The Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf: 100 Must-Reads For Kids 9-14

Knowledge

As we enter the last stretch of summer before school starts again, we present our big annual book list — and this year, we're focusing on great reads for kids.

Back in June, NPR's Backseat Book Club — our book club for young readers — asked you, the NPR audience, to nominate your favorite books for kids age 9-14. More than 2,000 of you replied, giving us hundreds and hundreds of titles to consider. So we turned to our expert panel (read more about them — and their Newbery honors! — here), who combined audience favorites with their own choices to come up with a curated list of 100 must-reads.

And our final Backseat Book Club list has a little bit of everything: tales of trying to fit in, escaping to magical lands, facing prejudice, coming of age and fighting to survive. There are animal stories, pioneer sagas, science-fiction adventures and, of course, beloved classics.

So if you're looking for a new book for the young readers in your life — or you want to relive that age yourself — please stick around and browse our bookshelf. (Here's a printable version of the list, too.) And if your favorite book is missing, please tell us about it — nicely! — in the comments. Happy reading!

American Stories

  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

  • Caddie Woodlawn

  • The House on Mango Street

  • The Birchbark House

  • To Kill a Mockingbird

  • A Long Way from Chicago Series

  • Esperanza Rising

  • A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

  • The Witch Of Blackbird Pond

  • Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry

  • All-Of-A-Kind Family Series

  • Little House Series

Animal Kingdom

  • Watership Down

  • The One and Only Ivan

  • Mr. Popper's Penguins

  • Poppy

  • Because of Winn-Dixie

  • Misty of Chincoteague

  • Bunnicula

  • The Redwall series

  • The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh

  • Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

  • Where the Red Fern Grows

  • The Cricket in Times Square

  • Charlotte's Web

Biography, Memoir And History

  • The Lincolns

  • Anne Frank the Diary of a Young Girl

  • Eleanor Roosevelt

  • Bomb

Everyday Magic

  • Tuck Everlasting

  • James and the Giant Peach

  • Half Magic

  • The Graveyard Book

  • The Borrowers

  • Harry Potter series

  • A Series of Unfortunate Events books

  • Mary Poppins

Family Life

  • Little Women

  • Ramona series

  • Walk Two Moons

  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

  • Catherine, Called Birdy

  • Danny the Champion of the World

  • The Saturdays

  • Sarah, Plain and Tall

  • Anne of Green Gables series

  • One Crazy Summer

Fantasy Worlds

  • The Chronicles of Prydain series

  • Peter Pan

  • Oz series

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

  • The City of Ember

  • The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

  • The Earthsea Cycle series

  • Chronicles of Narnia series

  • The Giver

  • The Wee Free Men

  • His Dark Materials series

  • The Hobbit

Friendships And Finding Your Place

  • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda series

  • Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

  • The Secret Garden

  • The Hundred Dresses

  • Harriet the Spy

  • Wonder

  • Bridge to Terabithia

  • Holes

  • Okay for Now

  • Maniac Magee

Good For A Laugh

  • Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

  • Matilda

  • The Phantom Tollbooth

  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

Graphic Novels

  • The Bone Series

  • The Arrival

  • American Born Chinese

Mysteries And Thrillers

  • The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

  • The House With a Clock in Its Walls

  • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret

  • When You Reach Me

  • The Egypt Game

Myths And Fairy Tales

  • The Dark Is Rising series

  • D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths

  • The Little Prince

  • Ella Enchanted

  • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

  • The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales

  • The Sword in the Stone

Poetry

  • Inside Out & Back Again

Science Fiction

  • Ender's Game

  • The House of the Scorpion

  • A Wrinkle in Time series

Survival And Adventure

  • My Side of the Mountain

  • Julie of the Wolves

  • Number the Stars

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins

  • Hatchet

  • The Twenty-one Balloons

Meet The Panel

Soman Chainani wrote his graduate thesis on why evil women make irresistible fairy-tale villains. His first novel, The School for Good and Evil, debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List and is currently being adapted into a film by Universal Pictures.

Travis Jonker is the elementary school librarian for Wayland Union Schools in Wayland, Mich. He reviews children's books for School Library Journal and writes about all things children's literature on his blog, 100 Scope Notes.

Gussie Lewis is an independent bookseller focusing on childrens' and YA titles. She has worked for Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., and currently serves as the chair of the Children and YA Author Recruitment Committee for the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, Md.

Linda Sue Park is the author of many books for young readers, including A Single Shard, winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal, and two books in "The 39 Clues" series. Her most recent novel is the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water.

Margi Preus writes books for young people, including the novels Shadow on the Mountain and Heart of a Samurai, a 2011 Newbery Honor book and featured by NPR's Backseat Book Club. Margi also writes plays, hikes, skis, paddles, or sits quietly with a book in her lap.

Rita Williams-Garcia is an award-winning writer of books for young readers, and is known for her realistic portrayal of teens of color. Her books include Jumped, Every Time a Rainbow Dies, and One Crazy Summer, which won the Coretta Scott King award in 2011.

Produced by Justine Kenin, Petra Mayer, Michele Norris, Beth Novey, Annalisa Quinn and Matthew Weddig

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