The Best Books for 10 to 12 Year Olds

By Edward, age 11

I have loved books since I was very little. I love reading because it’s exciting and introduces me to new worlds and places. I like to fire up my own imagination with the books I read. I like books that are filled with adventure and magic.

I read anywhere. My favourite place to read is my bed but I often don’t get that far because I get so caught up with what I’m reading that I forget to get into it.

The best books give you what I call ‘book buzz’. This is a feeling you get when you read an exceptionally good book and it’s immensely exciting. If a book has ‘book buzz’ and it has a particularly good ending, you get a feeling of loss which can make you feel happy and sad at the same time.

Here are my favourite books.

The How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell

From Viking trainee to resistance hero, Hiccup is a great character. I really like the suspense-filled dialogue and the plot will always keep you guessing.

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

This is currently my favourite book of all time. It tells of a young girl in London during the Blitz who goes away to boarding school. This doesn’t have a buzz for me – last time I read it, it left me in awe because it was such a good story with so many unexpected turnings. Deaths, strange relationships and assassins. Whatever next?

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis

Narnia is another world which can only be found if you’re not looking for it. In this world there are talking beasts like fauns, elephants and all manner of other creatures both mythical and real. The Narnia books gave me a huge book buzz when I finished them.

The Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling

This is one of my favourite reads because of its unique and engaging plot with its humorous twists and turns – akin to a roller coaster. I love the books so much I’ve read them all loads of times.

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

A story about a young Irish genius who plots to restore the family fortunes by kidnapping a fairy. Naturally, total Armageddon ensues. These books are completely addictive.

The Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan

This story is one of America’s greatest stories for children in my opinion. It has a buzz that I’ve only felt in very few other novels. It’s about a boy who discovers his father is Poseidon, God of the Sea so he’s a demigod and has special powers. Monsters are attracted to demigods so the books are about how he and his fellow demigods have to fight some of the most terrifying monsters from Greek Mythology like Medusa, the Minotaur and Medea.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien

The Baggins never go on adventures. Yet here is Bilbo Baggins stealing from the great dragon Smaug and going on extraordinary adventures with dwarves, goblins and elves. This is unputdownable!

The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke

Meggie’s father, Mo, is captured by Capricorn, a villain from out of a book. The story is completely unexpected and packed with cliffhangers.

The Once and Future King by T.H.White

From student to legend, White brings King Arthur to life more vividly than ever before.

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman

In the grand old college of Jordan in Oxford a wild girl called Lyra sets off on an adventure to the Northern Lights which ripple with magic and mystery far above in the Arctic sky. These books are exciting and adventurous. They are very philosophical and introduced me to a higher level of thinking which made me want to find out more about space and time. Lyra is not the kind of heroine you’re used to – she’s a wild girl who can’t be tamed.