30 Best Children’s Kindle Books on Kindle Unlimited

Katie Woo and Friends by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Laura Zarrin
REALISTIC
Short stories about cheerful, positive Katie, in these kindle books, we see all the things that Katie likes to do with her friends.

Pug Blasts Off by Kyla May
REALISTIC
Narrated in diary format by a lovable pug named Bub with plenty of illustrations and large-sized text, we learn that Bub is afraid of water but loves to craft just like his person, Bella. In fact, he’s going to help her invent the best craft project ever. Unfortunately, disaster strikes when a mischievous squirrel interferes. Bub must face his biggest fears in order to fix things for Bella. Luckily, he’s a brilliant problem solver!

The Last Firehawk: The Ember Stone by Katrina Charman, illustrated by Jeremy Norton
FANTASY
Tag is an owl in training to become an Owl of Valor. One day while playing tag with his squirrel friend, Skyla, Tag finds a golden egg that hatches into the last-ever Firehawk. Tag and friends must keep the Firehawk, Blaze, safe. Then they’ll quest to find the magical stone that may save their land from the Vulture and his army of tiger bats. This easy chapter book for 1st graders introduces kids to epic fantasy stories about good vs. evil.

The Fabled Stables Willa the Wisp by Jonathan Auxier, illustrated by Olga Demidova
FANTASY
Auggie, the only human, lives on an island of mythical creatures, but he’s lonely. When a new stall magically appears, Auggie enters and meets a Wisp hunted by ruthless magical poachers. It’s a darling start to a new chapter book series perfect for fantasy-loving readers.

Sofia Martinez My Vida Loca by Jacquline Jules (series)
REALISTIC
Perfecto! My Vida Loca is a warm-hearted beginning chapter book about the adventures of a spunky girl named Sofia — from her singing (that annoys everyone except abuela) to a cooking mishap of arroz con leche that her familia helps her fix. I love the bright pink text that indicates the Spanish words (maybe 1 or 2 a page). Illustrations are fun, capturing the emotions and action perfectamente.

Trapped in a Video Game by Dustin Brady, illustrated by Brady Jessee
SCI-FI
Gamers and non-gamers alike who love exciting and dangerous stories won’t want to miss this excellent series. Jesse’s friend gets an early release of a video game — and when they play it, the game sucks them inside. They’re literally trapped. Inside the game, they meet a classmate who has been missing for weeks, now a grown-up man in the game. Will there be any way out?

Anne of Green Gables (A Graphic Novel) adapted by Mariah Marsden, illustrated by Brenna Thummler
HISTORICAL FICTION (GRAPHIC NOVEL)
Having just watched this series on Netflix (“Anne with an E”) with my daughter, we liked this adaptation of orphan Anne’s life in Canada at Green Gables. This is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the series and maybe the stories selected in this graphic novel will inspire kids to read the original books by L.M. Montgomery.

Masterminds by Gordon Korman
SCI-FI
This is a fantastic book series that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Eli and his friends discover that their utopian town is all a big science experiment to determine if kids with bad genes, cloned from criminal masterminds, can be “good” when raised in the so-called right environment. The cloned kids know they can’t stay in the town anymore, but how can they escape when the minute they reach the border, they feel violent pain and guards quickly surround them? And if they do escape, what will they do next?

Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior by Cube Kid, illustrated by Saboten
SCIENCE FICTION
Runt is a 12-year-old with real problems. He doesn’t want to be a typical villager with the typical boring life. He wants to be a warrior like Steve. So he’s excited when his school finally agrees that the villagers might need warriors to fight back against the nightly attacks. When Steve loses everything and moves in with Runt’s family, Runt hopes that Steve will help with warrior training. Runt’s a relatable, mostly serious, character who just wants a different life — like most kids his age and is competing for a dream opportunity.

The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
FANTASY
Powerful! I don’t normally like books with animal characters, but this was epic and I didn’t really notice or care that the characters were rabbits. It felt epic and mythological — I highly recommend it!

Restart by Gordon Korman
REALISTIC
A head injury after a fall off the roof means Chase has no memory. But he starts to get clues about his personality when a strange girl dumps ice cream on his head, and his little sister is scared of him, and his two best friends think it’s funny to torment other kids and treat old people with disregard. Just what kind of person was he? Chase doesn’t think he likes what he’s learning about himself. Now he’ll have to decide what kind of person he wants to be going forward. Because he’s enjoying the film club and the new (“nerdy”) friends he’s made. It’s a thought-provoking novel that will challenge kids to consider how their behavior influences the way other people perceive them.

Number the Stars written by Lois Lowry
HISTORICAL FICTION
Lowry does an excellent job at writing about the Danish resistance during WWII in a way that isn’t too scary or inappropriate for kids. Annemarie’s best friend hides Annemarie’s Jewish family. But tensions are high as the Nazis look everywhere for Jews or Jewish sympathizers. It’s challenging to hide, knowing that every day you could be caught and sent to a death camp. Finally, the family escapes to Sweden, where they will be safe from the Nazi death camps.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
HISTORICAL FICTION
Sent to live with the mother that abandoned them, the sisters are in Oakland, California for the summer where they go to a Black Panther day camp and try to connect with their mother. Newbery Honor Book.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chinani
FANTASY
The School for Good and Evil trains kids to be either heroes or villains. When the next two children are forcefully taken to attend the school, Sophie, a beautiful (yet stuck-up) princess-type, can’t wait to go to the School for Good and tells the other girl, Agatha, a black-wearing, drab classmate, that Agatha is Evil. Only that’s not what happens. Sophie is put in the School for Evil while Agatha goes to the School for Good. Now Sophie spends all her time trying to get into the School for Evil and enlists Agatha’s help. Even if it means manipulation. Or worse. EXCELLENT!

Camp by Kayla Miller
REALISTIC (GRAPHIC NOVEL)
Both my daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed this meaningful graphic novel from the author of Click (a story we also loved). It’s not just about a summer camp experience but also about the challenges of friendship, particularly when you have a friend who is clingy, wants to be your only friend and is jealous of other people. That is hard for Olive! She wants to be Willow’s friend but she also likes other people. The story feels honest and relatable, as well as being a helpful road map to how you might handle your own friendships.

Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
FUNNY
A funny but poignant chapter book of middle-school angst and discovery! Unpopular Dwight can make origami Star Wars characters. When his puppet of Yoda comes to life, just like Yoda, the origami Yoda is wise and helpful to Dwight and his friends during the many trials of 6th grade.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
REALISTIC
Written in evocative yet very readable verse, follow a young girl from her home in Syria as she moves with her mother the United States. Jude’s journey is one of growing up, being brave, and discovery. Readers will see how Jude finds her way– relating other ESL students in their safe classroom space, finding new friends, getting her period and starting to wear a headscarf, and even performing in the school play. Her insights on life in America helps put us in her shoes of an immigrant experiencing this country for the first time.

Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt
REALISTIC
Genius story crafting and meaningful life lessons. When his grandfather’s butler arrives to help out 6th grade Carter’s family, sharing his passion for the game of Cricket, filling a void the family didn’t know they had. Butler gives Carter purpose, structure, and belonging. “Make good decisions and remember who you are,” he often reminds Carter and Carter’s sisters. Along this journey, Carter learns to do just what the title commands — pay attention to his life and to who loves him.

Wish by Barbara O’Connor
REALISTIC
Charlie Rose does not want to live with her aunt and uncle or make friends with the friendly neighbor boy named Howard because she wants to go back to her mom. She relies on superstition and wishes, yet as the story progresses, Charlie’s relatives show her love and kindness, and the wishes start to seem less meaningful. After some time, Charlie sees that her mother is never going to change and begins to soften into her new family…what she always wanted. It’s a powerful story about finding love and belonging.

Big Nate: Top Dog by Lincoln Peirce
FUNNY (GRAPHIC NOVEL)
If your kids like to laugh, these stories about Nate’s life will crack them up!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
SCIENCE FICTION
I’ve read this book so many times, I can’t count — many times with my classes as a read aloud — and every time it’s just as fantastic. (That doesn’t always happen with books.) A Wrinkle in Time is a remarkable, well-written adventure in space that deals with the overarching theme of good vs. evil. Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace, and friend, Calvin, set off to find her scientist father who disappeared while researching tesseracts.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
FANTASY
Sparrowhawk has too much power and accidentally unleashes a terrible shadow upon the world. In this growing up journey, he must master his words of power, tame a dragon, and almost die before he can restore the balance of good and evil. This story inspired a Studio Ghibli movie, too!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones
FANTASY
This is a beautifully written fantasy with incredible attention to setting, character development, and world-building. Sophie gets turned into an old woman. She hopes she can find a way to break the curse at Wizard Howl’s castle. But Howl puts her to work cleaning his house first. She watches Howl and discovers he’s under a spell, too. I love the movie, but this book gives us so many more rich details and I highly recommend it.

Artemis Fowl The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin
FANTASY (GRAPHIC NOVEL)
Also available as a full-text novel, this series is about an anti-hero villain, an evil genius kid named Artemis. He plots to steal the fairies gold which leads him to kidnap a fairy-cop and hold her for ransom. I found the stories very entertaining but my kids didn’t care for them.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
FANTASY
The best selling children’s book of all time, this is a MUST READ for many reasons: brilliant storytelling, a complex and entertaining plot, relatable characters, rich language, essential life lessons about friendship, magic, and bravery, and more. (See all my reasons for reading Harry Potter.) Harry Potter gets kids excited about reading, I can’t say enough good things about it!!

The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
FANTASY
The tone of this fantasy chapter book for kids is slightly different than Riordan’s other middle grade books since we’re seeing things from Apollo’s arrogant but bewildered perspective — which somehow Riordan makes appealing to readers. (A hard task, to be sure!) As the misadventures ensue (because life is hard when you have no godly powers anymore), Apollo begins to see himself as less than perfect. In this mythical fantasy book, kids will meet new demigods such as Demeter’s daughter, Meg, and encounter familiar favorites like Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods written by Rick Riordan, illustrated by John Rocco
NONFICTION
My kids can’t stop reading and rereading this enormous volume of Greek myths, retold Riordan style with laugh-out-loud writing. Remember all the hilarious chapter titles in Riordan’s Percy Jackson books? And the witty, sarcastic voice of Percy? Yup. All here. My youngest daughter’s favorite chapter title is Ares, the Manly Man’s Manly Man. My favorite chapter is: Hephaestus Makes Me a Golden Llama (Not Really, But He Totally Should). The writing is engaging, funny, and accurate. Love!

Warriors by Erin Hunter
ADVENTURE
Both my kids (and I) loved the Warriors cat books about a unique clan civilization of wild cats. It follows the story of a former house cat who joins ThunderClan. Not everyone accepts this former domestic cat. He’ll have to prove himself in order to help his clan fight the menacing ShadowClan. These are essential books for cat lovers.