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Books for Tweens (Ages 8-13, Grade Levels 3-7): 

The following books listed explore Christian values, important life lessons and historical events, distinguish between virtues/vices, cultural differences, and teach the importance of altruism and benevolence. Books that include references to/or practices of the Catholic faith and Catholic values are in bold. 

Please note that not all of the books may be age-appropriate for some children. GCRC does not take responsibility for viewers’ experience and satisfaction while reading the books/literary works listed. Parents and legal guardians are responsible for deciding whether the following books/literary works are appropriate for their minors.

Books for Tween Boys & Girls: 

A Book Of Angels: Stories Of Angels In The Bible by Marigold Hunt (2004) 

A Single Day…Or Not: An Ancient Irish Legend by Susan Peek (2022)

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (2001)

A Soldier Surrenders: The Conversion of Saint Camillus de Lellis by Susan Peek (2015)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964)

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (1942)

Adventures of St. Paul by Oldrich-Selucky 

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard and Mary Beth Owens (1996)

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman (1954)

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea (2011)

Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland (1999)

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977)

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (1940)

Canadian Summer (The Mitchells Series) by Hilda van Stockum (1948) (Book II)

Captain Bayley’s Heir by G.A. Henty (2002)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (1955)

Citadel of God: A Novel of Saint Benedict by Louis de Wohl (1994)

Cleared for Action: Four Tales of the Sea by Stephen W. Meader (1940)

Crispin: At the Edge of the World by AVI (Book II)

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by AVI (Book I)

Crispin: The End of Time by AVI (Book III)

Crusader King: A Novel of Baldwin IV and the Crusades by Susan Peek (2004)

David of Jerusalem: A Novel by Louis de Wohl by Louis de Wohl (1963)

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (1983)

Defenders of Christendom by James Fitzhenry (2015)

Dorothy’s Double by G.A. Henty (1894)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier (1954)

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath (2001) 

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements (2009)

Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton (2003) (11+) 

Fingal’s Quest by Madeleine A. Polland (1961) 

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (2008)

Friendly Gables (The Mitchells Series) by Hilda van Stockum (1960) (Book III) 

Friends in High Places: The Boy Who Knew by Corinna Turner (2020)

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (1967)

Ghost by Jason Reynolds (2016)

Holes by Louis Sachar (1998)

How’s Inky? by Sam Campbell (1943)

If All the Swords in England: A Story of Thomas Becket by Barbara Willard (2000)

In the Heart of the Rockies: A Story of Adventure in Colorado by G.A. Henty (1895)

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (1960)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1943)

King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry 

Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune (1919) 

Lay Siege to Heaven: A Novel about Saint Catherine of Sienna by Louis de Wohl (1961)

Le Morte d’Arthur: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Thomas Malory (1485)

Life of Our Lord for Children by Marigold Hunt (2003)

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody (1950)

Loser by Jerry Spinelli (2002)

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (1990)

My Path to Heaven: A Young Person’s Guide to the Faith by Geoffrey Bliss (2005)

My Side of the Mountain Trilogy by Jean Craighead George 

No Talking by Andrew Clements (2009)

North to Freedom by Ann Holm (1990)

Of Bells and Cells: The World of Monks, Friars, Sisters and Nuns by M. Cristina Borges (2014)

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (1958)

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (2008) 

Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (1959) 

Outlaws of Ravenhurst by M. Imelda Wallace (1923)

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (1944)

Redskin and the Cowboy by G.A. Henty (2014)

Rules by Cynthia Lord (2006)

Saint Helena and the True Cross by Louis de Wohl (2012)

Saint Joan: The Girl Soldier by Louis de Wohl (2001)

Saint Magnus: The Last Viking by Susan Peek (2015)

Set All Afire: A Novel of St. Francis Xavier by Louis de Wohl (1953)

Shadow Hawk by Andre Norton (1960)

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1991)

Sounder by William H. Armstrong (1969)

St. Patrick’s Summer: A Children’s Adventure Catechism by Marigold Hunt (2004)

St. Thomas More of London (Vision Books) by Elizabeth Ince (2003)

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (2010)

Taken by the Enemy by Oliver Optic (1883)

The Book of Saints and Heroes: Voyage Classics by Andrew Lang and Lenora Lang (2022)

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (1961)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 

The Cottage at Bantry Bay by Hilda van Stockum (1938)

The Crystal Snowstorm by Meriol Trevor (2015)

The Blood-Red Crescent by Henry Garnett (2007)

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli (1949)

The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles by Rosemary Sutcliff (1980)

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Synder (1967)

The End of the Line by Sharon E. McKay (2014) (Parental Discussion on the Holocaust and WWII is Recommended) 

The Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton by Nancy Carpentier Brown

The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children by Marigold Hunt (2004)

The Forgotten Christmas Saint: Saint Anastasia by Susan Peek (2016)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993) (Parental Discussion on Dystopian Literature is Recommended)

The Golden Thread: A Novel about St. Ignatius Loyola by Louis de Wohl (1953)

The Good Bad Boy by Fr. Gerald T. Brennan (2002)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2008)

The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett (1967)

The Green Ember Series by S.D. Smith

The Grey King: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1975)

The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett (1946)

The High King by Lloyd Alexander (1968)

The Hobbit Series by J.R.R. Tolkien (Parental Discussion on Christian Symbolism/Allegory Recommended)

The Joyful Beggar: A Novel about Saint Francis of Assisi by Louis de Wohl (1959)

The King’s Prey: Saint Dymphna of Ireland by Susan Peek (2017) 

The Last Crusader: A Novel about Don Juan of Austria by Louis de Wohl (1956)

The Lives of the Saints Series 

The Lord of the Rings Series by J.R.R. Tolkien (Parental Discussion on Christian Symbolism/Allegory Recommended)

The Man God Kept Surprising: Saint William of Bourges by Susan Peek (2016)

The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds (1941)

The Midshipman Quinn Collection by Showell Styles (1999)

The Mitchells: Five For Victory by Hilda van Stockum (Book I) (1945)

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (2012)

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (1967)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

The Quiet Light: A Novel about Saint Thomas Aquinas by Louis De Wohl (1996)

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (1895)

The Red Keep by Allen French (1938)

The Restless Flame by Louis De Wohl (1951)

The Rose Round by Meriol Trevor (1995)

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (1973)

The Small War of Sergeant Donkey by Maureen Daly (2000)

The Story of the Rolf & the Viking Bow by Allen French (1918)

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (1812)

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (2003)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (2009)

The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (1928)

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène Du Bois (1947)

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (1996)

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (1922)

The Weka-Feather Cloak: A New Zealand Fantasy by Leo Madigan (2002)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1978)

The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Parental Discussion on Cultural Differences Recommended) 

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (1986)

The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum (1962)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1958) (Parental Discussion on Puritan Faith/Religious Perspectives Recommended)

The White Stag by Kate Seredy (1937)

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1938)

Throne of the World by Louis de Wohl (1949)

True to the Old Flag by G.A. Henty (1886) (Parental Discussion on The American Civil War/Considering Both Sides Recommended)

Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady (1993)

Tom Playfair (Or Making a Start) by Fr. Francis J. Finn (1890)

Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop and Janet Joly (1978)

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald (2014)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2009)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (2009)

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (1961)

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush by Jerry Spinelli (1984)

With Lee in Virginia by G.A. Henty (1890)

With Wolfe in Canada by G.A. Henty (1894)

Books for Tween Girls: 

A Gathering of Days by Joan Blos (1979)

A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 by Kathryn Lasky (1996)

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (1869)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (12+)

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (1935)

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan (2013)

Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt (1982)

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (2000)

Fabiola: Or, The Church of the Catacombs by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman (1854)

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (2000)

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo (2013)

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (1929)

Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (1993)

Isabella of Castile by Shirin Yim Bridges (2010)

Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott (1880)

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (1972)

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (2004)

Little Women Series by Louisa May Alcott

Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel C. Brill (1946)

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1953)

Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina (2019)

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (1956)

Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (1946)

Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (1992)

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (1947)

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (2010)

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien (1970)

Night Visitors by Claire Daniel and Ellen Beier 

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1989) (Parental Discussion on the Holocaust and WWII is Recommended) 

Olivia and the Little Way by Nancy Carabio Belanger (2008)

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (2010)

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (1997)

Pollyanna Series by Eleanor H. Porter (1913) (12+) 

Radiant: A Catholic Girl’s Journey Through Beauty, Identity, and the Feminine Soul in Light of Edith Stein and Theology of the Body by Anna Vianey Santoscoy (2025)

Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (1936)

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (Encounter the Saints) by Patricia Jablonski and Susan Wallace (2012) 

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1985)

Someone Named Eva by Joan Wolf (2007) (Parental Discussion on the Holocaust, Hitler Youth, Lebensborn, and WWII is Recommended) 

Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (1945)

Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (1970)

The Drovers Road Collection: Three New Zealand Adventures by Joyce West (2003)

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (2006)

The Melendy Quartet Series by Elizabeth Enright 

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (1995)

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (1872)

The Rose Round by Meriol Trevor (1995)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1910)

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1958)

Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (1938)

Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (1966) 

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (1995)