There are a zillion great books in the world. Here are a few of my favorites, well known and unknown. Some of them are so old they’re out of print—books that as a kid I read until the covers fell off.  (You might be able to find a used copy.) Some of them are new discoveries. They’re just the tip of the reading iceberg.

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If you’re at least eight years old, try:

L. M. Boston:
The Children of Green Knowe
The Treasure of Green Knowe
An Enemy at Green Knowe
Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden
Christopher Paul Curtis: Bud, Not Buddy
Norman Dale: The Casket and the Sword
Edward Eager: Half Magic
Elizabeth Enright:
The Four-Story Mistake
Then There Were Five
Gone-Away Lake
Return to Gone-Away
Adam Gidwitz: A Tale Dark and Grimm
Elinor Lyon: Run Away Home
George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin
Barbara Park: Mick Harte Was Here
Kate Seredy:
The Good Master
The Singing Tree
Virginia Euwer Wolff: Bat 6
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If you’re a bit older, but not yet elderly, try:

Jane Gardam: The Hollow Land
Alan Garner: The Stone Book
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Tombs of Atuan
William Mayne:
A Year and a Day
Earthfasts
It
Rosemary Sucliff:
The Eagle of the Ninth
Warrior Scarlet
The Shield Ring
Virginia Euwer Wolff:
The Mozart Season
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If you’re really ancient, say thirteen or more, try:

Brock Cole: The Goats
Diana Wynne Jones: Fire and Hemlock
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Beginning Place
Margaret Mahy:
The Tricksters
The Catalogue of the Universe
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May you read and write amazing worlds!

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