What are your favorite childhood books? Do you have ones from your own childhood or from your children's childhood? Perhaps you love the classics like Charlotte's Web or something new like one of our favorites, Princess in Black. Or maybe you are looking at picture books or middle grade novels. Not matter what your favorites are or what you are looking to read today's book has suggestions for you. The book is 101 Books to Ready Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) by Bianca Schulze and illustrated by Samara Hardy. There is a giveaway at the end of this post too!
About the Book:
101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) Written by Bianca Schulze and Illustrated by Samara HardyAges: 4-12+ | 144 Pages | Publisher: Walter Foster Jr. (2025) | ISBN: 978-0760397763
Publisher’s Book Summary: Discover new books, document your favorites, learn fun facts about books and authors, and develop a lifelong reading habit.
101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) is the ultimate reading guide for kids ages 4 to 12+, packed with 101 kid-friendly book recommendations and interactive features to inspire young readers. This revised edition includes diverse voices and graphic novels and reflects current educational trends, making it a modern and inclusive reading guide for young readers today. From classics like Where the Wild Things Are, Beezus and Ramona, and The Phantom Tollbooth to newer favorites such as Big, New Kid, and Brown Girl Dreaming, this inspiring guide covers every stage of a young reader’s journey.
Designed as an engaging journal, this book allows you to document your reading journey by noting which books you’ve read, why you love them, and how you rate each one.
Each book entry includes:
- Brief description and quote: Provides insight into the book’s story, theme, and style.
- Engaging illustrations: Feature characters or key elements from each book.
- “Did you know?” facts: Fun tidbits about the book or author to spark curiosity.
- “What to read next?”: Recommendations to help you find more books you’ll love.
- Interactive rating and note space: A place for you to rate and write about your experience with each book.
Purchase Links:
About the Author:
Award-winning author Bianca Schulze has captivated young readers worldwide with her beloved picture books, including the international bestseller Don’t Wake the Dragon. As the founder and editor-in-chief of The Children’s Book Review, she has established herself as a trusted voice in children’s literature, championing literacy and quality storytelling for over a decade. As host of the popular The Growing Readers Podcast, Bianca connects authors, educators, and families, sharing her passion for books that inspire young minds. Originally from Sydney, Australia, she now creates, writes, and raises her three children with her husband near Boulder, Colorado.
For more information, check out:
- biancaschulze.com
- https://www.instagram.com/biancaschulzewriter/
- https://bsky.app/profile/tcbrbookreview.bsky.social
From Me:
This book is a list of books that all kids should read. They are divided into the categories: picture books, early readers, chapter books, illustrated novels, graphic novels, novels for growing readers and novels for tweens. The books range from classics to new multicultural books. There are authors you may have read like Beverly Cleary and Dr. Seuss as well as authors you may not have heard of yet like Juana Medina and Carole Lindstrom. Each book on the list is carefully thought out and placed there because it has a message of being brave, kind and making good choices. They remind us to remember the ones who came before us and dream of the amazing future that awaits you. The book also shares "did you knows?" about each book as well as a summary of the book, illustrations, book information like author, publisher, number of pages, genre, and a place to mark when it is read and to stars to rate it. It also shares recommendations of what to read next if you enjoyed the book.
The pages are colorful and relate to the books themselves. It has a variety of books in each group including many shared here. There are different topics and genres. At the end of the book there is an index of the books by genre. The table of contents has them listed by the categories shared above. The books range in topics from memoirs to fantasy. It includes beloved books like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
This book is the perfect gift for a young reader or a young child to encourage their reading. The list grows with the child and shares many amazing books for different ages. If this book is given to a child just beginning to read, it can follow them through until the tween years and suggest books they may not read otherwise. There are new books and classics. There are books I remember reading as a child (and loving) as well as books that I have reviewed here on Crafty Moms Share as they came out. I wish I had gotten this for Hazel when she was young. She loves reading and writing and would have loved this book to check off the ones she read as she read them and perhaps would have explored more genres and even more books! The list is wonderful and the ones on it that I have read I truly enjoyed! My favorite thing however is the "did you know?" facts about the books. I learned some really interesting things about books that Hazel and I have loved that I didn't know previously. This book is full of information and a list of some amazing books that everyone should read.
This book is also perfect for the classroom. I could see kids wondering what to read next and being able to look at the fun facts and story summaries to pick the next one. It would be an amazing gift for a classroom or for a teacher. The question I have is how many of the books have you read? I've read about half of them!
Giveaway:
101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition): Book Giveaway
