Wilder Library Reading Lists for Boys
The Wilder Library at the Prep would like to recommend a list of titles for your son’s leisure reading. In most cases one title by a particular author has been listed, but many others are suitable.
Primary reading lists – all categories
| Primary Reading List : (SK-3) Picture books – some favourites | |
| Janell Cannon | Verdi |
| Chih-Yuan Chen | Guji Guji |
| Rod Clement | Counting on Frank |
| Barbara Cooney | Miss Rumphius |
| David Elliott | Finn throws a fit |
| Jules Feiffer | Bark George |
| Mem Fox | Tough Boris |
| Phoebe Gilman | The balloon tree |
| Emily Gravett | Spells |
| Kevin Hawkes | The wicked big toddlah |
| Simon James | Baby brains |
| Oliver Jeffers | How to catch a star |
| Jonathan London | What newt could do for turtle |
| Susan Meddaugh | Martha speaks |
| Bill Peet | Cowardly Clyde |
| Barbara Reid | Two by two |
| Maurice Sendak | Where the wild things are |
| David Shannon | No, David! |
| William Steig | The amazing bone |
| Melanie Watt | Scaredy Squirrel |
| Mo Willems | The pigeon finds a hotdog! |
| Novels: for reading aloud, reading together, or reading independently | |
| Richard Atwater | Mr. Pepper’s penguins |
| Avi | Poppy |
| Judy Blume | Tales of a fourth grade nothing |
| Roald Dahl | Fantastic Mr. Fox |
| Kate DiCamillo | The tale of Despereaux |
| Paul Fleischman | The Half-a-Moon Inn |
| James Howe | Bunnicula |
| Chris Kurtz | The adventures of a South Pole pig |
| Ursula Leguin | Catwings |
| Alison McGhee | Firefly Hollow |
| Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Shiloh |
| Sara Pennypacker | Stuart’s cape |
| Jon Scieszka | The knights of tthe kitchen table |
| Donald Sobol | Encyclopedia Brown, boy detective |
| E.B. White | Charlotte’s web |
| Stuart Little | |
| Ian Whybrow | Little Wolf’s book of badness |
| Beginning Independent Reading: many of these are series | |
| Tedd Arnold | Fly guy |
| Helaine Becker | Looney Bay all stars |
| Jim Benton | Lunch walks among us |
| Adam Blade | Beast quest |
| Denys Cazet | Minnie and Moo |
| Troy Cummings | The notebook of doom |
| Tony Davis | Roland Wright, future knight |
| D.L. Green | Zeke Meeks |
| Dan Gutman | My weird school |
| Elizabeth S. Hunt | Secret agent Jack Stalwart |
| Nancy Krulik | Magic Bone |
| H.I. Larry | Zac Power |
| Megan McDonald | Stink |
| Peggy Parish | Amelia Bedelia |
| Mary Pope Osborne | Magic tree house |
| Lissa Rovetch | Hot dog and Bob |
| Cynthia Rylant | Poppleton |
| Jon Scieszka | Battle Bunny |
| Marjorie W. Sharmat | Nate the great |
| Francesca Simon | Horrid Henry |
| Geronimo Stilton | Lost treasure of the emerald eye |
| Ursula Vernon | Dragonsbreath |
| Mo Willems | Elephant and Piggy |
| Other Recommended Classics: | |
| Jean de Brunhoff | Babar |
| Virginia Lee Burton | Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel |
| Rudyard Kipling | Just so stories |
| Munro Leaf | The story of Ferdinand |
| A.A. Milne | Winnie-the-Pooh |
| Michael Morpurgo | The McElderry book of Aesop’s fables |
| Beatrix Potter | The tale of Peter Rabbit |
| H.A. Rey | Curious George |
| Dr. Seuss | The cat in the hat |
| Van Dyke Parks | Jump! : the adventures of Brer Rabbit |
| Helen Ward | Unwitting wisdom : an anthology of Aesop’s animal fables |
| Poetry Collections: | |
| David Booth | Til all the stars have fallen |
| Kenyon Cox | Mixed beasts |
| Douglas Florian | Mammalabilia |
| Mary Ann Hoberman, ed. | Forget-me-nots : poems to learn by heart |
| Bill Martin Jr., ed. | The Bill Martin Jr. big book of poetry |
| Jack Prelutsky, ed. | The beauty of the beast |
| Scranimals | |
| Shel Silverstein | The light in the attic |
| Primary Non-Fiction : | |
| Deb Lucke | The book of time-outs: a mostly true history of the world’s biggest troublemakers |
| Jason Chin | Island : a story of the Galapagos |
| Gail Herman | Who was Jackie Robinson? (and others in the “Who Was”, “Where is” and “What is” series) |
| Ben Hillman | How strong is it? : a mighty book about strength |
| Steve Jenkins | Actual size |
| Down, down, down : a journey to the bottom of the sea | |
| Move! | |
| Nelson Kadir | Nelson Mandela |
| Kathryn Lasky | One beetle too many : the extraordinary adventures of Charles Darwin |
| Mary Pope Osborne | The one-eyed giant |
| Simon Mugford | Dinosaur ABC |
| David Smith | If the world were a village |
| Primary – Graphic novels : many of these are series | |
| Eric Craddock | BC mambo |
| Maxwell Eaton | The flying beaver brothers and the evil penguin plan |
| Christopoher Ford | Stickman Odyssey |
| Emmanuel Guibert | Ariol |
| Sardine | |
| Ben Hatke | Zita the spacegirl |
| Jarrett Krosoczka | Lunch lady |
| Jeff Limke | Theseus : battling the Minotaur |
| David Orme | Billy Blaster |
| Aaron Reyholds | Joey Fly, private eye |
| Kean Soo | Jellaby |
| Ashley Spires | Binky the space cat |
| Geronimo Stilton | The discovery of America |
| Lewis Trondheim | A.L.I.E.E.E.N |
Form 4-7 Reading list
| Form 4 | |
| Katherine Applegate | The one and only Ivan |
| Mac Barnett | The terrible two |
| Andrew Clements | Frindle |
| Bruce Coville | Jeremy Thatcher, dragon hatcher |
| Cressida Cowell | How to train your dragon |
| Roald Dahl | Charlie and the chocolate factory |
| Tom Greenwald | Charlie Joe Jackson’s guide to not reading |
| Andy Griffiths | The 13-story treehouse |
| Gordon Korman | Swindle |
| Kathryn Lasky | The capture |
| C.S. Lewis | The lion, the witch and the wardrobe |
| Roy MacGregor | The night they stole the Stanley Cup |
| Kate McMullan | Have a hot time Hades |
| Elizabeth Mann | Little man |
| Brandon Mull | Wild born |
| Liz Pichon | The brilliant world of Tom Gates |
| Lemony Snicket | Who could that be at this hour? |
| Laren Tarshis | The sinking of the Titanic, 1912 |
| Janet Tashjian | My life as a book |
| Michael Wade | And then it happened |
| Form 5 | |
| Lloyd Alexander | The book of three |
| K.L. Armstrong | Loki’s wolves |
| Joseph Bruchac | Skeleton man |
| T.R. Burns | The bad apple |
| Rob Buyea | Because of Mr. Terupt |
| Gennifer Choldenko | Al Capone does my shirts |
| Emma Clayton | The Roar |
| Suzanne Collins | Gregor the overlander |
| Mark Cooper | Fledgling : Jason Steed |
| Chris D’Lacey | The fire within |
| Michael Ford | The fire of Ares |
| Stuart Gibbs | Spy school |
| Evan Kuhlman | Brother from a box |
| Derek Landy | Skulduggery Pleasant |
| Lisa McMann | The Unwanteds |
| Michael Morpurgo | Kensuke’s kingdom |
| Brandon Mull | A world without heroes |
| Uri Orlev | The island on Bird Street |
| R.J.Palacio | Wonder |
| James Patterson | The worst years of my life |
| Brian Selznick | The Marvels |
| Trenton Lee Stewart | The mysterious Benedict Society |
| Jane Yolen | Dragon’s blood |
| Form 6 | |
| Chris Bradford | Young samurai : the way of the warrior |
| Eoin Colfer | Artemis Fowl |
| Caroline Cooney | The face on the milk carton |
| Nancy Farmer | The sea of trolls |
| John Flanagan | The ruins of Gorlan |
| Margaret Haddix | Among the hidden |
| Carl Hiaasen | Scat |
| Anthony Horowitz | Stormbreaker |
| Philip Kerr | The Akhenaten adventures |
| Matt Myklusch | The accidental hero |
| Susin Nielsen | Word nerd |
| Kenneth Oppel | The nest |
| R.J. Palacio | Wonder |
| James Patterson | Maximum ride : the angel experiment |
| Wilson Rawls | Where the red ferm grows |
| Michael Scott | The alchemyst |
| J.R.R. Tolkien | The hobbit |
| Eleanor Updale | Montmorency: thief, liar, gentleman? |
| Mark Walden | H.I.V.E. |
| Eric Walters | We all fall down |
| Robert Westall | The machine gunners |
| Form 7 | |
| Douglas Adams | The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy |
| Isabel Allende | City of the beasts |
| Paolo Bacigalupi | Ship breaker |
| Susan Bartoletti | The boy who dared |
| Martyn Bedford | Flip |
| Clare Bell | Ratha’s creature |
| Joseph Bruchac | Killer of enemies |
| Orson Scott Card | Ender’s game |
| Agatha Christie | Murder on the Orient Express |
| Joe Craig | Jimmy Coates : killer |
| James Dashner | The maze runner |
| Laura Elliot | Under a war-torn sky |
| Nancy Farmer | The sea of trolls |
| Catherine Fisher | Incarceron |
| Neil Gaiman | The graveyard book |
| Maurice Gee | Salt |
| Mark Haddon | The curious incident of the dog in the night-time |
| Charles Higson | The enemy |
| S.E. Hinton | The outsiders |
| Anne Holm | I am David |
| Anthony Horowitz | Raven’s gate |
| E.L. Konigsburg | Silent to the bone |
| Pittacus Lore | I am number four |
| Graham McNamee | Bonechiller |
| John Marsden | Tomorrow, when the war began |
| Robert Muchamore | The recruit |
| Andy Mulligan | Trash |
| Walter Dean Myers | Fallen angels |
| Garth Nix | Sabriel |
| Kenneth Oppel | The boundless |
| Philip Pullman | The golden compass |
| Veronica Roth | Divergent |
| Robert Sharenow | The Berlin boxing club |
| Arthur Slade | The hunchback assignments |
| Caroline Stevermer | River rats |
| Jonathan Stroud | The amulet of Samarkand |
| Anne Ursu | The shadow thieves |
| Scott Westerfeld | Leviathan |
| John Wilson | Four steps to death |
| Markus Zusak | The book thief |
Non-fiction and graphic novels – form 5 and up
| Non-Fiction – Form 5 and up | |
| Rhoda Blumberg | Shipwrecked : the true adventures of a Japanese boy |
| Georgia Bragg | How they croaked : the awful end of the awfully famous |
| Roald Dahl | Boy |
| Ingri D’Aulaires | D’Aulaire’s book of Greek myths |
| Dan Green | Technology : a byte-size world |
| Anne Frank | The diary of a young girl |
| Laura Hillenbrand | Unbroken: an Olympian’s journey from airman to castaway to captive |
| Phillip M. Hoose | The boys who challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club |
| Ji-Li Jiang | Red scarf girl : a memoir of the Cultural Revolution |
| Paul Keery | Canada at war : a graphic history of World War Two |
| Joseph Lekuton | Facing the lion: growing up Maasai on the African savanna |
| Cunxin Li | Mao’s last dancer |
| Mark Pfetzer | Within reach: my Everest story |
| Al Seckel | Optical illusions |
| Eric Williams | The wooden horse |
| Graphic novels : many of these are series | |
| Frank Cammuso | The dodgeball chronicles |
| Rene Goscinny | Asterix |
| Herge | Tintin |
| Kazu Kibuishi | The amulet |
| George O’Connor | Hades, lord of the dead |
| Jason Shiga | Meanwhile |
| Jeff Smith | Bone |
| Raina Telgemeier | Smile |
| Doug TenNapel | Bad island |
| Ghostopolis | |
| Don Wood | Into the volcano |