My kid is now reading almost a book a day, can you nice folks recommend some good reading for a 10yr old?
She devoured Harry Potter books, already read hers and her brothers school assignments for this year, and I've no idea what to books to recommend her anymore.
Has she tried any of the American Girl stories yet? Those are all about different periods of history, with 10 year girl protagonists at the center. They were absolutely formative for my early reading!
FirmSheepherder4966 on
I was really into the May Bird series at that age! Similar to Harry Potter in some ways, might be up her alley
Has she read His Dark Materials yet? My absolute favourite at that age. The Sally Lockhart books aren’t bad either.
TedIsAwesom on
Dealing with Dragons and the sequels.
BobbittheHobbit111 on
Warrior cats by Erin Hunter
Virtual_Ganache8491 on
Going off of my favorites in elementary/middle school, just gonna give ’em to you in bulk (and series only) because 1 book a day is a *lot*:
* Spiderwick Chronicles
* A Series of Unfortunate Events series
* Dragonbreath series
* Hoot series
* Tales of a 6th Grade Muppet series
* Popular Clone series
* Tapper Twins series
* Max Crumbly/Dork Diaries series
* Origami Yoda series
* Masterminds series and Swindle series (same author)
* N.E.R.D.S. series
* 49 Clues series
* The Terrible Two series
Authors where basically everything is consistently good: Rick Riordan, Stuart Gibbs, Gordon Korman, Chris Grabenstein, Raina Telgemeier if she likes graphic novels, James Patterson (seriously, he has a *lot* of middle grade stuff and all of it is solid.)
Sam_English821 on
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins, and The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett (they age with and get darker similarly to Harry Potter).
VisitPrestigious8463 on
I have a prolific reader this age too so I’ll respond once I have talked to my kiddo.
Also, does she have a library card? Mine outread all the books in their age group (by preference, not literally all the books) and the librarian moved them to teen books.
Does she like anime?
Consistent-Duty-6195 on
Number the Stars, The Giver, The Wild Robot collection
-UnicornFart on
Go old school with some Goosebumps!!
DragonfruitReady4550 on
Just set her free in the library.
phantasybm on
At that age I was reading the goosebumps series. By now there’s probably over 100 books.
mastelsa on
Seconding the American Girl books–historical fiction is a great way for kids to double up on reading and history.
For a kid reading that much, I’m thinking about large series with lots of books she can blast through.
Talking animals:
Redwall by Brian Jaques (22-book series)
Warriors by Erin Hunter (9 6-book arcs, with additional series by the same author focusing on other animals–Bravelands, Seekers, etc.)
Harry Potter contemporaries:
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (8 books)
Children of the Red King series (“Charlie Bone”) by Jenny Nimmo (8 books)
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett (13 books)
Pendragon by D.J. MacHale (10 books)
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (5 books, plus many, *many* sequel, companion, and spinoff series focused on mythology from many different cultures)
chajava on
The Artemis Fowl series is great, enjoyed them even as an adult.
10 is maybe a bit young for regular Dragonlance, but there’s a ya series in that universe called Dragonlance: The New Adventures and I can vouch for the first 2 books at least.
Ramona Quimby
At 10 I was personally devouring Goosebumps and Animorphs, but no idea how accessible they still are outside of ebook format.
apaproach on
❤️❤️
Potential_Lake776 on
The land of stories series!!! I first started the books in 5th grade and now I’m a senior and college and I think about them all the time. It’s about twin siblings who travel into the world of fairy tales. So good
CPolland12 on
I was reading goosebumps and fear street at that age
kittycatblue13 on
The Nevermoor series “The Trials of Morrigan Crow” by Jessica Townsend
TeMa_Chic on
Hank the Cowdog series!
PogueBlue on
The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Anything by Marguerite Henry
Appropriate_Drive875 on
I loved the royal diaries or the Dear America series at that age, and they have so many to get through.
I haven’t read them since the 90s as a kid though, I hope they aged well.
Mayfire_1900 on
Jim Kjelgaard is an author that writes about Dogs and the adventures they have.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’ Dell is about a girl that lives alone on an island. Based on a true story.
Rumham1985 on
Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon messenger!
OG_BookNerd on
It’s hard for me to determine what’s okay for 10 year old, as my parents gave me Flowers in the Attic, Carrie, Audrey Rose, and Sybil at that age, but hopefully these will be alright:
The Dragon Riders of the Pern by Anne McCaffery
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
Charlotte’s Web by EB White
Sorry, they are a little old, but I am ancient!
kthjjk1213 on
Since she liked Harry Potter, I’d say check out any of Kelly Barnhills children’s novel. Like the girl who drank the moon!
trixiesalamander on
These don’t seem to be too popular but I loved them! The “Wondla” series by Tony Diterlizzi. About a 12 year old girl on an alien planet. It’s got beautiful illustrations, some tense drama, and is ultimately about friendship and the environment.
I read it as an adult and loved it. I wish it had come out when I was actually the age of the intended audience haha
unlovelyladybartleby on
Anne of Green Gables series (plus Emily and Pat)
Enchanted Forest Chronicles series by Patricia C Wrede
Warrior Cats series
Wings of Fire series
Anastasia Krupnik series
The Menagerie Trilogy by Tui T Sutherland
lucylouof92 on
The Princess Diaries series and All American Girl by Meg Cabot are fun, I loved these at that age. Can’t beat A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket either, they’re amazing!
Caslebob on
I’m a retired children’s librarian. I’ve read thousands and thousands of children’s books and I have some great recommendations. But I would mostly recommend that you go talk to the children’s librarian at your library. They will be able to give you some books that are newer. A lot of the recommendations that you get on Reddit are great older books, but there’s some pretty good new stuff out there.
Short-Bumblebee43 on
Beverly Cleary wrote the first book I finished in one day. I don’t remember which one, but they’re all great. I started reading Judy Blume when I was 10, too.
32 Comments
Has she tried any of the American Girl stories yet? Those are all about different periods of history, with 10 year girl protagonists at the center. They were absolutely formative for my early reading!
I was really into the May Bird series at that age! Similar to Harry Potter in some ways, might be up her alley
*cracks knuckles* my time to shine.
[Inkheart](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkheart).
[Series of Unfortunate Events](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Series_of_Unfortunate_Events).
Of course, [Choose Your Own Adventure](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure). Classics.
[Magic Treehouse series](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/MT0/magic-tree-house/) is a little young for her age, but man those are some good tales.
Some randoms from my childhood:
[Fever 1793](https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/fever-1793-novel/). Sad but great.
[Montmorency series](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmorency_series).
[The Thief Lord.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_Lord)
[Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisterhood_of_the_Traveling_Pants_(novel))
[Uglies series](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/uglies-scott-westerfeld/1018150081)
Edit: I’ll keep adding as I think of some.
Has she read His Dark Materials yet? My absolute favourite at that age. The Sally Lockhart books aren’t bad either.
Dealing with Dragons and the sequels.
Warrior cats by Erin Hunter
Going off of my favorites in elementary/middle school, just gonna give ’em to you in bulk (and series only) because 1 book a day is a *lot*:
* Spiderwick Chronicles
* A Series of Unfortunate Events series
* Dragonbreath series
* Hoot series
* Tales of a 6th Grade Muppet series
* Popular Clone series
* Tapper Twins series
* Max Crumbly/Dork Diaries series
* Origami Yoda series
* Masterminds series and Swindle series (same author)
* N.E.R.D.S. series
* 49 Clues series
* The Terrible Two series
Authors where basically everything is consistently good: Rick Riordan, Stuart Gibbs, Gordon Korman, Chris Grabenstein, Raina Telgemeier if she likes graphic novels, James Patterson (seriously, he has a *lot* of middle grade stuff and all of it is solid.)
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins, and The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett (they age with and get darker similarly to Harry Potter).
I have a prolific reader this age too so I’ll respond once I have talked to my kiddo.
Also, does she have a library card? Mine outread all the books in their age group (by preference, not literally all the books) and the librarian moved them to teen books.
Does she like anime?
Number the Stars, The Giver, The Wild Robot collection
Go old school with some Goosebumps!!
Just set her free in the library.
At that age I was reading the goosebumps series. By now there’s probably over 100 books.
Seconding the American Girl books–historical fiction is a great way for kids to double up on reading and history.
For a kid reading that much, I’m thinking about large series with lots of books she can blast through.
Talking animals:
Redwall by Brian Jaques (22-book series)
Warriors by Erin Hunter (9 6-book arcs, with additional series by the same author focusing on other animals–Bravelands, Seekers, etc.)
Harry Potter contemporaries:
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (8 books)
Children of the Red King series (“Charlie Bone”) by Jenny Nimmo (8 books)
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett (13 books)
Pendragon by D.J. MacHale (10 books)
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (5 books, plus many, *many* sequel, companion, and spinoff series focused on mythology from many different cultures)
The Artemis Fowl series is great, enjoyed them even as an adult.
10 is maybe a bit young for regular Dragonlance, but there’s a ya series in that universe called Dragonlance: The New Adventures and I can vouch for the first 2 books at least.
Ramona Quimby
At 10 I was personally devouring Goosebumps and Animorphs, but no idea how accessible they still are outside of ebook format.
❤️❤️
The land of stories series!!! I first started the books in 5th grade and now I’m a senior and college and I think about them all the time. It’s about twin siblings who travel into the world of fairy tales. So good
I was reading goosebumps and fear street at that age
The Nevermoor series “The Trials of Morrigan Crow” by Jessica Townsend
Hank the Cowdog series!
The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Anything by Marguerite Henry
I loved the royal diaries or the Dear America series at that age, and they have so many to get through.
I haven’t read them since the 90s as a kid though, I hope they aged well.
Jim Kjelgaard is an author that writes about Dogs and the adventures they have.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’ Dell is about a girl that lives alone on an island. Based on a true story.
Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon messenger!
It’s hard for me to determine what’s okay for 10 year old, as my parents gave me Flowers in the Attic, Carrie, Audrey Rose, and Sybil at that age, but hopefully these will be alright:
The Dragon Riders of the Pern by Anne McCaffery
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
Charlotte’s Web by EB White
Sorry, they are a little old, but I am ancient!
Since she liked Harry Potter, I’d say check out any of Kelly Barnhills children’s novel. Like the girl who drank the moon!
These don’t seem to be too popular but I loved them! The “Wondla” series by Tony Diterlizzi. About a 12 year old girl on an alien planet. It’s got beautiful illustrations, some tense drama, and is ultimately about friendship and the environment.
I read it as an adult and loved it. I wish it had come out when I was actually the age of the intended audience haha
Anne of Green Gables series (plus Emily and Pat)
Enchanted Forest Chronicles series by Patricia C Wrede
Warrior Cats series
Wings of Fire series
Anastasia Krupnik series
The Menagerie Trilogy by Tui T Sutherland
The Princess Diaries series and All American Girl by Meg Cabot are fun, I loved these at that age. Can’t beat A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket either, they’re amazing!
I’m a retired children’s librarian. I’ve read thousands and thousands of children’s books and I have some great recommendations. But I would mostly recommend that you go talk to the children’s librarian at your library. They will be able to give you some books that are newer. A lot of the recommendations that you get on Reddit are great older books, but there’s some pretty good new stuff out there.
Beverly Cleary wrote the first book I finished in one day. I don’t remember which one, but they’re all great. I started reading Judy Blume when I was 10, too.
Spy school series
Whatever after series
Babysitters club graphic novel series