Book List for Boys

After writing about how to encourage boys to love reading, I promised that I would share a book list for boys based on what has been popular for my sons and their friends. Since Christmas is coming up, this could also be a Christmas gift guide for boys on your list. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to give something other than toys. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

 Just a note: I am an Amazon affiliate and, at no extra cost to you, I may earn a commission if you decide to purchase through one of the following links.

Books for Babies and Toddlers

A few notes about these books:

Big Red Barn: After I borrowed it from the library and my eldest, who was 2 at the time, fell asleep while listening to the lyrical story, it has not only been a family favorite but a book that I gift to nearly all new parents.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: I found this gem at a used book store and, while I held fond memories of the story from when I was young, I wasn’t sure how it would go over. Turns out it is my toddler’s favorite story and sometimes the only way we can calm him down after a difficult nap wakeup.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Not much needs to be said about this classic book. Dare I say it has an almost cult-like following? But it’s still a winner and, in addition to the stuffed animals and various caterpillar toys, I learned recently that there’s a toddler app that is crazy adorable! One of the few apps where I actually purchased the full version.

Snuggle Puppy: I don’t actually own this one but a friend does. The love for this book can be clearly seen in this heartwarming and adorable video of her reading it to her daughter.

That’s Not My Tractor: If you haven’t yet hear of it, let me introduce you to the That’s Not My…” series. Every single one of these has been a hit. And we have several. As a bonus, if you know an Usborne rep, you can often support a WAHM by purchasing from her.

On the Night You Were Born: This is another that is often in my “new parent” gift package. It is about celebrating the uniqueness of your little one. Beautiful rhymes that make for a perfect bedtime or cuddle time story.

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site: The first time my boys heard these stories was at my parents. Unfortunately that meant it would have been overkill to purchase them for my own shelves as we live right across the yard from my parents and these books were special to their time together. But last Christmas my mom decided to give them to my sister’s boys, who live farther away, as a reminder of their sweet times with Opa and Oma. So now they’re back on my wishlist for my boys (hint hint, in case anyone reading this knows us and is wondering what to get!)

Little Blue Truck: Every time I take my kids to the library, this is the book my littlest ones grab. A cute story that you won’t mind reading over and over… and over and over.

The Wonky Donkey: If you haven’t seen the video that went viral a few years ago, you can watch as a Grandma reads Wonky Donkey. When you’ve finished drying your eyes after laughing at that video, you’ll see why this is not only a hit with the kids but with the parents too.

First 100 Trucks and Things That Go: Bright pictures of real vehicles and a soft cover that kids love to hold. What little boy wouldn’t adore this? Alas, this is another that my parents own so I don’t have it here. Thankfully they can flip through it whenever we go across the road.

Mommy Loves Her Baby/Daddy Loves His Baby: We used to read this two sided book every night with our older two. Then it got shelved for a few years. The younger two boys recently pulled it out and I have read it numerous times since then. This is out of print so you’d have to get a used copy, usually with library markings, but it is worth it times 1000! We add in our child’s names to make it every more special (“Mommy loves her Asher like the fishies love the seas”)

Eric Carle Box Set: Most people are familier with The Very Hungry Caterpiller but Eric Carle has so many other great books as well. No child’s library is complete without several of his titles.

MyM Books for Young Boys

Tacky the Penguin: A fun little diddy about a penguin who isn’t like all the others. He doesn’t march in time with the others but that’s okay because he’s still pretty awesome. My more active boys like to get up and copy his funny walk while they’re listening. Not all story times need to be calm! There are actually several Tacky books that are all super fun.

Curious George: I hope I don’t need to say anything about this curious and mischievous yet incredibly lucky monkey. Things just always seem to work out for him. 

Magic School Bus: There are various versions of these books but these older ones are our favorites. They are, unfortunately, out of print but you can often find them used. I bought about 20 of them at a garage sale and they have been loved so much that some of them are nearly laminated in packing tape from the amount of repairs I’ve made. The only one I would caution about it the dinosaurs book as there is a pretty graphic picture of one dinosaur eating another. My more sensitive children didn’t like that image. If you don’t have Netflix, the Magic School Bus DVD series of the older episodes are pretty awesome too (but this is a book list so… get the books!)

Clifford Collection: The puppy days series is cute for really young children but my middle kids like enjoy the classics more. 

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site: Dejavu? Yes, this is in the list twice. This version is not a board book but it glows in the dark. Perfect for bedtime stories for older children who no longer tear pages. 

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance: In spite of the fact that this book is about dinosaur bones coming out of the ground to dance all night (which sounds very creepy as I type it out) it has provided many moments of giggles for my boys. We actually live not to far from the Dinosaur Provincial Park and have visited the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum so this one holds a special place on our shelves. That and it is just plain fun to read!

The Jesus Storybook Bible: We have had a lot of children’s Bibles but this one is, by far, our favorite. It weaves the story from creation, to Jesus, to the new heaven and earth together in such a way that you the kids can finally understand the purpose of the old testament and see how God has worked through all of history. Many families get a copy of this Bible for each child as a keepsake. The movies aren’t full cartoon (more just moving images) but the boys love it anyway. Then add in the audio version for car trips and you’ve got the perfect Bible gift set.

See Inside Second World War: This lift the flap book first caught their interest because it had tanks. Then they learned to read the words beside and their love of history started. 

See Inside How Things Work: This series of lift the flap books from Usborne are just wonderful. This one about machines is sure to pique your boy’s interest as many boys would rather figure out the how things work than the why things work. 

First Big Book of How: This book by National Geoprahic has great pictures and lots of interesting little blurbs that will bring your kids on an exciting adventure as the expand their curiosity as well as reading skills. You hook them with the cool picutres and then they want to keep going as they learn how things work.

Big Book of Big Machines: This book has more cartoony pictures but the information it gives about the uses of different machines and how they work is more in depth than you would expect. As a farmer, I am always nervous about farm machinery facts writted by city people but their description of how a combine works was pretty impressive!

Book List Older Boys

Castle Diary: Information and a story about life in a medieval castle that your boy can keep coming back to and can lead to many other books in the medieval time period.

The Fun Knowledge Encyclopedia: Small bites to read and lots of variety and awesome pictures. The perfect book for a boy who doesn’t want to read. Draw them in with the pictures and they stick around for the education and reading practice.

Imagination Station: If you are familiar with Magic Treehouse you’ll understand the gist of these as they are a Christian version. I find they are written much better though. The series is about a couple of kids go back in time and learn about that period and they learn a life lesson. It is a great introduction to chapter books or makes an exciting but not scary bedtime read aloud.

Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armour: Boys usually like guns. And tanks. And swords. I managed to keep any weapon paraphernalia out of my house for quite a while but they still found sticks and made lego guns. So I bought this book. This book has some amazing pictures of historical artifacts and, even though they weren’t reading yet, my boys would flip through this book for ages. As they developed reading skills, they started to take in the facts and, at this point, my boys know way more about history (battles, culture, rise and fall of kingdoms etc) than I do. All because I hooked them with pictures of weapons. 

Diary of an 8-bit Warrior: Minecraft + graphics + intriguing character = the first chapter books my 8yo ever read. He started truly reading earlier this year and his 11yo brother loved these books so much that he figured he would give them a try. He jumped from barely reading to reading this whole series of chapter books. I wasn’t about to tell them they were too advanced for him. These were lent by a friends who’s son had very little interest in reading but loved these books. If your boy is into Minecraft, these are a sure winner. They look to be a bit on the younger end but even my husband enjoyed reading them aloud for bedtimes (so the 6 year old could hear the story his brothers raved about) so they can be fun for older kids as well.

Ralph S. Mouse: Another cute story about a mouse who drives a motorcycle. Clean and interesting enough to capture a boy’s attention. 

Virtual reality: This book comes with an app that allows children to really get into the topic, whether it be looking into space or peering underwater at ocean creatures. Younger kids will enjoy this as well but may need help and older kids will have a lot of fun with it.

A Pioneer Story: This is so much more than just a story about a pioneer family. It has activity ideas that will help your children connect more with pioneer times. It has life lessons. It can help them develop an appreciation for the advanced technological time we live in. And it can offer creative ideas for your children to get outsdie in the great outdoors. Don’t tell my kids but this but it will be under our tree because we’ve borrowed it from the library so many times it just doesn’t make sense not to have it on our own shelves.

A Way Through the Sea: A gentle introduction into the lives of children during WW2. We were gifted a copy by a friend who had them growing up but I believe they are currently out of print. I normally prefer my boys to have hard copies in hand but this was such a great series that I linked to the kindle version. We have a tablet with kindle and, as I was looking up this link, I learned that there are 8 books in the series, not 5. So I plan to get the rest of the series for my boys sometime soon.

The Chronicles of Narnia: No book list would be complete without this series. Some of the books (particularly The Silver Chair) are little more intence but most of the series is great for boys. And adults. I have to be honest and say that I bought these for myself and it was just a perk that the boys are enjoying them too. But with the action and adventure in them, who could blame them?

The Prince Warriors: These books look intimidating to a new reader but are a good enough story that they’ll plug through. They are fantasy but with an allegorical theme, similar to Chronicles of Narnia. The kids go into a fantasy world where they fight evil and earn their armour and weapons. Each piece of armour represents a character trait that they need to develop before they earn it. They are well written, the story is a page turner and it has a good ending. 

Dragon Keepers Chronicles Series: This is another fantasy series with good lessons. But this time it involves dragons. If your kids like How to Train a Dragon, they’ll love these as well. Each character gets more than one dragon in this series and they can harness the powers of each as required. The kids save villages and fight against the bad guy who is trying to get a dragon army to defeat the dragon keepers (sound familiar?). Another series with what could be seen as an allegorical theme, similar to Chronicle of Narnia. It was a pleasant surprise to find a series about dragons with themes that I feel good about introducing to my children. 

Wartime Farm: This is originally a BBC TV mini-series (which you can find on YouTube) that has been expanded on and turned into a book. It has a bit of history and a bit of homesteading-type stuff. The people live for a year as if they were in the 1940s. They eat according to rations at the time, plant and harvest according to agricultural methods, and live with only conveniences found during that time period. BBC has also done TV mini-series with matching books on Edwardian Farm, Tudor Monastary Farm, and Victorian Farm. We have watched all the series at least once and, after he read the books, my 11yo filled us in on so many more details and factoids that enhanced the show for us. 

Who Was Series: There are so many books in this series about a huge variety of famous people. There was also a show on Netflix that was full of silliness and songs but also nice facts (maybe it is still there?). This series looks like it is quite juvenile but I found the text in the books was a bit much for my younger ones. The 8yo and 11yo have borrowed them from the library and managed to glean quite a bit more information from them. Learning about real people is something that captures the attention of most boys. Usborne had a good youth level biography series as well (beautiful and hard cover with color picutres) but they are quite a bit more expensive than these. You can get a lot more people introduced to your boys with more affordable books.

I know there are an infinite amount of books out there and it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones are actually worth it. Some are worth borrowing from the library but there are certain books that are worth the investment to house on your own shelves to allow your child to pick them up time and time again. Books really are an investment in your child’s education and future. Even if all they want to read is fantasy or graphic novels, getting your boy used to reading is one of the best gifts you can give them!