Best Books for Kids

In addition to being fun fields to explore, engineering and technology can help children build their problem solving skills and make them think logically about design. Here, our Children’s Editor recommends engaging and attractive STEM books for 8-12 year olds on how things in the world around us work.

From gorgeous picture books to richly illustrated chapter books and novels for confident readers, our Children's Editor Tuva Kahrs handpicks the best new books for children (and adults) to enjoy over the summer of 2024.

It is hard for books to compete with TikTok and YouTube for children's attention, but a few popular series do manage. If you have children in your life who loved Percy Jackson, here are some suggestions to help you pick the next book series to enthral them, based on myths from around the world.

Nonfiction books for 9-12 year olds can be just as fun for adults as for kids, especially when they are beautifully illustrated. Here, our Children's Editor picks science books for 9-12 year olds that are not only informative, but also beautiful works of art.

From the USA to Germany to China, audiobooks are growing in popularity, especially with young people. AudioFile's Emily Connelly talks us through her selection of the five best audiobooks for children and teens in 2023.

What makes an illustrated book stand out? Ella Beech, the artist who has just completed a beautiful new edition of The Night Before Christmas for the Folio Society, talks us through some of her favourites.

The judges of the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize look for books that explain high quality science in an engaging and accessible way. Neuroscientist Usha Goswami, chair of the 2023 judging panel, explains why it is important to get children excited about science via books, and introduces us to the fabulous titles that made this year’s shortlist.

Every year Tuva Kahrs, our children's editor, keeps an eye out for the best kids' books as they're published, picking out books that are good enough to meet her rigorous standards. Here are the books, a mixture of novels and nonfiction, that have made her 2023 list.

Even as kids become old enough to read books without pictures, reading a graphic novel is a great way to relax or get a grasp of a complex subject (like quantum physics). 11 year old Harald, an avid reader, recommends some of the best ones he's read that other kids his age might also enjoy.

There is some fabulous historical fiction out there for 8-12 year olds, some of it old, some of it new. British novelist Catherine Johnson, author of a number of historical novels for kids and young adults, recommends some of the best—from short stories to epics and from straight historical novels to those with a strong dose of fantasy and magic.