Nine is often called the golden age of reading. Children can now read a full novel on their own, quickly, and get completely lost in it. Many of the books adults remember most fondly from childhood were read at nine.
The best gift is a book that pulls them in from the first page: an adventure, a mystery, a magical world or a funny, true-to-life story about school and friends. Do not worry about 'level'. A nine-year-old who loves a book will read above their level without noticing.
Every book here won or was honored by the Newbery Medal, the Carnegie Medal or another major children's book prize.
Winner1968
E. L. Konigsburg
Great for a dreamer
Claudia decides to run away from home, and she chooses the most elegant place she can think of: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She brings her little brother because he has money. They sleep in antique beds, bathe in the fountain and get caught up in the mystery of a statue that might be by Michelangelo. Every child's dream.
1968 Newbery Medal winner
Winner1999
Louis Sachar
Great for a kid who loves a clever plot
Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake, where there is no lake and the boys must dig a hole every day. The warden is looking for something, and it is tied to a curse on Stanley's family going back generations. Funny, clever and perfectly plotted.
1999 Newbery Medal winner
Winner2004
Kate DiCamillo
Great for a fairy tale lover
Despereaux is a tiny mouse with huge ears who loves music, stories and a human princess, which is not allowed. When the princess is kidnapped, he goes on a quest to save her. A fairy tale told directly to the reader, wonderful to read alone or aloud.
2004 Newbery Medal winner
Winner1972
Robert C. O'Brien
Great for animal adventure fans
A widowed field mouse needs to move her family before the farmer's plow comes, but her son is too sick to travel. She turns to the mysterious rats under the rosebush, who escaped from a laboratory where they were made super-intelligent. A classic adventure with real stakes.
1972 Newbery Medal winner
Winner2017
Kelly Barnhill
Great for a fantasy fan
Every year a town leaves a baby in the forest for the witch. The witch, Xan, is actually kind and carries the babies to loving families, until she accidentally feeds one moonlight and fills her with magic. A rich, warm fantasy about love and memory.
2017 Newbery Medal winner
Winner2020
Jerry Craft
Great for a reader who loves comics
Jordan loves drawing and wants to go to art school, but his parents send him to a fancy private school where he is one of the few kids of color. A funny, sharp graphic novel about fitting in, and the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal.
2020 Newbery Medal winner
Honor2015
Cece Bell
Great for a kid who feels different
Cece loses her hearing after an illness and starts school with a huge hearing aid strapped to her chest. Then she discovers it lets her hear her teacher anywhere in the school, even in the bathroom, and she becomes a secret superhero. A funny, honest graphic memoir.
2015 Newbery Medal Honor Book
Commended1997
J. K. Rowling
Great for starting a big series
Harry finds out on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard and leaves for Hogwarts. Commended by the Carnegie Medal jury in 1997, the year it came out. If a nine-year-old has not read it yet, it might be the best gift of the year.
1997 Carnegie Medal for Writing commended
Full-length novels with adventure, mystery, humor or magic, plus graphic novels. Classics like Holes and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler remain favorites.
The first book is a great fit for most nine-year-olds. The later books get darker and longer; many families take them one at a time.
Yes. They develop vocabulary, inference and stamina. New Kid won the Newbery Medal, the top prize in American children's literature.
See every award-winning book for ages 9 to 12