TOP 10 Best kids/tween fiction that you’ve never heard of.

1. LAND OF STORIES CHRIS COLFER

The Land of Stories series is about girl-boy twins Alex and Conner who get a magic fairytale book when visiting their grandmother. Alex is a smart, bookworm who does not fit in, whereas, Conner is a charming and confident boy. The two kids end up getting stuck inside the fairytale book in a world after the happily ever afters. The twins meet their favourite fairytale characters only to realise the drama between different characters. The books have adventure, comedy, and magic, that keeps everyone saying just one more page. These books are recommended for ages 8+ but it will always depend on the maturity of those reading it, even if you are not a kid and just want some light(ish) reading I would recommend it.

2. THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL SOMAN CHAINANI

The School for Good and Evil is a book series that follows two best friends Agatha and Sophie. Sophie is a vain and charming girl who dreams of going to this school that kidnaps boys and girls putting them into fairytales. Agatha is a social outcast who helps her mother with creating potions. Sophie is destined for the school for good and Agatha for evil so when they are kidnapped and Agatha is mistakenly sent to the school for good they try to escape but something more sinister is afoot in this school. Another take on fairy tales with themes of magic, looking beyond appearances and true love in friendships (and romance). This series changed the way I thought as a tween and again made me feel seen and gave me insight into girls who I felt were 'lesser than' for being feminine (I know that's bad but believe me I have grown thanks to this book).

3. BONE JEFF SMITH

The Bone Comics is about these three bone creatures that get kicked out of their home due to the ringleader’s (phoney bone) scams he was running. Fone Bone is our main protagonist, he somehow gets lost and meets humans for the first time getting ensnared in the humans world and a dark entity’s plot. This comic book series is great for al,l ages, especially for those who do not like traditional novels. These books have humour, adventure, action and a little bit of romance. I used to get these books from the library to read with/to my younger sister and it was a great novel for us considering we were absolute opposites. Although if you do any research on this the books have been challenged to be banned for violence, racism, and political viewpoints all of which are baseless which has kept the book on American shelves and shocked long-time fans when they heard of this. This comic series is recommended for ages 8+ but I’ve said before it all depends on a child’s personality and maturity. I would recommend this book to those who like humourous b-plots, well-thought-out plots and finding courage.

4. DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP RICK RIORDAN

Daughter of the Deep is a book, set in the modern era of Jules Vernes' 20 thousand league under the sea. This book is about 15-year-old Ana Dakkar and her adventure leading her class after their school gets sent into the ocean. Ana takes responsibility of her class while dealing with the grief of losing her elder brother in the landslide. Mysterious people start trying to kidnap Ana leading her and the class into a web of conspiracies that lead them to Captain Nemo’s submarine. Rick Riordan wrote the Percy Jackson series and his veteran author status is shown in the writing of this book. Daughter of the Deep is more of a tween book with some dark turns that children may find scary. The book is intensely immersive and will have one making time just to read a paragraph. If you’re thinking about buying a book for a 12+ year old this will be a big hit!

5. HOWLS MOVING CASTLE DIANA WYNNE JONES

Now you may be questioning why a movie is up here but you’d be mistaken, the studio ghibli film is based on French author Diana Jones's book of the same title. Diana Jones had Lewis Carol and JRR Tolkien as her professors when she did her degree in writing as if that’s not convincing enough. The book is about Sophie a plain Jane who is the eldest of three. Sophie’s father dies and the family becomes unable to provide taking the daughters out of school and sending one off to an apprenticeship and the other to be married, as Sophie and her stepmother care for their families hat shop. One day a rude customer comes and curses Sophie to be an old woman not wanting to upset her family Sophie runs away. This book is suitable for all ages and is an amazing read with themes of discoving yourself, friendship, and vanity. Howls moving castles is a humorous light-hearted story that I have read to my neice on several occasions much to her delight. My 52 year old mother recently read this as well and loved it.

6. Shakespeare for kids

I know, I know this is such a strange pick for kids and teens. My mother actually read a Shakespeare for kids book to my sister and I, and we loved it so much we started to act out the plays for our mother. Shakespeare for kids allows kids to feel so much more ‘adult’ and peicking an interest in the classics from and early age, if you are into that stuff. The books provide interesting and unique stories in a more family friendly way with teachings such as as taking charge of your life and not letting others influence you. Shakespeare was quite radical in his veiws as his comedies (which just meant they lived happily ever after) women have alot of agency. Shakespeare for kids is also really interesting the stories have drama, fights and crazy plot twists which engage children and adults. There’s a

7. PERCY JACKSON RICK RIORDAN

Yes! Rick Riordan is on this list twice! The Percy Jackson series has been loved by many and had 2 live action adaptations. In case you do not know its about a boy called Percy Jackson who finds out he is actually a Demi-god and has monsters hunting him. When Percy’s mother gets kidnapped he is sent on a quest to get her back and stop an all out war between the gods. This book was written for Riordan son who had just been diagnosed with ADHD and Dylexia to show that you are more than the challenges you face. This series is more recommended for tweens but AGAIN it depends in the young persons maturity and personality as this book does have some veiled allusions to domestic violence, child abuse and some scary scenes.

8. MADDY WEST AND THE TOUNGE TAKER BRIAN FALKNER

Maddy west is about a young girl who figures out that she can speak every languages in the world including dead languages. One day a historian asks her to translate some ancient scrolls and maddy become excited with this prospect. As people find out about Maddys’ abilities she makes enduring friends and dangerous enemies. This book was very good from what I can remember; I even dressed up as Maddy for school book day so i can assumed that I loved this book.

9. GRIMMS FAIRY TALES

GRIMMS fairy tales are an amazing collection of the original fairytales although sometimes they can get a bit dark. Based on the original books to warn children of really important things that children don’t learn or really grasp properly that could also inspire some great discussions with children. A lot of the time children don’t quite understand the violence read out loud to them, but just see the books as these great adventuress and bad guys getting what they deserve. In Cinderella her glass slipper is made for her no one else can wear it the sisters even start to cut off parts of their feet to fit into the shoe, one could discuss this with a child about how every one os unique and no matter how hard you try to cannot be someone else all you can try to be is you and its not worth removing parts of yourself to try be someone else who you think is/ or will be better than you.

10. WINGS OF FIRE TUI. T. SUTHERLAND

This book series is what got me into reading in the first place unfortunately i had started it when it first came out so i never actually finished this series (i also hated anything more than a trilogy). The books now comes in graphic novel form as well for those who don’t like big chunks of reading. These book centre around 5 dragons that are featured in a prophecy to stop a war that’s been happening in their dragon world. The book has come under some criticism as it does contain a fair bit of violence. Upon reflecting on this book for this list I relieved That I was way too young to be reading this book (i was in grade 2). I would recommend this series for tweens more than children which i recently did with my 12 year old cousin who ended up loving the series and making it way further then what i did.