Kids: Reluctant readers

If your tamariki haven't caught the reading bug yet, the books on this list may pique their interest! Here you'll find books that are funny, large text, pictures, cartoons, and maybe something short and sweet.

Updated July 28, 2025
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Wellington City Libraries Children's team at Wellington City Libraries
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Kids: Reluctant readers

If your tamariki haven't caught the reading bug yet, the books on this list may pique their interest! Here you'll find books that are funny, large text, pictures, cartoons, and maybe something short and sweet.

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Madeline
Bemelmans, Ludwig
Paper Book
A CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK * OVER 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD! The cherished childhood classic starring a fearless little girl and her eleven lovable housemates. One of The Atlantic's 65 Essential Children's Books "Perhaps the best bedtime book ever written."--The New...
Flat Stanley
Brown, Jeff
Paper Book
A flat boy can do almost anything! Stanley Lambchop is an ordinary boy. At least he was, until the night his bulletin board fell off the wall and flattened him. All of a sudden, Stanley can slide under doors, mail himself across the country in an envelope, and fly like a kite! But...
Ted rules the world
Cottrell Boyce, Frank
Ebook
When the Prime Minister begins making Ted's great ideas a reality, he suddenly has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders ... A hilarious comedy caper from Waterstones Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Ted thinks there's something fishy going on. Ever since his birthday when he...
The snake who came to stay
Donaldson, Julia
Ebook
Polly has set up a pets' holiday home for the summer and with a house full of greedy guinea pigs, pesky parrots and slithering snakes, Mum is getting more fed up by the day! Especially when Doris the snake goes missing! Can Polly find Doris before the snake finds the guinea pigs?
Super sub
Gibbons, Alan; Shephard, David
Paper Book
New boy Smithy can't understand why everyone is so excited about a player on the football team called "Bengo." Bengo's been absent for the first few games of the season and starts the next game on the bench, so surely he can't be that special? But when Smithy finally...
The 13 Storey Treehouse: Colour Edition
Griffiths, Andy
Paper Book
Andy and Terry live in a treehouse. But it's not just any old treehouse, it's the most amazing treehouse in the world! This treehouse has thirteen stories, a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a secret underground laboratory, and a marshmallow machine that follows you around...
Boing boing
McCall Smith, Alexander
Paper Book
Jane has always been just a little bit different - she has springs in her knees! Support severely struggling readers with this hi-lo adventure with a spring in its step. Jane has always been just a little bit different - she has springs in her knees! She wins all the high...
The worst witch
Murphy, Jill.
Paper Book
The Worst Witch written and illustrated by Jill Murphy is reissued with an exciting TV tie-in cover to accompany the new CBBC series in Spring 2017.The highly anticipated CBBC series stars Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Mildred, Clare Higgins (Doctor Who) as Miss Cackle and...
Big Nate : in a class by himself
Peirce, Lincoln.
Paper Book
Now an animated series from Paramount + & Nickelodeon! For fans of the hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Get ready to meet Big Nate! In the very first novel in the New York Times bestselling series, Big Nate is in a class by himself! Nate knows he's meant for big...
Ottoline and the yellow cat
Riddell, Chris
Paper Book
The first book in Chris Riddell's much-loved Ottoline series. Now in paperback for the first timeIntroducing Miss Ottoline Brown, an exceptionally inquisitive Mistress of Disguise, and her partner in crime, Mr. Munroe. No puzzle is ever too tricky for the two of them to solve . . .Ottoline lives in...
Clever cakes
Rosen, Michael
Paper Book
Two super-smart kids triumph in these perfectly packaged tales with a twist from multi-award-winning and bestselling author Michael Rosen. It pays to be able to think on your feet, especially if you're about to be eaten alive or cheated out of a valuable prize! And in these...
Sideways stories from Wayside School
Sachar, Louis
Paper Book
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Sideways Stories from Wayside School, the first book in the series! Accidentally built sideways and standing thirty stories high (the builder said he...
Horrid Henry
Simon, Francesca
Paper Book
Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 to 5 Horrid Henry is the very first collection of stories about the master of mischief (and the funniest kid in the universe) including: Horrid Henry is dragged to dance class. Horrid Henry competes with Moody Margaret to make the...
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