29 Best books for 5 year olds

From the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender comes a YA novel starring Avatar Kyoshi.

After years of searching for the next Avatar, the four nations have found peace with Avatar Yun–until Kyoshi, Yun’s friend and servant, demonstrates remarkable bending abilities herself. With the identity of the true Avatar at stake, Kyoshi and her fiery friend Rangi flee the Avatar mansion and find supporters in the daofei–outlaws living in the shadows of the Earth Kingdom. But while Kyoshi, Rangi, and their daofei friends face off against underworld rivals, those who seek to control the Avatar draw close.

This thrilling first installment maps Kyoshi’s journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice destined to become a legend in the world of Avatar.

Portland has a dragon problem.

Now genuinely a Spirit Knight, sixteen-year-old Claire wants to know everything about the job. Fate dumps a dragon on her and she only has more questions. She knows how much she needs training and wishes she could snap her fingers to learn everything at once.

Justin can answer Claire’s questions, but between his demanding young daughters, his sarcastic horse, and the recent loss of his own mentor, he’d rather just be a Knight. No one told him adopting an apprentice would devour all his free time and dredge up the past.

In this sequel to Girls Can’t Be Knights, Claire and Justin face dragons, ghosts, witches, echoes, and memories. Their survival and the fate of Portland may depend on Justin’s intellect. They’re doomed.

The beloved story of The Velveteen Rabbit, the stuffed animal made real by the love of a boy, has captured our imaginations for generations. In this audiobook edition, read by Jeff Bridges, re-experience the timeless tale of boundless love and the magical transformation in this childhood classic.

For nearly a century, this wondrous tale of unconditional love and nursery magic has charmed both children and adults alike as they begin to believe that a velveteen rabbit toy truly can become real. Perfect for young readers ages 1-7, this cherished tale of love and redemption will quickly become a family tradition.

This audiobook edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real:

• Is narrated by Academy Award winning actor, Jeff Bridges
• Is perfect for toddlers or children for story time
• Is the original story published in 1922 by author Margery Williams
• Makes a wonderful gift for Easter or holidays, baby showers, and birthdays

Create a family tradition with this wonderful volume and make memories your children will cherish for years. Charles Santore’s works has been widely exhibited in museums and celebrated with recognitions such as the prestigious Hamilton King Award, the Society of Illustrators Award of Excellence, and the Original Art 2000 Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators. He is best known for his luminous interpretations of classic children’s stories, including The Little Mermaid, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Snow White, and The Wizard of Oz.

Portland has a Knight problem

Now that the Spirit Knights have accepted sixteen-year-old Claire into their order, she just has to convince all its Knights she belongs. Forced into a test to prove her worth, she discovers more than anyone wants her to.

Meanwhile, Justin runs around playing janitor. He’s made some big messes, but cleaning them up puts him on a new path, one he never imagined his future could hold. All on Thanksgiving.

In this third installment of the Spirit Knights series, Claire thinks she knows what must be done to save herself and the world from the plague of ghosts the Spirit Knights have left behind.

If she’s wrong, there may be nothing left to save.

“Narrator Jennifer Ikeda’s pacing adds drama and intrigue to this twist on the classic Snow White story…listeners will enjoy this fresh take on a traditional tale that is filled with magic and strong female characters who must become allies rather than rivals.” — AudioFile Magazine

Breakout author Melissa Bashardoust delivers a feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairy tale.

Enchanting and empowering, this magical new audiobook is an updated version of the classic tale.

At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone–has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do–and who to be–to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything–unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

In Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust has given us exquisite displays of magic, complex mother-daughter relationships, and gloriously powerful women triumphing in a world that does not want them to be powerful. A gorgeous, feminist fairy tale.
–Traci Chee, New York Times bestselling author of The Reader

“Girls Made of Snow and Glass is like reading a particularly wonderful and vivid dream, complete with imaginative magic, delightful characters, and beautiful language. Melissa Bashardoust’s debut novel is everything a fairy tale should be.”
–Jodi Meadows, New York Times bestselling coauthor of My Lady Jane

The sun shines on Tom Sawyer. The idealized childhood of this fictional hero, based on Mark Twain’s own early life along the banks of the Mississippi, is filled with robust good humor and high-spirited adventures. Yet there is also an in-depth experience of the central South of the 1840s–its dialects, superstitions, and social values. While romping through fun-filled fantasy, Tom Sawyer shows how morally complicated real life can be.

This reading of Tom Sawyer is especially notable for the virtuoso performance of actor Patrick Fraley. Crafting thirty-six authentic “voices” to represent the wide range of Twain’s delightful characters, Fraley proves his storytelling mastery. Hear why this is one of the world’s best-known and best-loved books, appealing to all ages.

From New York Times bestselling author Amy Ewing (The Jewel) comes the exciting first book in a new fantasy duology. Rich, vivid world-building and ethereal magic combine in an epic tale that’s perfect for fans of Snow Like Ashes, These Broken Stars, or Magonia.

Sera Lighthaven has always felt as if she didn’t quite belong among her people, the Cerulean, who live in the City Above the Sky. She is curious about everything–especially the planet that her City is magically tethered to–and can’t stop questioning things. Sera has always longed for the day when the tether will finally break and the Cerulean can move to a new planet.

But when Sera is chosen as the sacrifice to break the tether, she feels betrayed by everything in which she’d been taught to trust. In order to save her City, Sera must end her own life.

But something goes wrong, and Sera survives, ending up on the planet below in a country called Kaolin. Sera has heard tales about the dangerous humans who live here, and she quickly learns that these dangers were not just stories.

Meanwhile, back in the City, all is not what it seems, and the life of every Cerulean may be in danger if Sera is not able to find a way home.

Little Peter Rabbit, ignoring his mother’s warnings, enters the garden of Mr. MacGregor for a snack. When he is spotted by the angry Mr. MacGregor, the chase is on. Before long, Peter loses his jacket and shoes and must also sneak past a cat in order to get back home. The first of Beatrix Potter’s 22 charmingly illustrated tales of animals in amusing situations, The Tale of Peter Rabbit has delighted children since 1902.

* Indie Next List Pick * Indie Bestseller *

Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation. In this edge-of-your-seat mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake, the truth is as hard to believe as it is to find.

Summer 1958. A gruesome killer plagues the Midwest, leaving behind a trail of bodies completely drained of blood.

Michael Jensen, an aspiring journalist whose father happens to be the town sheriff, never imagined that the Bloodless Murders would come to his backyard. Not until the night the Carlson family was found murdered in their home. Marie Catherine Hale, a diminutive fifteen-year-old, was discovered at the scene–covered in blood. She is the sole suspect in custody.

Michael didn’t think that he would be part of the investigation, but he is pulled in when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to. As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?

The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra–an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods–in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

Ten-year-old Sarah Crue arrives at Miss Minchin’s London boarding school arrayed like a princess. She wears velvet, lace and silk, carries a gorgeous life-like doll, and has a French maid. Charming and imaginative, she soon becomes the envy of the other girls. When tragedy suddenly takes away Sarah’s fine clothes and privileges, her schoolmates wait to see if she will give up. But, now living in the school’s dingy attic and toiling long hours for the demanding students who were once her friends, Sarah’s generous spirit remains untouched by the hardship and cruelty. Frances Hodgson Burnett earned a special place in children’s hearts with her wonderful books which include The Secret Garden. Since 1905, A Little Princess has captivated countless readers, and recently it has been made into a major motion picture. Now, through Leishman’s lyrical narration, Sarah and the other unforgettable characters of this delightful riches-to-rags tale speak to new generations.

This is Where it Ends, Hate List, and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock readers will appreciate this heartbreaking novel about living with your worst mistake, from New York Times bestselling author Barry Lyga.

Sebastian Cody did something horrible, something no one–not even Sebastian himself–can forgive. At the age of four, he accidentally shot and killed his infant sister with his father’s gun.

Now, ten years later, Sebastian has lived with the guilt and horror for his entire life. With his best friend away for the summer, Sebastian has only a new friend, Aneesa, to distract him from his darkest thoughts. But even this relationship cannot blunt the pain of his past. Because Sebastian knows exactly how to rectify his childhood crime and sanctify his past. It took a gun to get him into this.

Now he needs a gun to get out.

Unflinching and honest, Bang is the story of one boy and one moment in time that cannot be reclaimed, as true and as relevant as tomorrow’s headlines. “Fans of 13 Reasons Why will find a lot to like in Lyga’s latest.” — Entertainment Weekly

The breathless conclusion to the sparkling Paranormalcy trilogy from Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken

For fans of Teen Wolf, Buffy, and Supernatural, the Paranormalcy trilogy is a witty, fresh, and downright fun read that will capture your heart.

In this third book in the series, Evie has way too much on her to-do list. Paranormals are begging her to open a faerie gate so they can leave the human world. The Dark Queen is torturing humans and must be destroyed. Prom is coming up, too–and, oh, yeah, her shape-shifting boyfriend has been cursed to fall into an enchanted sleep whenever he and Evie are in the same room. Even Evie’s ex-boyfriend, the faerie Reth, can’t reverse the dark magic.

An epic battle is looming, and the choices Evie makes will determine the fate of the whole paranormal world–and her own life.

Carrie meets American Horror Story meets The Shining in this terrifying YA horror novel from the author of Tweak and Schizo.

Something’s not right in Beach Haven.

Jen Noonan’s father thinks a move to Harmony House is the key to salvation, but to everyone who has lived there before, it is a portal to pure horror.

After her alcoholic mother’s death, Jen’s father cracked. He dragged Jen to a dilapidated old manor on the shore of New Jersey to start their new lives–but Jen can tell that the place has an unhappy history. She can feel it the same way she can feel her anger flowing out of her, affecting the world in strange ways she can’t explain.

But Harmony House is more than just a creepy old estate. It’s got a chilling past–and the more Jen discovers its secrets, the more the house awakens. Visions of a strange boy who lived in the house long ago follow Jen wherever she goes, and her father’s already-fragile sanity disintegrates before her eyes. As the forces in the house join together to terrorize Jen, she must find a way to escape the past she didn’t know was haunting her–and the mysterious and terrible power she didn’t realize she had.

Twin sisters, Mercy and Hunter are witches, direct descendants of the Goode family, the founders of their town. After the murder of their mother at the hands of a foul demon, they have become the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds–ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and the darkest of creatures exist.

Mercy and Khenti are trapped in the Ancient Egyptian Underworld and need Hunter’s help to escape. But while Hunter searches for a way to save them, other evil threatens Goodeville. Amphitrite is still looming-and she wants vengeance against Hunter. With the gates rapidly weakening, Amphitrite lures out a deadly creature and sets it free on the residents of Goodeville. It will take everything in Mercy and Hunter’s power to stop the goddess and seal the gates once and for all.

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books.

American Horror Story meets the dark comedy of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as Cat searches for a way to escape her high school. A tale of family, love, tragedy, and masks–the ones others make for us, and the ones we make for ourselves. Katzenjammer will haunt fans of Chelsea Pitcher’s This Lie Will Kill You and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.

Cat lives in her high school. She never leaves, and for a long time her school has provided her with everything she needs. But now things are changing. The hallways contract and expand along with the school’s breathing, and the showers in the bathroom run a bloody red. Cat’s best friend is slowly turning into cardboard, and instead of a face, Cat has a cat mask made of her own hardened flesh.

Cat doesn’t remember why she is trapped in her school or why half of them–Cat included–are slowly transforming. Escaping has always been the one impossibility in her school’s upside-down world. But to save herself from the eventual self-destruction all the students face, Cat must find the way out. And to do that, she’ll have to remember what put her there in the first place.

Using chapters alternating between the past and the present, acclaimed author Francesca Zappia weaves a spine-tingling, suspenseful, and haunting story about tragedy and the power of memories. Fans of Marieke Nijkamp’s This Is Where It Ends and Karen McManus’s One of Us Is Lying will lose themselves in this novel–or maybe in the treacherous hallways of the school.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

This hilarious, fresh take on a classic vampire tale follows a pair of hundred-year-old teenage vampires who are turned mortal and must face the greatest nightmare of all–high school.

Charlie and her brother, Reg, have been vampires for… a very long time. For a century, they enjoyed the glitz and glamour of life as members of the wealthiest vampire clan. But now, after one careless mistake, they’ve been expelled from the vampire community and dumped in the middle of Nowhere, Iowa to live as mortals.

Suddenly Charlie has to deal with zits, tears, and–worst of all–high school. But things start to change when she and Reg find a group of friends, including the deliciously good-looking Dexter. And though Charlie would give anything to be vampire again, she begins to appreciate some of the new experiences that humanity brings too.

But nothing could make them forget the life they’ve left behind. When they’re offered a second shot at immortality, Charlie is desperate to seize it. It’ll just mean a total betrayal of all her new friends, who will have their minds wiped of their memories of her. She can handle that if it means she can live forever… right?

Don’t miss this unique, laugh-out-loud funny novel by acclaimed author Erin Jade Lange!

As ancient immortals are left reeling, a modern Athena and Hermes search the world for answers in Mortal Gods, the second Goddess War novel by Kendare Blake, acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood.

Ares, god of war, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She’s ready to wage a war of her own, and she’s never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she’ll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace.

Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate. The girl who kills gods. But all she wants is for the god she loved and lost to return to life. If she can’t have that, then the other gods will burn, starting with his murderer, Aphrodite.

The alliance between Cassandra and Athena is fragile. Cassandra suspects Athena lacks the will to truly kill her own family. And Athena fears that Cassandra’s hate will get them all killed.

The war takes them across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and Achilles, the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. As the struggle escalates, Athena and Cassandra must find a way to work together. Because if they can’t, fates far worse than death await.

Something wicked this way comes…

Twin sisters Mercy and Hunter are witches, direct descendants of the Goode family, the founders of their town. After the murder of their mother at the hands of a foul demon, they have become the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds–ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and the darkest of creatures exist.

Grief has taken a terrible toll on the twins. Rather than bringing them together, their sadness has torn them apart, driving Mercy to attempt to save the crumbling Gates without her twin and Hunter into the arms of a dangerous goddess. While Mercy looks for aid from Khenti, Guardian of the Egyptian Underworld, Hunter begins to realize the goddess she’s allied with is more monster than deity. She needs her sister’s help, but Mercy is beyond her reach on an adventure that could cost them everything, including their world.

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books

Discover the first book in a sparkling paranormal romance trilogy from Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken.

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through supernatural glamours.

She’s also about to find out that she may be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

For fans of Teen Wolf, Buffy, and Supernatural, this New York Times bestseller is a witty, fresh, and downright fun read that will capture your heart.

Summer school sucks.

It’s summer term at Mount Olympus Academy, and it’s definitely getting hot in here–even for a dragon-shifter like me.

My best friend is being held by the monsters. My crush, Val, just brought his fiancee back to campus with him. And my first mission was a big fat fail.

But there is a silver lining. His name is Nico, a one-eyed werewolf who’s been tortured by the monsters and has a major alpha thing going on.

His mother, though, is a real piece of work. Maddox Tralano wants more killing, more bloodshed, and less monsters in the world. Her searing, charismatic speeches have MOA students ready to follow her into battle.

The drumbeat of war is growing louder, and soon everyone will be forced to fight for their lives. Because when gods and monsters battle it out, there is no middle ground.

The Circle’s power
has lured her home. . . .

Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that’s controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she’s drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that’s both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants–even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.

The circle’s power has lured her home

Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that’s controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she’s drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that’s both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants–even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.

One kingdom. Three worlds. An all-new series packed with high-stakes adventures from bestselling Warriors author Erin Hunter, perfect for fans of Wings of Fire and Endling.

The pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom have never forgotten the great flood that ended the peaceful life they’d always known. But for three young creatures born that day, the flood marks not an end, but a beginning–the beginning of their struggles to find a place in very different worlds.

Leaf, raised in the sparse Northern Forest, works tirelessly to help her family find bamboo to eat; Rain, hot-tempered, refuses to accept a suspicious new leader in her Southern Forest community; and Ghost, clumsy and uncoordinated, worries he’ll never fit in with his hunter family in the mountains.

None of them know that the others are out there, but thanks to a mysterious tiger that’s been threatening the Kingdom, they will soon find each other–and fulfill a prophecy that had been made long before they were born.

This first book of a thrilling new animal adventure series from Erin Hunter is sure to enthrall readers of her other bestselling series. Fans will love having a new universe to immerse themselves in!

Caught in the struggle between good and evil . . .

Cassie has joined the most alluring–and deadly–in-crowd imaginable. But power comes with a price, and it’s more dangerous than she knows. Torn between the dueling desires of the two leaders of the Secret Grcle, she must ultimately choose between saving all of New Salem, and her own dangerous love for the bewitching Adam, which threatens to tear the circle apart. In the ultimate battle between good and evil, will Cassie’s supernatural powers be strong enough to lead the coven out of danger? Or will she foil prey to the dark forces within?

. . . will she sacrifice her love for the circle to survive?

One kingdom. Three worlds. Explore the secrets of the Bamboo Kingdom in the second installment of this thrilling new series from bestselling Warriors author Erin Hunter, perfect for fans of Wings of Fire and Endling.

For three pandas in the Bamboo Kingdom, secrets have changed everything. Rain, Ghost, and Leaf have only just discovered the truth about their families–but they don’t have all the facts. And while they attempt to piece together the puzzle of their pasts, a threat is growing ever stronger in their homeland–a liar masquerading as a leader.

Sunset, the so-called Dragon Speaker, has his own agenda, and the discovery of the triplets from an ancient prophecy will only get in his way. While Rain and Leaf struggle to agree on the next right moves, Ghost, struggling to adapt to panda life, falls under Sunset’s spell.

Separated, the three panda siblings are left without the information they need to take the traitorous Dragon Speaker down. But if they can find each other–and trust each other–they may be able to rally the pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom to their side.

A stunning middle grade fantasy about a girl who used to be a dragon and her adventure to save her new home–from Even the Darkest Stars author Heather Fawcett. Perfect for fans of the Nevermoor and His Dark Materials series.

Ember St. George is a dragon. At least she was before her adoptive father–a powerful but accident-prone Magician–turned her into a human girl to save her life.

Unfortunately, Ember’s growing tendency to burst into flames at certain temperatures–not to mention her invisible wings–is making it too dangerous for her to stay in London. The solution: ship Ember off to her aunt’s research station in frigid Antarctica.

Though eccentric Aunt Myra takes getting used to, Ember quickly feels at home in a land of ice storms, mischievous penguins, and twenty-four-hour nights. She even finds herself making friends with a girl genius called Nisha and a mysterious orphan named Moss.

Then she discovers that Antarctica is home to the Winterglass Hunt, a yearly tradition in which rare ice dragons are hunted for their jeweled scales. Furious, Ember decides to join the hunt to sabotage it from the inside.

But being an undercover dragon isn’t easy–especially among dragon hunters. Can a twelve-year-old fire dragon survive the dangers that come her way in the Antarctic wilderness and protect the ice dragons from extinction?

Ferals is the first book in a dark, action-packed trilogy that’s part The Graveyard Book, part Batman, and all high-octane adventure.

Blackstone was once a thriving metropolis. But that was before the Dark Summer–a wave of violence and crime that swept through the city eight years ago, orchestrated by the fearsome Spinning Man. Now the Spinning Man is on the move again, and a boy named Caw is about to be caught in his web.

Caw has never questioned his ability to communicate with crows. But as the threat of a new Dark Summer looms, Caw discovers the underground world of Blackstone’s ferals–those with the power to control animals. Caw is one of them. And to save his city, he must quickly master abilities he never knew he had . . . and prepare to defeat a darkness he never could have imagined.

Ferals #2: The Swarm Descends is the second book in a dark middle grade fantasy series that’s part Batman, part The Graveyard Book, and all page-turning adventure.

The sinister Spinning Man has been defeated–but a powerful new villain has risen from the shadows. The Mother of Flies has eyes everywhere, and she is searching for Caw. As the last survivor of a long line of crow ferals, Caw holds a crucial piece of Blackstone’s legacy–one the Mother of Flies will stop at nothing to find.

With his friend Lydia and his loyal crows by his side, Caw believes he can protect his city. But it will take more than crows to defeat this darkness….