What are smart kids reading from the Harvard Book Store?

A summer visit to Cambridge with my daughter led me straight to the children’s shelves, where I found a stack of books worth sharing.

This past summer, I brought my song-writing daughter to Boston for Berklee’s Aspire five-week music program. While we were there, I wanted her to experience the Harvard campus and imagine what studying at an Ivy League university might feel like. And of course, the best way to get to the bottom of a place is to visit its bookstore.

I was curious about what students were reading, but my daughter was drawn to the children’s section. I understood the attraction. After raising children with lots of books, that section remains one of my favorite places in any bookstore.

One of the stories I loved reading aloud was Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings, with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their ducklings Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack. The story unfolds right here in Boston, which made our visit feel like a return to the world of a cherished childhood book.

Looking at the displays, I wondered what stories today’s parents might bring home for their children. So I photographed the featured shelves and gathered the titles below, along with a second list for older readers and teenagers. I would have loved such a list ten years ago. We ordered hundreds of books and we read them all. (Our favorite to date is/was Duz Iz Tak by Carson Ellis. My kids are now 13 and 16!).

These books were photographed by me at Harvard Book Store, an independent bookstore in Cambridge, not officially recommended by Harvard University. A few had handwritten staff-recommendation cards.

Each linked title opens an Amazon US search with my affiliate tracking ID so we can earn a small percentage from every sale. You can also print this reading list and take it to your local library. Many libraries can request books through interlibrary loans if they aren’t on the shelf.

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Picture books and younger readers from the Harvard Book Store

Children’s books at the Harvard Book Store

• Alone & Together — Émilie Chazerand
• Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo — Bess Kalb
• Chiri & Chirra Among the Cherry Blossoms — Kaya Doi
• It’s My Bird-Day! — Mo Willems
• The Future Book — Mac Barnett
• Rumpelstiltskin — Mac Barnett
• A Door Is to Open — Kyo Maclear
• Tiny T. Rex Tries Soccer — Jonathan Stutzman
• Aanun, I See Your Light — Dawn Quigley
• The Selfish Sister — David Sedaris
• Axolotl-Ella — Kate Messner
• Vida — Duncan Tonatiuh
• The Legends of Dindal — Jessica Yoon
• Sixteen Games of Hide and Seek — Stephen Barr
• hello, ocean! — Corinna Luyken
• today we’ll be eaten — Alan Barillaro
• The Greatest Bedtime Story Ever! — Jessie Sima
• Construction Site: Firefight! — Sherri Duskey Rinker
• Robin and the Stick — E. G. Goodale
• Little Helper — Regina Linke
• Zebra and Yak: The Backwards Counting Book — Paul Friedrich
• The Art of How Dogs Sleep — Alison Kim
• Lionel — Lo Cole
• The Sweetest of Lemons — Daniel Nayeri
• Love of the Half-Eaten Peach
• Madeline — Ludwig Bemelmans
• The Dream Keeper
• Eighteen Flowers for Grandma
• Call Me Moby
• The Big One
• How to Be a Proper Ogre
• The Secret Dragon Gems

Books for middle-grade and teenage readers

• The Teacher of Nomad Land — Daniel Nayeri
• Everything Sad Is Untrue — Daniel Nayeri
• The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams — Daniel Nayeri
• The True Meaning of Smekday — Adam Rex
• Skulduggery Pleasant — Derek Landy
• A Heart Full of Hatred — Derek Landy
• Until the End — Derek Landy
• Anne of Green Gables — L. M. Montgomery
• Dragon Girl and the Graveyard of Doom — Jenny Moore
• Fablehaven — Brandon Mull
• Confessions of a Junior Spy — James Patterson
• Confessions of a Junior Spy: The Mean Girl Mission — James Patterson
• The Book of Boy — Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• Da Vinci’s Cat — Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• The Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody — Patrick Ness
• Look Both Ways — Jason Reynolds
• Ghost — Jason Reynolds
• Patina — Jason Reynolds
• Dear America: A Journey to the New World — Kathryn Lasky

Among the older-reader shelves were staff recommendations for The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex and Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. A display also featured Daniel Nayeri’s The Teacher of Nomad Land, labeled as a 2026 Newbery book.

Take a gander, see which stories catch your eye, and remember that you can borrow rather than buy. With love from Boston.

For a glimpse of my daughter’s early work as a budding songwriter, follow her on Instagram.