Gordon Korman

• Alex Rider Series
• The most action, the best gadgets. Move over 007.
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
• I've heard all the haters: "Too silly, too British." I don't care. This stuff rocks.
• Feed
• This book reminds me of how it felt to be a teenager discovering really cool science fiction.
• Into Thin Air

• My favorite Everest book; my favorite adventure book.

• The Great Brain, Great Brain Series
• This was the series that taught me to love middle-grade fiction. A tween swindler back in the days when a silver dollar was serious coin.
• One Knee Equals Two Feet
• The lesser-known of Madden's awesome football books. I read it first, and still love it best.

Dan Gutman

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret

• Genius. The Sgt. Pepper of children's books.

• Hatchet

• Still the best survival story.

• Ball Four

• This is the book that turned me on to reading. For the first time, somebody wrote like they were having a conversation with me.

• Yertle the Turtle

• Or anything by Dr. Seuss. Can’t beat it.

• Mad Magazine

• Without it, all intelligent life on Earth would have ceased to exist.

Michael Buckley

• The Outsiders

• A timeless story of outcasts versus the privileged. Exciting and heartbreaking — Hinton should be applauded for understanding the mind of a guy so well.

• All Star Superman Books 1 and 2

• Lex Luthor finally finds a way to kill Superman and the Big Blue Boy Scout prepares for his death with a shocking ending no one could have seen.

• Lord of the Flies

• A ship full of children from an all boys' school crashes on the beach of a deserted island. Unfortunately, it isn't long before the kids stop working together and break up into tribes with dark and deadly results.

• Pinocchio

• Most people have seen the movie but few have read the book and that’s a shame. Pinocchio is a walking nightmare and hilarious.

• The Graveyard Book

• An adaptation of the Jungle Book but instead of a boy being raised by wolves, he's reared by ghosts in an abandoned cemetery. It's chilling and dark, yet a powerful lesson on how a boy becomes a man.

Mo Willems

• The Complete Peanuts
• Charles M. Schulz

• The gold standard of comic strips. Fun for everyone; except Charlie Brown, who seems a little down on his luck.

• The Complete George and Martha
• James Marshall

• Lessons learned include: just because you've got a best friend doesn't mean you have to pour pea soup in your shoes. I try to re-read this before I start making new book.

• The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
• Bill Watterson

• When Hobbes is wise, Calvin is a stinker. When Hobbes is hungry, Calvin is in trouble.

• Go, Dog, Go!
• Philip D. Eastman

• A dog party in a tree? Wait for me, I’ve got to get my hat!

• Cul De Sac, This Exit

• The best comic strip you've never heard of. Alice and her family walk in the footsteps of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, only sideways.

• Children at Play, A Cul-de-Sac Collection

Jarrett J. Krosoczka

• Where The Wild Things Are

• Three words: "The Wild Rumpus!" It doesn't get much better than that!

• James and the Giant Peach

• This book has everything — adventure, bugs . . . and a giant peach!

• The Mouse and the Motorcycle

• When I was a kid, I wished that I had a mouse who could ride a motorcycle. And now that I'm a grown-up, I still do!

• The Chocolate Touch

• I’m a huge chocolate fan, but this book sure made me think twice about what I wished for!

• The Celery Stalks at Midnight, Bunnicula

• A cute bunny that sucks vegetables dry? Yikes! These books kept me at the edge of my seat.

• Fudge-a-mania

• Start with a Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and read all the way through the books until you get to Double Fudge. These books are hysterical and relatable!