Listed below are Co-Founder Ethan’s five favorite books in each book type category.
Board Books
- Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell)
- Eric Carle books
- Gossie series (Olivier Dunrea)
- Peek-a-Who (Nina Laden)
- Who Is Driving? (Leo TImmers)
Interactive Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Dandelion Magic (Darren Farrell)
- Don’t Push the Button (Bill Cotter)
- Press Here, and other books by Herve Tullet
- Stir Crack Whisk Bake (Maddie Frost)
- Tap the Magic Tree (Christie Matheson)
Picture Books
- Extra Yarn (Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen)
- King Hugo’s Huge Ego (Chris Van Dusen)
- My Lucky Day (and other books by Keiko Kazsa)
- Seven Silly Eaters (Mary Ann Hoberman)
- Tucky Jo and Little Heart (and other books by Patricia Polacco)
Learn to Read books
- Charlie & Mouse series (Laurel Snyder)
- Corey Tabor’s Fox series
- Elephant & Piggie books (Mo Willems)
- Frog and Toad series (Arnold Lobel)
- See the Cat: Three Stories about a Dog series (Davidd LaRochelle)
Easy Chapter Books
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl)
- Mac B., Kid Spy series (Mac Barnett)
- Mercy Watson series (Kate DiCamillo)
- My Father’s Dragon series (Ruth Stiles Gannett)
- The Chocolate Touch (Patrick Catling)
Middle Grade Chapter Books
- Cinder (Marissa Meyer)
- Percy Jackson series (Rick Riordan)
- Spy School books (Stuart Gibbs)
- The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart)
- The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)
Teen/Young Adult Fiction
- I Must Betray You (Ruta Sepetys)
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Alexie Sherman)
- The Stormlight Archives (and every single other Brandon Sanderson book)
- Theft of Swords trilogy (Michael Sullivan)
- 11/22/63: A Novel (Stephen King)
Nonfiction Chapter books
- All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team (Christina Soontornvat)
- I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives (Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda)
- Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Daniel James Brown)
- Its Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Trevor Noah)
- Shoe Dog (Phil Knight)
Graphic Novels
- Amulet series (Kazu Kibuishi )
- Bone series (Jeff Smith)
- New Kid (Jerry Craft)
- Nimona (ND Stevenson)
- The Magic Fish (Trung Le Nguyen)
Poetry
- For Every One (Jason Reynolds)
- Jon Scieszka’s poetry picture books (Science Verse, Math Curse)
- Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems (Marilyn Singer)
- Out of Wonder: Celebrating Poets and Poetry (Kwame Alexander)
- You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You books (Mary Ann Hoberman, Michael Emberley)
Informational Text
- Aston & Long’s Nature Books series
- Butt or Face?: A Hilarious Animal Guessing Game Book for Kids (Kari Lavelle)
- Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots (Michael Rex)
- Steve Jenkins picture books
- Who Would Win books (Jerry Pallotta)
Wordless picture books
- Bluebird (Bob Staake)
- Chalk (Bill Thomson)
- Journey trilogy (Aaron Becker)
- The Farmer and the Clown trilogy (Marla Frazee)
- The Flower Man(Mark Ludy)
