Ask HN: What are some great books for children?

Here are a few of my suggestions.

Picture books for young children- We really enjoyed I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, and "Sam and Dave Dig a Hole" written by Jon Klassen and illustrated by Mac Bennet.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/White-Read-Aloud-Award-Picture-Book...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-Klassen/dp/1406353...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sam-Dave-Dig-Hole-Barnett/dp/140636...

Books (with some illustration) for older readers- We're enjoying The Saga of Erik the Viking by Terry Jones and illustrated by Michael Foreman.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saga-Erik-Viking-Puffin-Books/dp/01...

My neighbor, a chemist, gave me some childrens books on why leaves turn color and the different states of matter. I am not sure if they are still in print, but I think something like this would be fantastic for age 7

Three Little Pigs provides a solid foundation in engineering cost benefit analysis and the risk assessment of black swan events. It provides the basis for an in depth discussion with your tiny tike of whether or not Pokey's prioritization of low initial cost and straw design was economically sound in light of Lazy's more costly wood construction suffering the similar catastrophic failure when encountering huffs and puffs. The child might be encouraged to write a formal analysis of the counter-factual in which the wolf crept up upon Will while his brick structure was incomplete rather than visiting the other structures first.

The more sophisticated child should probably be introduced to actuarial consideration of how pig lives relate to absolute construction costs and the potential negative effects of increased hut construction regulations on the overall economy. Extending the exercise to draft lobbying positions may or may not be appropriate, i.e. should the construction of wolf-proof structures be left entirely to the private sector seeing as public funding for wolf shelters would provide good projects for engineers?

STEM and 7 in the same sentence make me sad.

Good luck.

Randall Munroe (of XKCD fame) wrote "Thing Explainer", a book that attempts to explain things using only the most popular 1,000 words in the English language: https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/

I also remember having a book similar to this around that age (maybe a couple of years older): https://www.dk.com/us/9781465414175-knowledge-encyclopedia/

The nice thing about the latter one is that the pictures will be enthralling now, and as your child grows they'll be able to understand more and more of the book :)

Good night stories for rebel girls - https://www.booktopia.com.au/good-night-stories-for-rebel-gi...

It contains stories of 100 famous women throughout history to inspire young girls to be whatever they want to be.

I know you wanted STEM books, but I loved the Cam Jansen series of mysteries from about 6-10ish. It was to the point that the school librarian wouldn’t put the new one out generally until I read it.

Link: http://www.camjansen.com

The Tiger Who Came to Tea - targeted at the younger reader, but I mention it as there's a great lesson to be learned there though, for young and old alike...

Of course Wind in The Willows is still one of my favourite books that I read as a kid and I can quote you large sections of it. Still read sections of it now and then...

I loved the Willard Price "Adventure" series of books. I read "Volcano Adventure" when I was 7. After that I became obsessed with volcanoes and Willard Price books. I drove the librarians nuts about those books and they had to bring them in from libraries near and far until I'd read them all. Grin.

The Willard Price books had a big impact on me though. I grew up and have lived those books - I've dived wrecks and reefs, explored jungles, gone on safari, I worked for four years in Africa, travelled all over. I even climbed up a live volcano. Funny how these things stay with you. Of course highly frowned upon these days as politically incorrect. Ditto the Biggles books.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's books include very detailed descriptions of how things were built or constructed back in the day. One gets the impression the author would've loved to be a carpenter but wasn't able to because she was a woman.

You will need to provide historical context, and point out and countervail all the racist, nativist, etc. parts.

My son is 6 now, and he has loved these two books since he was about 3:

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos - https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Loved-Math-Improbable/dp/1596...

Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late - https://www.amazon.com/Bedtime-Math-Excuse-Stay-Late/dp/1250...

We also started this book recently, and he has really enjoyed it so far:

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World - https://www.amazon.com/Women-Science-Fearless-Pioneers-Chang...

For younger children (that is, children who can't read yet), you're going to have to read that book anywhere from once to several hundred times, out loud. Look for books that have interest for an adult, even though they are children's books.

One of my favorites is "The Bravest Ever Bear". I think a 7-year-old would get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's not STEM at all (though an interesting engineering problem does show up).

You cant beat Roald Dahl - the dark humour and themes are brilliant. Im reading them to my son and its great to still enjoy stories as an adult, and see a different side to the story I would have missed as a child

Hoagies Gifted Page used to keep lists of good books for bright kids. I assume they still do. I don't spend a lot of time there anymore for various reasons, including its tendency to frame giftedness as "Whoa is me. I am so smart, and it is ruining my life." But if you are only looking for book recommendations, that aspect probably does not matter.

When my oldest was being homeschooled and no amount of science was ever enough, I subscribed to some kind of science magazine for him. We also had a lot of "cartoon guides... " They occasionally have off color humor, so some people think they aren't appropriate for age 7. But I had no problem with it.

There are also nifty math books out there, like The Number Devil, Alice in Flatland and ...memory fails me. But I imagine all of these are listed on Hoagies.

Panchtantra