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 |