Intro from Dad: My sons are voracious readers and are always finding new book series to read.  We have shared this list of recommendations with friends who have found it useful to help their kids find books they will like.  The books are listed in order from youngest to oldest so you can try and gauge the right level to start with.  Hopefully you find it useful as well.  (At the time of publishing, Connor is 9 and Declan is 11)

Dad Note 2: All links to Amazon generate affiliate revenue. If you want to help support my kids' reading habit, please consider buying!

Dad Note 3: If you want to stop buying lots of books, here's what to do. Your child needs a local library account, download the Libby app, and purchase a Kids Kindle reader. You can then check out the books digitally through Libby, read them on the app or push them to the Kindle for easy digital reading.

The Boys' Top Book Recommendations (in order of reading level)

Origami Yoda - Amazon

Last Kids on Earth - Amazon

How to Train Your Dragon - Amazon

Gregor the Overlander - Amazon

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life - Amazon

Funjungle - Amazon

Spy School - Amazon

Connor: Spy School is about a 6th grader named Ben who becomes a spy. One day, after middle school, Alexander Hale, a famous spy, is in his living room. He gives Ben a mysterious invitation to an elite spy academy for the CIA and tells him to pack his bag. Read my full review here.

Declan: In Spy School we meet Ben Ripley. In the middle of his day a spy shows up hoping to recruit him to a school for young spies. However there is something afoot as people keep commenting on his “Cryptography Skills”. He knows he doesn’t have any and tries to figure out what's going on.

Charlie Thorne - Amazon

Connor: Charlie Thorne is a twelve year old girl with the same IQ as Albert Einstein. She came up with an almost unhackable firewall, but left a tiny backdoor in case she ever needed it. She gave it to a big company, and they claimed it was theirs. Charlie got mad, went in through the back door, and took 40 million dollars. The only reason Charlie's parents ever loved her was her high IQ, and with the money, she could now run away. Read my full review here.

The Academy - Amazon

The Legend of Greg - Amazon

Edge of Extinction - Amazon

Declan: In the Edge of Extinction series we meet Sky, a young girl living underground with who she believes are the last of the human race after the dinosaur takeover. When she was young her dad tried to leave the compound taking supplies that supposedly jeopardized the survival of the human race. She learns that her dad left her to deliver important information to some of his friends that were working to help the human race but never made it. Read my full review here.

Percy Jackson - Amazon

Connor: Percy Jackson is an amazing book series about Greek mythology.

Young Percy has to guide his own way through the Greek gods wrath and 

solve their problems for them. Percy never got to meet his dad because his dad

Is one of the twelve Olympian Greek gods. I personally love this series as it involves mythology.

Declan: In the Percy Jackson series, we meet Percy, a young boy who is struggling with dyslexia and ADHD. Percy finds out that he’s a demigod and his father is Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and water. He goes to Camp Half Blood which is a magical camp on Long Island where demigods can live in peace protected from monsters. Read my full review here.

Heroes of Olympus - Amazon

Declan: The Heroes of Olympus book series is a continuation of the Percy Jackson book series. In Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson goes missing and a demigod by the name of Jason Grace appears at Camp Half-Blood. Meanwhile Percy appears at another demigod camp for Roman demigods. Then the two camps must learn to work together in order to stop the newest threat, The Giants and their primordial mother, Gaea, goddess of the earth. Read my full review here.

Connor: In Heroes of Olympus, the Greek demigods and the Roman demigods,

who are major rivals, have to work together to defeat Gaea, the most feared 

goddess of all time.

Trials of Apollo - Amazon

Declan: Trials of Apollo is a sequel series to Heroes of Olympus. After the war with the giants, Zeus sends Apollo down to earth as a mortal. Here he becomes a servant to Meg, a young girl who is a daughter of Demeter. He learns there are three ancient roman emperors who have been saving up resources and waiting for hundreds of years to attack. Read my full review here.

Magnus Chase - Amazon

Connor: In Magnus Chase, we meet Magnus Chase, a boy whose mom died when he was a young boy. On the night of the death, blue wolves burst into their apartment and Magnus’s mom told him to run. Just as he got to the fire escape, blue flames erupted in the room. Read my full review here.

Kane Chronicles - Amazon

Declan: The Kane chronicle is another great mythology story but this time it focuses on Egyptian mythology. Sadie and Carter Kane’s dad goes to a museum with them and summons several Egyptian gods. He dies in the process and Carter and Sadie discover secrets about their life they never knew before.

Charlie Hernandez - Amazon

Declan: In Charlie Hernandez we meet Charlie, who is currently having weird things happening to him. His parents get killed and one day later he starts growing horns. Later he grows feathers and even a lobster claw. He must team up with his friend violet to figure out what is happening to him and defeat the legendary La Cuca.

Bravelands - Amazon

Declan: In Bravelands we meet Fearless, a young lion, Thorn, a young baboon, and Sky, a young elephant. Fearless’s tribe is taken over and he has to go out to live with baboons. Meanwhile at the troop their leaders keep dying. Thorn finds out that it’s because an older baboon stinger has been killing them so he can become the leader. Read the rest of my review here.

39 Clues - Amazon

Explorer Academy - Amazon

Declan: We meet Cruz, a 12 year old boy living in Hawaii with his dad. He joins Explorer Academy, a school where students travel around the world on boats learning and helping innovate, save, and create.  Here he learns the fire that killed his Mom wasn’t accidental and instead was murdered by a company known as Nebula. They did this because his mom developed an incredible cell healing serum that would shut them out of business. Read my full review here.

Connor: Cruz is a 12 year old boy that lives with his dad in Kauai, Hawaii. Cruz’s mom made a world changing discovery but before she could tell anyone about it, she was murdered when Cruz was very young, leaving Cruz with a mission to travel around the world on Orion collecting cipher pieces with his friends. Read the rest of my review here

Hatchet - Amazon

Declan: In Hatchet Brian is going to visit his dad in Canada. While he is on the two person plane the pilot has a heart attack and dies. They crash land in the Canadian wilderness and Brian has to survive off the land. This book is great for anyone who likes adventure and excitement.

Joshua Dread - Amazon

The Queen's Thief - Amazon

Declan: In the first book of this series we meet Gen who is a thief stuck in jail who claims that he can steal anything. Because of this he meets with the Magus of the country he is in and is forced to go on a quest to steal Hamiathe's gift for the king of Sounis so that he can use it to force the queen of Eddis to marry him. So Gen goes on an adventure with the Magus, a soldier, and two of the Magus’ apprentices to steal the gift. Read the rest of my review here.

Artemis Fowl - Amazon

Fowl Twins - Amazon

Sal and Gabi - Amazon

Adventurers Guild - Amazon

Island of the Blue Dolphins - Amazon

5 Kingdoms - Amazon

Harry Potter - Amazon

Declan: Harry Potter is a classic. When kids dive into these books they’re entering a world of magic and wonder. In Harry Potter, Harry is a young wizard who gets enrolled in Hogwarts and finds out he is a famous wizard who survived a  killing curse by Lord Voldemort when he was a baby. When Harry comes to Hogwarts there is an evil plan afoot. This book is one of my favorites as it involves magic and excitement.

Connor: Harry Potter was a young boy when it happened. An evil wizard known as Lord Voldemort smashed down the Potter’s door and murdered the parents of Harry Potter. Miraculously, Harry survived the Killing Curse sent at him by Lord Voldemort for reasons we do not yet know. 9-10 years later, Harry is living at his aunt and uncle’s house completely unaware that he is a wizard. Read my full review here.

Skyborn - Amazon

Declan: In Skyborn we meet Ellie meadows, a low sparrow clanner who has dreams of joining the goldwings, an elite group of warriors who help protect the clans against Gargoyles. While doing a race to join the goldwigs she gets sabotaged and can’t make it. However she meets a boy named nox who promises to help her join the goldwings, but she finds out that he’s a thief trying to steal a magical stone.

Micheal Vey - Amazon

Fablehaven - Amazon

96 Miles - Amazon

Connor: Stew, John and their dad are the Lockwood family. One cool night in Nevada, while their dad is out of town, the power suddenly shuts and they get stuck in a MASSIVE blackout. No one realizes that this is a survival of the fittest situation. The nearest civilization is 96 miles away and they don’t have a car. Read the rest of my review here.

Dragonwatch - Amazon

City Spies - Amazon

Hardy Boys - Amazon

Ice Wolves - Amazon

Wilderlore - Amazon

Fireborn - Amazon

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane - Amazon

Story Thieves - Amazon

Arc of a Scythe

Declan: In the Arc of a Scythe series we are introduced to a world where humanity has conquered death and is ruled over by a perfect, benevolent AI that has been leading humanity to a paradise. Additionally, in order to control the population scythes must now kill people as their job, with set requirements on who they glean. We meet Rowan and Citra who both meet a scythe and end up becoming his apprentice. However, at that time the scythedom is becoming corrupt and scythes that formerly held their just values about gleaning solemnly and respectfully now turn them into parties and are losing their morals. Read the rest of my review here.

I am Number Four - Amazon

Land of Stories - Amazon

Rangers Apprentice - Amazon

Brotherband - Amazon

Half Upon a Time - Amazon

The Blackthorn Key - Amazon

Declan: In the Blackthorn Key we meet Christopher who is an orphan and an apprentice to master benedict blackthorn. He finds a plot to take out all the apothecaries in London and his master is killed. He must follow his master’s clues to figure out his greatest discoveries and avenge his master.

Keeper of the Lost Cities - Amazon

Declan: Keeper of The Lost Cities is a great series. Sophie Foster finds out she’s an elf, a secret race of people that have hidden their world from the humans. She also finds out she is a genetic experiment and has very strong abilities. She must team up with her friends to save the world from a secret organization that nobody knows anything about.

Connor: In Keeper of The Lost Cities, we meet Sophie Foster, a girl living with humans. One day, on a field trip for Sophie's school, a boy called Fitz claims that he is an elf and tells Sophie to follow him. Sophie learns that she is an elf too and lives in a world  of magic. Elves and ogres and goblins and dwarves and trolls and gnomes are real. Read my full review here.

Holes - Amazon

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Amazon

Eragon - Amazon

*Dad Warning: Book recommendations below definitely skew older given language and content.

Journey to the Center of the Earth - Amazon

Declan: In Journey to the Center of the Earth we meet Harry and his uncle. They discover an encoded slip of paper with instructions on how to travel to the center of the Earth. Harry figures out how to decode it and it leads them to Iceland. There they meet Hans, a guide who is willing to travel with them through Iceland into the depths of the earth. Read my full review here.

Ready Player 1 - Amazon

Renegade - Amazon

Maze Runner - Amazon

Mortality Doctrine - Amazon

The Martian - Amazon

*Double Dad Warning: This book and the one below are great for seeing how amazing and impactful science can be, as well as a lot of problem-solving.  But be aware there are a LOT of cuss words throughout.

Declan: In the Martian we meet Mark Watney, an astronaut who is stuck on Mars after his team had to do an emergency abort due to an intense sandstorm and a piece of debris went right through his bio monitors, causing his team to think he was dead. This caused them to leave him. This creates the conflict of the story that he is stuck on Mars with limited resources 5 million miles away from anyone who could help him. To read the rest of my report, click here.

Project Hail Mary - Amazon

Declan: In Project Hail Mary we meet Ryland Grace, a biologist who wakes up on a spacecraft with no idea who he is or what he’s doing there. He quickly finds out that he was sent to Tau Ceti, a star 9 light years away from the sun, to figure out how to stop the sun from dimming. To read the rest of my report, click here.

Connor: The sun's light is getting dimmer. Astronaut Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship in another solar system with no memories of his name or how he got there. As he starts to remember things, Grace realizes he is on a last minute attempt to save humanity from aliens called Astrophage. To read the rest of my report, click here.

Jurassic Park - Amazon

The Hunger Games - Amazon