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Abraham Lincoln
by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire, 1957 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 900L · AR 5.2 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Adam of the Road
by Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1943 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 1030L · AR 6.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Newbery Award
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Anatole
by Eve Titus, 1957 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 680L · AR 3.9 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Benjamin Franklin
by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire, 1950 · ages 6–9 · Lexile 890L
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Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful, TJEd Youth Recommended
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Boy Who Held Back the Sea
by Lenny Hort, 1987 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 840L · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
The Davidson Institute's reading list for profoundly gifted young readers; the hardest list here for its ages. The list itself ↗
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Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 650L · AR 4.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Mensa Kids, TJEd Early Recommended
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Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Beautiful Feet, Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful, TJEd Youth Recommended
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Boxcar Children
by Gertrude Chandler Warner, 1942 · ages 8–9 · Lexile 580L · AR 3.9 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
also on Deep Roots Grade, The Good & The Beautiful
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Charlotte's Web
by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Danny, the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl, 1975 · ages 8–10 · AR 4.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Halsted - Best Friends
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Dinosaurs Before Dark
by Mary Pope Osborne, 1992 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 510L · AR 2.6 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
A grade-by-grade book list, with the grade each book is filed under kept alongside it.
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Aesop’s Fables
by Jerry Pinkney, 2000 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 760L
also on TJEd Early Recommended
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A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1961 · ages 7–10 · Lexile 790L · AR 6.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on The Good & The Beautiful
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Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Beautiful Feet, Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful, TJEd Youth Recommended
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Boxcar Children
by Gertrude Chandler Warner, 1942 · ages 8–9 · Lexile 580L · AR 3.9 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
also on Davidson Gifted, The Good & The Beautiful
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Bread and Jam for Frances
by Russell Hoban, 1964 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 490L · AR 3.4 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
also on NY Public Library
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Brighty of the Grand Canyon
by Marguerite Henry, 1963 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 880L · AR 5.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Beautiful Feet
The reading recommended at the back of Judith Wynn Halsted's award-winning guide for gifted readers, Some of My Best Friends Are Books — her own bibliography, marked by age.
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A Dog on Barkham Street
by Mary Stolz, 1960 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 790L · AR 4.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Mensa Kids
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Anastasia Krupnik
by Lois Lowry, 1979 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 700L · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Arthur, for the Very First Time
by Patricia MacLachlan, 1980 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 660L · AR 4.2
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A Time to Fly Free
by Stephanie Tolan, 1983 · ages 8–10
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Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)
by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, 1990 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 510L · AR 2.4
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A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers
by Nancy Willard, 1982 · ages 8–10 · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Newbery Award
Harvard Classics nothing in the catalog yet
The fifty volumes Charles W. Eliot chose in 1909 as a liberal education on a five-foot shelf. Old, Western, and unapologetically canonical. The list itself ↗
Reading lists from Mensa for Kids, graded by age band; the band each book is filed under is kept alongside it. The list itself ↗
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A Dog on Barkham Street
by Mary Stolz, 1960 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 790L · AR 4.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Halsted - Best Friends
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All-of-a-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor, 1951 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 520L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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A Stranger Came Ashore
by Mollie Hunter, 1975 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 1060L · AR 6.2 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
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Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 650L · AR 4.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Davidson Gifted, TJEd Early Recommended
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Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Beautiful Feet, Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, The Good & The Beautiful, TJEd Youth Recommended
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Blue Fairy Book
by Andrew Lang, 1887 · ages 6–9 · Lexile 1120L
The American Library Association's annual medal for the most distinguished contribution to American children's literature, awarded since 1922. The list itself ↗
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Adam of the Road
by Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1943 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 1030L · AR 6.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Beautiful Feet
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All the Blues in the Sky
by Renée Watson, 2025 · ages 8–13 · AR 5.0 · AR Interest: MG+ (6–8)
also on ALSC Notables
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A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers
by Nancy Willard, 1982 · ages 8–10 · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Halsted - Best Friends
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis, 2000 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 950L · AR 5.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo, 2014 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 520L · AR 4.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Freewater
by Amina Luqman-Dawson, 2022 · ages 8–17 · Lexile 690L · AR 4.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on ALSC Notables
The New York Public Library's staff picks for children — a large library system's answer to what a child should read next. The list itself ↗
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A Chair For My Mother
by Vera B. Williams, 1982 · ages 6–8 · Lexile 530L · AR 3.4 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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All-of-a-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor, 1951 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 520L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful
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A Sick Day for Amos McGee
by Philip Stead, 2010 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 580L · AR 3.0 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Ben’s Trumpet
by Rachel Isadora, 1979 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 530L · AR 2.2 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
also on Halsted - Best Friends
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Bread and Jam for Frances
by Russell Hoban, 1964 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 490L · AR 3.4 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
also on Deep Roots Grade
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Charlotte's Web
by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
St. John's College nothing in the catalog yet
The Great Books list of St. John's College in Annapolis and Santa Fe — the same books read by every student through all four years of its undergraduate program. The list itself ↗
A homeschool curriculum publisher's book list, filed by grade. The list itself ↗
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26 Fairmount Avenue
by Tomie dePaola, 1999 · ages 7–9 · Lexile 640L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Abe Lincoln and the Muddy Pig
by Stephen Krensky, 2002 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 660L · AR 3.7 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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A Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1994 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 1190L · AR 3.4
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Akimbo and the Snakes
by Alexander McCall Smith, 2006 · ages 5–9 · AR 5.5 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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Albert Einstein: Genius of the Twentieth Century
by Patricia Lakin, 2005 · ages 5–9 · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
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A Lesson for Martin Luther King Jr.
by Denise Lewis Patrick, 2003 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 440L · AR 2.2 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
TIME's all-time hundred novels: the best English-language novels published between TIME's first year, 1923, and 2005, when the list was made. The list itself ↗
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by C.S. Lewis, 1950 · ages 8–13 · Lexile 940L · AR 5.7
also on Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, NY Public Library, The Good & The Beautiful, TJEd Youth Recommended
TJEd Adult Recommended nothing in the catalog yet
A Thomas Jefferson Education is Oliver and Rachel DeMille's home-education method. It recommends three reading lists by the age of the reader — Early, Youth and Adult — and these are the adult ones. The list itself ↗
A Thomas Jefferson Education is Oliver and Rachel DeMille's home-education method. It recommends three reading lists by the age of the reader — Early, Youth and Adult — and these are the earliest. The list itself ↗
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Aesop’s Fables
by Jerry Pinkney, 2000 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 760L
also on Deep Roots Grade
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Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 650L · AR 4.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids
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Casey at the Bat
by Ernest Thayer, 1888 · ages 8–10 · AR 5.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Charlotte's Web
by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Chicken Little
by folk tale, 1840 · ages 4–8
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Cinderella
by folk tale, 1697 · ages 4–8
A Thomas Jefferson Education is Oliver and Rachel DeMille's home-education method. It recommends three reading lists by the age of the reader — Early, Youth and Adult — and these are the ones for young readers. The list itself ↗
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Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting, 1920 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 930L · AR 5.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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The Great Brain
by John D. Fitzgerald, 1967 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 840L · AR 5.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by C.S. Lewis, 1950 · ages 8–13 · Lexile 940L · AR 5.7
also on Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, NY Public Library, The Good & The Beautiful, Time Magazine 1923-2005
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The Trumpet of the Swan
by E.B. White, 1970 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 750L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
also on Davidson Gifted, The Good & The Beautiful