Geek Dads - 67 Books Every Geek Should Read To Their Kids Before Age 10

(from wired.com
Geek Dad)


The GeekDad community at Wired.com is committed to helping you raise geek generation 2.0. We believe few things that you do are more important than reading to your kids early and often. Reading to them is a great way to get them using the language centers of their brain. Plus, reading aloud to your kids can be a blast.

In March of 2012 we put out a post of our favorite books to read aloud to our kids before the age of ten. Well, the post turned out to be a bit of a crowd-pleaser. Many educators and parents asked us to put together a printed version of "67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age 10."

While we never intended this to be a comprehensive list of what you should read to your kids, we certainly missed some obvious choices. After we published our list, we received a huge number of wonderful suggestions from readers. Their suggestions were placed into a second post, "Books Geeks Should Read to Their Kids: Your Additions to Our List." They are also included here.

Enjoy and happy Reading!


67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age 10

Recommended by Erik Wecks, Matt Blum, Kevin Makice, Nathan Berry, Jonathan Liu, Dave Banks, Roy Wood, Kathy Ceceri, Jenny Williams, Ethan Gilsdorf, Corrina Lawson, Michael Venables, and GeekDad Z:

Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Barbara Park, Junie B. Jones's First Boxed Set Ever! (Books 1-4)
Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and Every Thing on It
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Neil Gaiman, Coraline
Edward Eager, Half Magic and Magic by the Lake
Joan Aiken, Arabel's Raven
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatchers
Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Mary Norton, The Borrowers
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
Walter Moers, The 13-1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe
Irene Miller, Danny Dunn and the Homework MachineJeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Crockett Johnson, The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon
Bertrand Brinley, The Mad Scientists Club
Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Ingrid Law, Savvy
Wendelin Van Draanen, Shredderman
C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, Far Flung Adventures
Russell Hoban, The Mouse and His Child
Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks
Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
Emily Jenkins, Toys Go Out
Grace Lin, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Tony DiTerlizzi, The Search for WondLa
Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach
John Bellairs, The House With a Clock in Its Walls
Judy Bloom, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
E. B. White, Charlotte's Web
Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree
Robert C. O'Brien, The Silver Crown
Louis Sachar, Holes
Daniel Pinkwater, The Big Orange Splot
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House books
E. B. White, Stuart Little
Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children
E. L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Angie Sage, Septimus Heap series
Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society
Dr. Cuthbert Soup, A Whole Nother Story and Another Whole Nother Story
Virginia Hamilton, The House of Dies Drear
Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Arlene Mosel, Tikki Tikki Tembo
A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham
Peggy Parish, Amelia Bedelia
Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen
H. A. Ray, Curious George
Arnold Lobel, Frog and Toad Are Friends
Arnold Lobel, Owl at Home
Cynthia Rylant, Henry and Mudge
Norman Bridwell, Clifford
Marc Brown, Arthur
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Books Geeks Should Read to Their Kids: Your Additions to Our List

Linda Sue Park, A Single Shard
Christopher Paul Curtis, Bud, Not Buddy
Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins
Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner
Pam Munoz Ryan, The Dreamer
Laurance Yep, The Star Fisher
David Shannon, A Bad Case of Stripes
David Macaulay, Castle and The Way Things Work
Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Prydain
Eoin Colfer, The Legend of Spud Murphy, The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World, and The Legend of
Captain Crow's Teeth
Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking
L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising
Betty McDonald, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
John Christopher, The Tripods Trilogy
Jack Prelutsky, The Dragons are Singing Tonight
Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain
Nowen N. Particular, Boomtown
Tom Angleberger, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Bac k
Sam Riddleburger, The Qwikpick Adventure Society
Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons
L. Frank Baum, Oz series
Rev. W. Awdry, Thomas the Tank Engine
Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events
Brian Jacques, Redwall
Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials
Robert Heinlein, Have Space Suit Will Travel
Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Doris Burn, Andrew Henry's Meadow
Bill Peet, Farewell to Shady Glade
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
L. M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe
Babette Cole, Princess Smartypants
Kathleen V. Kundlinski, Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs
Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon
Roald Dahl, The BFG
Daniel Pinkwater, Once Upon a Blue Moose
Robert Munsch, The Paper Bag Princess
Richard Evan Schwartz, You Can Count on Monsters
Mercer Mayer, One Monster After Another
Jon Stone, The Monster at the End of This Book
Suzanne Collins, The Gregor Serie s
Tomie de Paola, Strega Nona
Sesyle Joslin, What Do You Say, Dear?