Books Recommended by Kids for Kids

Are you longing to get your children as excited about Shakespeare as you are? There's a lot of books out there to introduce kids to the Bard. Here, Natasha, a 10-year old living in Oxfordshire, recommends some of her favourite retellings of Shakespeare stories.

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.

Everyone wants to get their kids reading, and a really gripping series is a great way of developing their inner bookworm. Izzy, a 10-year-old girl living in the UK, talks us through her favourite series for kids.

Zara, age 12, is an avid reader of philosophy books. Here she shares her favourite picks, and gives adults some tips on selecting the best books to get kids interested in philosophy.

In recent years there has been a steady flow of JRR Tolkien books published posthumously. If you liked The Lord of the Rings and are wondering what to read next, 16 year old Valentin guides you through some of his other favourite books set in the vast world that Tolkien created.

Long associated with Japanese popular culture, manga are now found in translation across the world. In North America, this dynamic form of visual narration is overtaking comics and graphic novels in popularity. Oscar, age 13, recommends his favourite manga for children and teenagers.

Fantasy novels, with their limitless scope for possibility, appeal to children with vivid imaginations. Here 14-year-old Zoe, who lives in the US and is a big fan of the genre, recommends her current favourites.

It's tricky finding history books for teenagers at an age when they are too old for children's books, but not yet ready to read long, weighty tomes with lots of footnotes. Alex, a UK-based history fan who previously chose books for us age 10, returns to Five Books to recommend his selection of the best history books for teenagers.

Alex, a 13-year-old boy living in Oxford, explains what Rick Riordan's books are about, why he finds them so mesmerizing, and which book you might want to start with if you're interested in reading them.

Young Adult science fiction extends far beyond the typical dystopian novels which immediately come to mind. Estelle Francis, a teenage author who recently published her first book, shares her favourite YA sci-fi reads.