From picture books to bell hooks, some reading inspiration for every age.

There’s no such thing as age-appropriate books because there’s no such thing as age-inappropriate books, unless you’re planning to give your four-year-old nephew a copy of Anna Karenina (although, like Thomas The Tank Engine it does have an iconic train scene). My feeling is, as soon as you’re old enough to read independently, you should have total freedom to read whatever you like, even if it’s so far above your head it gives you severe neck strain. In the same vein, you’re never too old to revisit a beloved childhood classic. Anastasia Krupnik is just as funny in your late 30s as it was at age 10. But if you’re stuck in a literary rut, or looking for Christmas gift ideas, here is a year-by-year guide to some of the literary greats. 

Age 0: A book to make you look

When it comes to babies, you want to keep things simple and if possible, physically indestructible. Many people recommend “first focus” black and white books for children under 6 months old, because the high contrast supposedly helps develop their eyesight. Sadly, most of these books are unconscionably hideous. My favourite new go-to baby book is Gavin Bishop’s beautiful bilingual Titiro/Look. Simple colourful images of familiar objects on thick cardboard pages. Teddy bears. Cats. Faces. Dinosaurs. Exactly what the paediatrician ordered.

Age 1: A book you can repeat

I have given The Noisy Book to every baby I have ever known, and so far it has a 100% success rate. This book is to babies what The Matrix was to 16-year-old boys in 1999. The concept is simple: pictures of things, accompanied by the noises they make. This book is contagiously fun to read aloud and has plenty of bizarre French jokes (the power outlet says NO! The snail doesn’t say anything – he just waves his elegant feelers). Reading this book again (and again and again) has taught me if kids love anything, it’s any opportunity to honk like a trumpet. Also available in te reo.

Age 2: A book that rhymes

Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard / Mother Hubbard down the cellar, I spy Cinderella.

Start as you mean to go on, with a few good classics. No library is complete without the easy rhyme and delicious fairytale clutter of Allan and Janet Ahlberg’s Each Peach Pear Plum. You can read this book a thousand times (the recommended daily dose) and never get bored. There’s always something new to spot in the whimsical cottagecore illustrations.

Age 3: A book with a beginning, a middle and an end

Three is the perfect age for a good picture book. There are so many great contenders in this category it’s hard to single just one out. Some favourites include I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs, Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pieńkowski, Dazzlehands by Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan… but my absolute favourite is Pokko and The Drum by Matthew Forsythe, about Pokko the frog, who lives in a mushroom house, and whose parents have made the grave mistake of giving her a drum.

Age 4: A book you can talk back to 

It’s never too early to begin discussing the big questions in life, and Would You Rather by John Burningham is the best of the best. Would you rather an elephant drank your bathwater, an eagle stole your dinner, a pig tried on your clothes or an elephant slept in your bed? Interactive picture books are a great way to engage kids who are bored of listening quietly. Much to consider, for adults and kids alike. 

Age 5: A book with loads of stuff in it 

Richard Scarry knows what kids want, and it’s a crocodile who drives a garbage truck or a pig who cuts hair. Whenever someone asks me for a recommendation for a five-year-old, I always choose a book with plenty of stuff in it. There’s nothing kids of a certain age like better than illustrations bursting at the seams with detail. Richard Scarry’s Busytown books are a great gateway to independent reading. Even if your kids can’t quite read, a picture is worth a thousand words, which surely means a thousand pictures are worth a million words. Now that’s bang for your buck. Another great option is the classic Need A House? Call Ms Mouse! about an accomplished rodent architect. Kevin McCloud eat your heart out.

Age 6: A book that pops 

Six years old is a literary netherworld – halfway between the comfort of picture books and trembling on the threshold of junior fiction. Learning to read is a slog, and it’s not unusual for books to (temporarily) lose their magic. And yet being six has some advantages. You are finally responsible and dextrous enough to be trusted with delicate flaps and levers. So why not throw aside Fun With Phonics and seek out something truly magical? The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Robert Sabuda is a masterpiece of engineering. There is a spinning tornado. There are emerald green spectacles. There are pop-ups within pop-ups within pop-ups. And if The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not your style, Sabuda has equally exciting nonfiction pop-up books about prehistoric sharks and dinosaurs. For haunted house enthusiasts, you can’t go wrong with Clotilde Perrin.

Age 7: A book to last a lifetime

While the Moomintroll books are probably too advanced for independent reading, these enchanting philosophical classics about a family of troll-like creatures in Finland make a perfect read-aloud. I still re-read passages from these books, and never fail to be delighted and moved. If Finnish trolls exploring abandoned floating theatres or taking up residence in mysterious lighthouses aren’t your style, you could substitute for another classic, like Winnie the Pooh or Roald Dahl. If you’re interested in exploring the world of the Moomins, my advice is to ignore the series chronology – start with Tales from Moominvalley and go from there.

Age 8: A book to keep you up past bedtime

Every so often, a perfect book shimmers into existence. A robot awakes on a strange island, not knowing who she is or what she’s doing there. I can’t remember the last book I had so much success recommending a book to young readers. The text is simple but sophisticated. The Wild Robot has adventure. It has existentialism. It has a blockbuster DreamWorks adaptation. And best of all, it has sequels. 

Age 9: A book that asks the big questions

There’s so much exciting non-fiction for kids out there. Encyclopedias are making a comeback, and there’s a book on literally every subject under the sun. Cross-sections of castles. Cloudspotting. Architecture from the perspective of pigeons. One of my personal favourites is The Observologist by Giselle Clarkson. This is a perfect gift for a young person passionate about the natural world. If philosophy is more your forte, try Big Ideas For Curious Minds. For aspiring engineers, pick up a copy of The Way Things Work. 

Age 10: A book that is a doorway 

Ten is the perfect age to get swept away by a work of fantasy. For those wanting a gentle read, you can’t go wrong with Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures, Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor or Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. For my money, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is the greatest children’s series ever written, although 10 might be too young for some readers. But there’s no reason why you can’t give it a crack!

Age 11: A book to leave you guessing 

There’s nothing like a good mystery, to get those pages turning. For a perfectly executed mystery/comedy set in a juvenile detention summer camp, try Holes by Louis Sachar. For a spine-chilling ghost detective series, try the Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud (caution advised for the faint at heart.) For a heartwarming Wrinkle in Time homage set in 1970’s New York, try When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. And for an all-girls boarding school at the turn of the twentieth century, check out Robin Stevens’s Murder Most Unladylike series.

Age 12: A book with pictures 

With the first half of their formal education done and dusted, kids deserve a treat. There’s nothing more exciting than discovering a great comic or graphic novel, and finding a good contender has never been easier. There’s a comic on almost every topic. The Babysitters Club. The sinking of the Titanic. Dragons. Works of classic literature. Dragons. The history of human evolution. Dragons. While Gary Larson’s Far Side isn’t exactly marketed as children’s literature, I’ve yet to meet a 12-year-old who can’t appreciate “cow tools”.

Age 13: A book to break your heart (and then mend it again)

Something mysterious seems to happen between the ages of 10-13, when young readers develop a real hankering for hardship and tragedy. Wars. Death. Discrimination. Miscellaneous interpersonal suffering. Perhaps the most moving book in this category is The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, about a brother and sister, who escape their abusive mother and go to live with an elderly spinster in the British countryside during the Blitz. 

Age 14: A book to forever calcify your sense of humour

Frankly speaking, the young adult section is a bit of a clusterfuck. This is hardly surprising, considering most of the people who buy and consume young adult books are horny women in their 30s. The sooner kids find a way branch out into the adult section, the better, and 14 is the perfect age for leaping the gap. Getting stuck into someone like Terry Pratchett or PG Wodehouse will make the transition to the adult section thrilling and painless, and Agatha Christie is another great escape hatch. 

Age 15: A book to rule them all

Reading the entirety of The Lord of The Rings at age 15 is a rite of passage. I don’t make the rules. 

Age 16: A book to conspicuously read on public transport 

Some people might say save the difficult books for your 20s. But in my experience, nobody is more passionate about Crime and Punishment or Moby Dick than a precocious 16-year-old encountering the literary canon for the first time. I read all of Gormenghast as a teenager, a feat I would never have been patient enough for in my 20s. Sixteen is the perfect age to grapple with something that most middle-aged university-educated professionals couldn’t make it through the first chapter of.

Age 17: A book to memorise

Another great liminal age, standing upon the brink of the world, heart ablaze. Why not invest in a good book of poetry, that will galvanise the heart, and prepare teenage readers for the beauty and terror of the world to come?

Age 18: A book to piss you off

The world isn’t fair. Young people know this best of all. At 18, there’s nothing like a book to instil a sense of righteous anger, solidarity and political agency in our youngest voters.

Age 19: A book that meets you where you are

Whether you are struggling through first-year biology lectures, taking an unexpectedly tedious gap year, or having your heart obliterated by a handsome linguistics student with commitment issues, 19 is a great age to read an exceptional book about young adulthood.

Age 20: A book to haunt you 

Just trust me on this one.

Age 21: A book you weren’t expecting 

It’s never too early to challenge your own taste – 21 is a great time to pick up a classic you’d never normally choose to read. If you’re a die-hard Austen fan, why not try a little Steinbeck? Don’t care for ghost stories? Give Toni Morrison a shot. Never read Jane Eyre? No problem. Why not start with Jean Rhys and work backwards?

Age 22: A book to feel at peace in  

Wishing you could wind back the clock and return to the halcyon days of childhood? I can’t think of a more perfect book than cult classic Naive Super by Erlend Loe, about a young man in the throes of an existential crisis, who finds peace by purchasing a red rubber ball and sending an extraordinary amount of faxes.

Age 23: A book to explode your mind

Had enough reality to last you a lifetime? Why not get stuck into a mind-melting, genre-bending book that takes you far beyond the scope of drab bildungsromans and TikTok bestsellers, and leaves you breathing in the spore-filled air of an undiscovered world? It’s impossible to go wrong with George Saunders’ Tenth of December. 

Age 24: A book nobody else has ever heard of

Is there any better feeling at 24 than saying, “Oh this? It’s a new novella from a small Canadian press. They only publish three books a year. The paper is made from recycled WW2 parachute silk.” Anne Carson may not meet the threshold for “obscure” but there’s nothing better than discovering a new author none of your friends or relatives have had a chance to spoil. For a slapstick comedy about Richard Dawkins getting lost in the snow on the way to deliver a guest lecture, try Justin Rhodes. For a peculiar suicide plague set in a small British town, try Barbara Comyns. For an unremittingly bleak but surprisingly beautiful French book grappling with suicide, try Edouard Leve. And for the greatest living contemporary poet and lover of volcanoes, you can’t go past Anne Carson.

Age 25: A book for your prefrontal cortex

Congratulations! At 25, your frontal lobe is almost fully developed. Now that it’s too late to do anything useful about it, you might as well have a peek under the hood. Sapolsky’s book on behavioural biology is not only deeply fascinating and well-written but is frankly a better self-help book than any self-help book I’ve ever read.

Age 26: A book to take the edge off

I wish I could erase this book from my memory so I could read it over again. A good reminder that sometimes the best writing feels like a long phone conversation with a slightly deranged and possibly drunk friend.

Age 27: A book to get you out of the house

Your early 20s are an important time for navel-gazing. Your late 20s should be all about expanding your horizons, even if you’re only planning to go as far as the corner shop. If you’ve been stuck inside with a book for the last 27 years, it’s time to get a little fresh air.

Age 28: A book to teach you how to cook 

The bad news is that 28 is a time of growing existential dread. The good news is you’re probably old enough to buy some halfway-decent cooking oil. Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat not only has plenty of excellent recipes to impress inlaws and dinner dates but Nosrat demystifies the art of cooking by grounding you in the essentials. Life is too short to eat baked beans on toast every night.

Age 29: A book to teach you how to love

By age 29 you probably have a few failed relationships under your belt. bell hooks’ beautiful meditation on love is a great refresher for the romantically challenged.

Age 30: A book for the years to come 

There’s nothing more daunting than a milestone birthday, especially 30, the age at which everyone expects you to finally get your shit together. Nothing can ever prepare you for the indignities and joys of the future, but you can always take courage in the hard-won wisdom of those who have been there and done that. Buy Hilton Als, Talia Marshall or Helen Garner, if you’re in need of a little second-hand courage.

Stay tuned for part two: age 30 to the grave.