Twenty-eight books for 9 year olds, sorted by kind: adventure and funny, mystery, fantasy, graphic novels, series to get hooked on, classics to read together, and true stories. The last two groups are picks for boys and for girls, because parents ask for those lists. Any kid can read any book on this page.
In this deck · 9 sections
Adventure and funny
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Judy Blume
Peter Hatcher is nine, and his little brother Fudge wrecks everything: his school project, his birthday, his peace and quiet. Then Fudge swallows Peter's pet turtle.
Why read it: Every kid with a younger sibling knows exactly how Peter feels, and the book is funny about something that is not funny when it happens to you.
Fun fact: Fudge is based on Judy Blume's son when he was little. The turtle part came from a real newspaper story about a toddler who swallowed the family turtle.
Peter thinks his parents care more about Fudge. Is he right?
Then ask: What would Peter's parents say if you asked them?
Is Fudge annoying on purpose, or is he just little?
Then ask: Does it make a difference to Peter?
At nine, most kids can read a real chapter book on their own, but many still want pictures, short chapters or a series they already know. The list has both kinds. Most books also come with a fun fact about the author or how the book began. Read it to your kid before they start.
Under each book there are two questions to ask once your kid has read it. "How was the book?" gets "good." These ask about one thing in the story, so there is something to answer. For younger readers, see books for 8 year olds.
Did they really read it? Thonko talks with your kid about the parts a quick summary skips: the choices, the turns, the why.
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Louis Sachar
Wayside School was supposed to be one story high with thirty classrooms. The builder made it thirty stories high instead, one classroom on each floor. Each chapter is about a different kid in the class on the top floor, and every one of them is strange.
Why read it: The chapters are short and completely silly, and the silliness has its own logic, which kids love working out.
Fun fact: Louis Sachar was a lunchtime yard teacher at a real elementary school, where kids called him Louis the Yard Teacher. He put himself in the book under that name, and the kids in the class are named after kids from that school.
Which kid in the class would you want to sit next to, and which one would you avoid?
Then ask: What would they think of you?
Some things at Wayside make no sense, like a floor that does not exist. Which rule of the school would you keep at yours?
Then ask: What would go wrong?
Frindle
Andrew Clements
Nick Allen decides to call a pen a "frindle," just to see what happens. His friends start using the word, then the whole school, then the whole country. His teacher, who loves the dictionary, is not happy.
Why read it: It shows a kid changing something real with one idea, and it makes kids look at words in a new way.
Fun fact: Andrew Clements used to tell kids, on school visits, that people decide what a word means. When kids did not believe him, he wrote a book to show them.
Who decides what a word means: the dictionary or the people who use it?
Then ask: Can you think of a word that changed while you were alive?
Was Mrs. Granger against Nick or secretly on his side?
Then ask: What clues did you see?
The Lemonade War
Jacqueline Davies
Evan is going into fourth grade, and his younger sister Jessie is skipping a grade into the same class. He is furious. They start a lemonade stand contest to see who can make 100 dollars first, and it gets mean.
Why read it: It is a real sibling fight with real money math in it, and both sides have a point.
Fun fact: Jacqueline Davies got the idea when her own kids set up competing lemonade stands.
Who is more to blame for the war, Evan or Jessie?
Then ask: What did each of them not understand about the other?
Jessie is better at math and Evan is better with people. Which is more useful for selling lemonade?
Then ask: Which would you rather be good at?
Mystery
Bunnicula
Deborah and James Howe
The Monroe family brings home a bunny they found at a movie theater during a Dracula film. Soon the vegetables in the kitchen are turning white and drained. Chester the cat is sure the bunny is a vampire. Harold the dog tells the story.
Why read it: It is a spooky mystery that is mostly funny, and kids get to decide for themselves whether the bunny is really a vampire.
Fun fact: The authors were married and wrote it together at their kitchen table. Their own cat inspired Chester.
Is Bunnicula really a vampire? What is your evidence?
Then ask: What would Chester say to prove you wrong?
Chester goes too far trying to stop the bunny. When does being sure of something become a problem?
Then ask: Have you ever been very sure and wrong?
Ballpark Mysteries
David A. Kelly
Cousins Mike and Kate visit a different major league ballpark in each book and solve a mystery there. Each book is full of real facts about the team and the stadium.
Why read it: It is a mystery series for kids who would rather be at a ball game, and they learn real baseball history without noticing.
Fun fact: For each book, David A. Kelly travels to the real ballpark and spends days researching it.
Mike knows baseball and Kate notices details. Which one solved this case?
Then ask: Could either of them have done it alone?
If you could pick the next ballpark for a mystery, which would it be?
Then ask: What would get stolen there?
The Great Brain
John D. Fitzgerald
In a small Utah town in the 1890s, Tom is the smartest kid around and uses his brain to make money off everyone. His little brother J.D. tells the story and admires him, mostly. Tom solves problems, and sometimes he is the problem.
Why read it: Tom is clever and sneaky, and kids enjoy figuring out his schemes before they work. The old-fashioned town makes everything feel like an adventure.
Fun fact: The stories come from the author's own childhood in Utah, and the Great Brain was his real older brother, Tom.
Tom helps people but always gets paid. Is he a good guy?
Then ask: When does being clever turn into cheating?
Why does J.D. keep falling for his brother's tricks?
Then ask: Is there someone you always believe, even when you shouldn't?
Fantasy
James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl
James lives with two horrible aunts. One day a peach in the garden grows as big as a house. James climbs inside and finds giant insects who become his friends, and the peach rolls away to the sea.
Why read it: It is a strange, funny adventure where a lonely kid finds a family, and the bad guys get squashed.
Fun fact: Roald Dahl first planned the story around a giant cherry. He switched to a peach because it is bigger and squishier.
Which of the insects would you want as a friend, and why that one?
Then ask: Which one would drive you crazy?
James was unhappy for a long time. What changed for him, the peach or the friends?
Then ask: Could he have been happy without the peach?
The Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo
Winner of the Newbery Medal. Despereaux is a tiny mouse with huge ears who reads books, falls in love with a princess and gets thrown into the dungeon for it. A rat and a servant girl have their own reasons for wanting the princess, and their stories meet his.
Why read it: It is a fairy tale about a small hero, and the narrator talks straight to the reader, which kids find funny and a bit thrilling.
Fun fact: A friend's son asked Kate DiCamillo for a story about an unlikely hero with very big ears. The book is dedicated to him.
Roscuro the rat does terrible things. Is he evil, or did something make him that way?
Then ask: Does it matter which one it is?
Despereaux is small and weak. What makes him a hero anyway?
Then ask: Who is a small hero you know in real life?
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Jared, his twin Simon and their sister Mallory move into an old house and find a field guide to faeries hidden in the attic. The faeries want it back. Short books with lots of drawings.
Why read it: The drawings make the creatures feel real, and the books are short enough to read the whole series in a few weeks.
Fun fact: The authors like to say the story came to them in a letter from the three kids in it.
Nobody believes Jared at first. Why do grown-ups not see the faeries?
Then ask: What do kids notice that grown-ups miss?
Should the kids have kept the field guide or given it back?
Then ask: What would you do with it?
Graphic novels
Amulet
Kazu Kibuishi
After a family tragedy, Emily and her brother Navin move into an old house and find a stone amulet. It pulls them into a world of robots, talking animals and elf kings, where the amulet wants Emily to use its power.
Why read it: It is an epic fantasy in comic form, with art that looks like an animated movie, and every book ends on a cliffhanger.
Fun fact: Kazu Kibuishi also painted the covers of the 15th anniversary paperback editions of Harry Potter.
The amulet gives Emily power but asks her to trust it. Should she?
Then ask: How do you decide whether to trust something powerful?
Navin is the younger brother. What does he do that Emily cannot?
Then ask: What can a younger kid do better than an older one?
Bone
Jeff Smith
Three cousins from Boneville get run out of town and lost in a valley full of dragons, rat creatures and a girl named Thorn. It starts funny and turns into a big adventure across nine books.
Why read it: It is a long, real fantasy epic that kids can finish because it is a comic, and the jokes keep going even when the story gets serious.
Fun fact: Jeff Smith first drew the Bone characters when he was about five years old.
Phoney Bone is greedy and always scheming. Why do his cousins stay with him?
Then ask: What would you do with a cousin like Phoney?
Which creature in the valley would scare you most?
Then ask: What makes it scary: how it looks or what it does?
Lunch Lady
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
The lunch lady at school serves fish sticks by day. Secretly she fights crime with gadgets made from kitchen tools. Three kids follow her and find out.
Why read it: It is a funny, fast comic, and it makes kids look twice at the grown-ups they walk past every day.
Fun fact: Jarrett Krosoczka got the idea when he went back to his old school and met his lunch lady again. He was surprised to find out she had grandkids and a whole life outside the cafeteria.
What secret life could a grown-up at your school have?
Then ask: What gadget would they use?
Why do you think nobody suspects the lunch lady?
Then ask: Who do people forget to notice?
Series to get hooked on
Wings of Fire
Tui T. Sutherland
Seven tribes of dragons are at war, and five young dragons are raised in secret to fulfill a prophecy that will end it. They are not sure they want to. Each book is told by a different dragon.
Why read it: Dragons, a war and friendship, and kids get attached to each dragon. The series is long, and many kids read straight through it.
Fun fact: Tui T. Sutherland was a champion on the TV quiz show Jeopardy!
Should the dragonets follow the prophecy someone else wrote for them?
Then ask: Who gets to decide what you are meant to do?
Which dragon tribe would you belong to, and why?
Then ask: What is the downside of that tribe?
Geronimo Stilton
Geronimo Stilton
Geronimo Stilton is a nervous mouse who runs a newspaper in New Mouse City and keeps getting dragged into adventures he did not want. The pages use big colorful letters for important words, which makes them quick to read.
Why read it: There are dozens of books, the colorful words keep the pages moving, and kids who are nervous about long books often start here.
Fun fact: Geronimo is a pen name. The books were created in Italy by Elisabetta Dami and are published in about 50 languages.
Geronimo is scared of almost everything and still goes. Is that brave?
Then ask: What is the difference between not being scared and being brave?
What would you write about if you ran a newspaper for kids?
Then ask: What would the first headline be?
Ranger in Time
Kate Messner
Ranger is a golden retriever trained for search and rescue, but he failed his test because he chases squirrels. An old first-aid kit sends him back in time, and in each book he helps a kid in a real moment in history, from the Oregon Trail to Hurricane Katrina.
Why read it: Kids who love dogs get history lessons hidden inside rescue stories, and each book is a quick read.
Ranger failed his test, but he is great at rescues. What does a test miss?
Then ask: Is there something you are good at that no test would show?
Which time in history would you want Ranger to visit next?
Then ask: Who would he need to save there?
Classics to read together
Stuart Little
E. B. White
Stuart is the second son of the Little family in New York City, and he looks exactly like a mouse. He sails a toy boat in a race in Central Park, then sets off on his own to find his friend, a bird named Margalo.
Why read it: It is a quiet adventure about a very small person in a very big city, and it ends without tying everything up, which gives kids a lot to talk about.
Fun fact: The character came to E. B. White in a dream he had while dozing on a train.
The book ends with Stuart still searching. Will he find Margalo?
Then ask: Why do you think the author did not tell us?
Stuart is tiny but goes everywhere. What does being small make easier for him?
Then ask: What does it make harder?
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren
Pippi is nine, the strongest girl in the world, and lives alone in her house with a horse and a monkey. She has a suitcase of gold coins and no rules. Her neighbors Tommy and Annika cannot believe her.
Why read it: Pippi does everything kids wish they could, and her adventures are funny and short enough to read one at bedtime.
Fun fact: Astrid Lindgren's daughter was sick in bed and asked for a story about someone named Pippi Longstocking. She made up the name, and her mother made up the girl.
Pippi has no grown-up telling her what to do. Would you want that?
Then ask: What would you miss about having grown-ups around?
Is Pippi a good friend to Tommy and Annika?
Then ask: What do they get from her, and what does she get from them?
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Richard and Florence Atwater
A Newbery Honor book. Mr. Popper is a house painter who dreams of the South Pole. One day a penguin arrives at his door in a crate, then another, and soon the family has twelve penguins in the house.
Why read it: It is a funny what-if story with real penguin facts in it, and it ends with the penguins on stage.
Fun fact: Richard Atwater got the idea after taking his daughters to a film about Admiral Byrd's trip to Antarctica. When he fell ill, his wife Florence finished the book.
Is it fair to the penguins to keep them in a house?
Then ask: What would the penguins say if they could talk?
Mr. Popper follows his dream even when it costs his family money. Was he right?
Then ask: How far should you go for something you love?
True stories
Weird But True!
National Geographic Kids
Each book is page after page of short, strange, true facts about animals, space, food and the human body, with big photos.
Why read it: Kids can open it anywhere, read one fact and run to tell someone, which is how reading starts for a lot of them.
Fun fact: Here is the kind of fact inside: an octopus has three hearts and blue blood.
Which fact surprised you most?
Then ask: How could you check that it is true?
If you could add one weird fact about yourself to the book, what would it be?
Then ask: Would people believe it?
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
A new edition comes out every year with the tallest, fastest, oldest and strangest records on Earth: the longest fingernails, the biggest pizza, the fastest animals, and kids who hold records too.
Why read it: It is impossible to read without wanting to break a record, and the short entries are perfect for kids who like to dip in and out.
Fun fact: The book began with an argument on a hunting trip in 1951 about which bird was the fastest in Europe. Nobody could find the answer in a book, so someone decided to make one.
Which record would you most like to break?
Then ask: How would you train for it?
Some records are amazing and some are just weird. What makes a record worth having?
Then ask: Would you do something silly to get into the book?
Books 9-year-old boys love
Timmy Failure
Stephan Pastis
Timmy runs a detective agency with his partner, a polar bear named Total. He is sure he is the greatest detective alive. He gets almost every case wrong, and the reader can see it when he cannot. Made into a Disney+ movie.
Why read it: It is funny because the reader is smarter than the narrator, and spotting Timmy's mistakes feels like solving the case yourself.
Fun fact: Stephan Pastis was a lawyer for about nine years before he quit to draw comics.
Timmy is always wrong but never doubts himself. Is that good or bad?
Then ask: When is it good to doubt yourself?
What did you notice that Timmy missed?
Then ask: Why do you think he missed it?
The Terrible Two
Mac Barnett and Jory John
Miles was the best prankster at his old school. At his new school, someone has already pulled a better prank than he ever did. The two pranksters go to war, then figure out they would be better as a team.
Why read it: The pranks are clever, not cruel, and kids get to plan along with the characters.
Fun fact: On their school tour, the authors pranked the audience: they walked in wearing lab coats and fake moustaches, pretending to be doctors giving a talk on nutrition.
What is the difference between a good prank and a mean one?
Then ask: Who decides if a prank went too far?
Why do Miles and Niles work better together than apart?
Then ask: Have you ever teamed up with someone you did not like at first?
Hank Zipzer
Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Hank is in fourth grade in New York City, full of ideas and in trouble with school, because reading and spelling are hard for him in a way nobody understands yet.
Why read it: Kids who struggle in school see a funny, smart hero like them, and kids who do not struggle learn what it is like.
Fun fact: Henry Winkler, the actor who played the Fonz on TV, is dyslexic and did not find out until he was an adult. Hank's school troubles are his own.
Hank's teachers think he is lazy. What are they missing?
Then ask: How would you explain Hank to them?
What is Hank great at that school does not grade?
Then ask: What is something you are great at that school does not grade?
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Tom Angleberger
Dwight is the weirdest kid in sixth grade, but the Yoda finger puppet he folded out of paper gives amazing advice. Tommy collects the evidence to figure out whether Origami Yoda is real.
Why read it: It is written like a case file with doodles, and it is about how the weird kid might be smarter than everyone.
Fun fact: Tom Angleberger is married to Cece Bell, who wrote El Deafo. Their books sit next to each other on a lot of kids' shelves.
Is the advice coming from Yoda or from Dwight?
Then ask: Why would Dwight need a puppet to say it?
Why do kids listen to a paper puppet more than to Dwight himself?
Then ask: Do people listen to you differently depending on how you say something?
Books 9-year-old girls love
Judy Moody
Megan McDonald
Judy is in third grade and her moods change by the hour. She has a pet Venus flytrap, a club called the Toad Pee Club and a little brother named Stink, who gets his own books.
Why read it: Judy has big feelings and big plans, and kids who are moody too find her funny and familiar.
Fun fact: Megan McDonald grew up the youngest of five sisters and has said: "Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody."
What puts Judy in a bad mood, and what gets her out of it?
Then ask: What works for you?
Is Stink a good little brother?
Then ask: What would Stink say about Judy?
The Baby-Sitters Club
Ann M. Martin, adapted by Raina Telgemeier
The classic series, told as graphic novels. Kristy has an idea: a club of friends who babysit for the families in town. Each book follows a different girl in the club and the trouble that comes with the job and with friendship.
Why read it: It is about friends running something together, and the comic format makes a long series easy to fall into.
Fun fact: The first four graphic novels were drawn by Raina Telgemeier, before she became famous for her own book Smile.
Kristy is the leader. Is she a good one?
Then ask: What would you change about how she runs the club?
Which girl in the club are you most like?
Then ask: What job would you take in the club?
Anna, Banana
Anica Mrose Rissi
Anna has a dog named Banana and a best friend she has known forever. In the first book, the best friend starts spending time with someone else, and Anna has to figure out what friendship means.
Why read it: It is about the friendship problems kids this age really have, told gently and with a funny dog in the middle.
Can you have a best friend and still have other friends?
Then ask: How would you feel if your best friend made a new friend?
How does Banana help Anna when people do not?
Then ask: What helps you when a friend lets you down?
The Penderwicks
Jeanne Birdsall
Winner of the National Book Award. Four sisters spend a summer in a cottage on a big estate, make friends with a lonely boy who lives there, and get in the way of his strict mother.
Why read it: It feels like an old-fashioned summer adventure, and each sister is so different that every reader picks a favorite.
Fun fact: Jeanne Birdsall did not start writing until she was 41, and The Penderwicks was her first book.
Which Penderwick sister would you want as your sister?
Then ask: Which one would you fight with?
Jeffrey's mother has plans for his life that he does not want. What should he do?
Then ask: Who should decide what a kid becomes?