Kid’s Book Gift Ideas (Ages 8-12)

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Trying to get your kids to read more? Not sure what to give your niece/nephew for their birthday? We all know how important reading is for kids, and books are an easy and fun gift to give in any situation. Thinking back on some of my own favorite books as a kid inspired me to make this handy list of quality chapter books for the young reader in your life.

For this blog post I’ll be focusing on the tricky 8-12 age range, where kids are too old for picture books, but still too young for the teen section. I tried to go a little deeper than the Harry Potter series or Charlotte’s Web, which most kids have probably already read or seen the movie.

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  • Any Book by Sharon Creech: Heartbeat, Ruby Holler, Chasing Red Bird, Love that Dog

Every book by Sharon Creech has its own colorful story and interesting characters, and each is so well written that it doesn’t matter which one you chose, you’re sure to be captivated by it. Love that Dog specifically also happens to be a great way to teach kids about poetry.

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  • Any Book by Andrew Clements: Frindle, A School Story, The Laundry News, Lunch Money

Every one of these books are about resourceful kids making changes and being proactive in their own lives.

Check out my new Children's Book:

The Temptation of the Golden Pedestal

It's a fun Fable story for ages 8 and up with pictures you can color.

coloring book

  Available as a FREE ebook download!

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  • Savvy – Ingrid Law

Every person in Mibs’ family inherits their own unique power, or a “savvy” when they turn 13, and Mibs’ birthday is only days away!

 

 

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  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick

Historical fiction about a boy named Hugo who discovers small robotic machine called and automaton, and how it connects with early French filmmaker Georges Méliès.

 

 

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  • So You Want to Be a Wizard – Diane Duane

This is the first book in the Young Wizard series, which follows Nita Callahan, who discovers a book titled “So You Want to Be a Wizard” in the library while hiding from bullies. She takes the wizard’s oath in the book and discovers that the book’s magic is real, and starts her journey as a wizard.

 

 

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  • Dragon Rider – Cornelia Funke

Ben the human boy explores the world on the back of a silver dragon named FireDrake and a brownie creature named sorrel, encountering many magical creatures on their journey to “The Rim of Heaven” mountain range.

  • Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

Yet another excellent fantasy novel by Corneila Funke about a magical storybook called “Inkheart” and what happens when the characters inside the book come out into our world.

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  • Cryptid Hunters – Roland Smith

Grace and Marty O’Hara are sent to live with their Uncle Travis Wolfe, who lives on his own private island after devoting his life to searching for “Cryptids”- or animlas "whose existence has not yet been proven scientifically."

 

 

 

And that's the end of my list. Thank you for viewing!

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Standout Books

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Standout books is an amazon resource for indie authors. From their marketing packages to their blog advice, they throw their best out there for all of us to benefit from. From this post, they tell us writers how to make your Anti-hero tantalizing and complex. For me and my main character Ella Bandita, the iciest anti-hero if you ever saw one, this post was especially helpful.

Readers love antiheroes. Complex, often morally questionable characters who make the choices heroes won’t or can’t, and open up exciting new ways of experiencing the world.

Choosing to write an antihero gives an author a lot of freedom for the plot to go anywhere they like, but it also presents unique challenges in characterization and structure.

So how do you write a great antihero, the kind that readers obsess over, even as they find themselves unable to root for the character’s success? It’s a little to do with presentation and a lot to do with author knowledge, but it’s also almost entirely dependent on your ability to understand that you’ll have to create from scratch some elements that heroic characters have automatically.

But, as ever, first things first…

Keep reading at StandOutBooks…