Braille and Talking Book List

Welcome to this year’s Summer Reading Challenge! Inside are just a few of the braille and talking book titles we have available. Participating in the Summer Reading Challenge does not limit you to what is on this list. This list is to inspire and get you started!

For recommendations, to talk about the books you are enjoying/not enjoying, or information about what is going on at the Library this summer, email anthonymurisco@nypl.org or call 212-621-0622.

If you have difficulty reading standard print books and want to learn more about or sign up for the talking book program, visit here. If you are already a member, search our catalog or order books here.

Note: Books with an * feature diverse characters.

Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers | K–2 | 4–6 | 7–9 | High School

Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

*Arrorro, Mi Nino: Latino Lullabies and Gentle Games. Delacre, Lulu. BR 17011.
Fifteen traditional Latin American nursery rhymes and songs presented in Spanish and English.

Barn Dance! Martin, Jr. Bill. DB 30856
Unable to sleep on the night of a full moon, a young boy follows the sound of music to the barn…

*Bee-bim Bop! Park, Linda Sue. BR 16048
A young girl helps her mother shop for food, cook the meal, and set the table for her favorite Korean dish—bee-bim bop!

Clifford the Small Red Puppy. Bridwell, Norman. DB 78606.
When Emily first brings Clifford home, he is a tiny puppy but with a simple wish, he begins to grow and grow!

Ella the Elegant Elephant. D'Amico, Carmela. DB 80417.
Ella's counting the days until the first day of school, but not because she's eager to start!

Freight Train/Tren de Carga. Crews, Donald. BR 17043
A train of many colorful cars starts slowly, then moves in a rainbow blur across the countryside. Bilingual book in English and Spanish.

Frog and toad together. Lobel, Arnold. DB37079.
Five adventures of two best friends as they share cookies, plant a garden, and test their bravery.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? McNamara, Margaret. BR 17334
When Mr. Tiffin brings in three pumpkins for a class counting project, Charlie, the smallest child in his class, chooses the smallest pumpkin.

How to Be a Cat. McClure, Nikki. BR 21004.
A kitten learns to stretch, listen, and dream by imitating an older cat's movements and behavior.

If You’re a Monster and You Know It. Emberley, Rebecca. DBC05418
Monsters sing their own version of this popular song that encourages everyone to express their happiness!

In the Tall, Tall Grass. Fleming, Denise. BR 08945
Join a tour through the tall, tall grass with a fuzzy caterpillar!

The Little Shop of Monsters. Stine, R. L. DB 82203.
At an unusual pet shop, siblings meet a vast array of monsters.

*Moses Goes to a Concert. Millman, Isaac. BR 12011
Moses and his classmates, who are deaf, go to a concert with their teacher.

Mouse Mess. Riley, Linnea. BR 12004
A sleeping little mouse wakes up when the family goes to bed and when he is full, he goes back to bed. But what a mess he has made!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Brown, Peter. BR 21010
Bored with the proper behavior of city life, Mr. Tiger has a wild idea that leads him to discover his true nature.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Litwin, Eric. BR 21002, DBC01459
Pete the cat loves the buttons on his shirt so much that he makes up a song about them!

*Rainbow Joe and Me. Strom, Maria Diaz. BR 13091
Eloise loves to paint pictures that she describes for her elderly blind neighbor who tells her he can make colors sing.

Silly Sally. Wood, Audrey. BR 009917
A nonsense story in rhyme about Silly Sally and the friends that she makes.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle, Eric. BR 12015, DB 24609
A hungry caterpillar eats holes through plums, cheese, sausage, and other food and gets a stomach ache.

What Pet Should I Get? and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Seuss, Dr. DB 82138.
Two tales by Dr. Seuss featuring unusual animals.

Books for Kids in Grades K-2:

Commander Toad and the Big Black Hole. Yolen, Jane. DB 32120.
Commander Toad and crew encounters a big, black hole in space that threatens doom!

Crankenstein. Berger, Samantha. BR 21012.
Each bad situation a little boy runs into makes him grumpier and grumpier—and act like a monster.

The Dark. Snicket, Lemony. BR 21005. DB 77065.
Laszlo is afraid of the darkness that is in his basement. When it creeps to his bedroom, will he face his fear?

*Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music. Engle, Margarita. BR 21077.
Recounts how a girl followed her dreams to become a drummer.

The Enormous Crocodile. Dahl, Roald. DB 43544
An enormous crocodile who devises clever tricks to trap a nice, juicy child for lunch gets exactly what he deserves.

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear. Mattick, Lindsay. BR 21353. DB 83676.
A boy's bedtime story reveals how his great-great-grandfather rescued and learned to love a bear cub during World War I.

Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More. Prelutsky, Jack. Grades K-3. BR 18006
Short poems about enjoying sports—win or lose.

Hot Rod Hamster. Lord, Cynthia. BR 21036.
A hamster, with the help of his friends, builds a hot rod and drives it in a race.

*Last Stop on Market Street. De la Peña, Matt. BR 21056.
A boy’s grandmother teaches him to appreciate the diversity of his community.

Madeline. Bemelmans, Ludwig. DB 44292.
A little girl in Paris manages to have a lively time in spite of appendicitis.

Maybelle in the Soup. Speck, Katie. DB 77400
Maybelle is sick of crumbs and leftovers and wants to eat off of a plate.

Mirette on the High Wire. McCully, Emily Arnold. Grades K-3. BR 08962
The Great Bellini must now overcome his greatest fear.

Nate the Great and the Hungry Book Club. Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman. Sharmat, Mitchell. DB 71041.
A boy detective and his dog join a book club to find out who has been stealing pages from the books.

Princess and the Pony. Beaton, Kate. BR 21078. DB 83927.
Pinecone’s birthday disappointment soon turns into a big surprise!

Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building. Hopkinson, Deborah. DB 78118.
In 1931, a boy and his father watch as the world's tallest building, the Empire State Building, is constructed.

Splat the Cat Storybook Collection. Auerbach, Annie. DB 77103.
This collection features six tales featuring the hilarious Splat the Cat.

Stone Soup. Brown, Marcia. DB 50548
Three hungry soldiers decide to show the townspeople how to make soup from water and three round stones.

Three Ninja Pigs. Schwartz, Cory Rosen. BR 20046
Each pig trains in a different martial art to prepare for battle with the wolf.

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? Jenkins, Steve. Page, Robin. BR 15017.
Discover how animals use their bodies in different ways.

Wolfie the Bunny. Dyckman, Ame. BR 21053.
Dot learns that siblings come with all kinds of fur.

Books for Kids in Grades 2–4:

*28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World. Smith. Charles R. BR 20808. DB 81470.
Meet courageous African Americans who shaped our history.

Beezus and Ramona. Cleary, Beverly. BR 08744.
Beezus Quimby's little sister Ramona continually terrorizes her and her family.

*A Boy and a Jaguar. Rabinowitz, Alan. BR 21015.
In this autobiography, the author discusses how a lifelong stutter and love of animals helped launch him into a career in wildlife advocacy.

*The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage. Alko, Selina. DB 82949.
Would you go to jail to marry the person you love?

The Chicken Squad. Cronin, Doreen. BR020608.
When a squirrel comes barreling into the chicken coop talking something scary in the near-by yard.

Duel! Burr and Hamilton's Deadly War of Words. Day, Larry. BR 18017.
Account of the famous 1804 due when these founding fathers and onetime friends fired upon each other.

The Goblin Baby. Doherty, Berlie. BR 18578.
Nine-year-old Tam must travel to fairyland to exchange the goblin child in his sister's crib for his real sister.

Hour of the Olympics (Magic Tree House series). Osborne, Mary Pope. BR 14203; DB 54426
When Jack and Annie travel back in time to ancient Greece to find a lost story, they arrive during the Olympics.

Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record. Barrows, Annie. DB 65564 Grades 2-4.
Everyone in second grade wants to break a world record, and friends Ivy and Bean are no exception.

John, Paul, George, and Ben. Smith, Lane. BR 17028.
Describes five little lads before they became founding fathers.

Magic at the Bed and Biscuit. Carris, Joan Davenport. DB 73313.
The animals at the Bed and Biscuit are afraid of their guest, Malicia, a magic chicken.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Gerstein, Mordicai. BR 15045
Tells of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the unfinished World Trade Center Towers in New York City.

Marty McGuire. Messner, Kate. DB 82836
When tomboy Marty is cast as a princess in the third-grade play, she learns about improvisation, which helps her become more adaptable.

My Weird School Daze, 1-12. Gutman, Dan. DB 82131.
Books one through twelve featuring the third-grade adventures of A. J. and his friends at one weird school.

The Rescue Princesses Series, Books 1-12. Harrison, Paula. DB 82362.
Books one through twelve featuring royal friends and their daring animal rescues.

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure. Neuschwander, Cindy. DB 82229.
After his father drinks a potion that transforms him into a dragon, a son searches for the magic potion which will restore him to his former shape.

Stink and the Shark Sleepover, McDonald, Megan. DB 82435
When Stink's parents win a spot in the aquarium's sleepover event, he and his two friends team up for a sea-creature scavenger hunt.

Story of Diva and Flea. Willems, Mo. BR 21250.
In the bustling city of Paris, a small, brave dog and an adventurous cat become unlikely friends.

Summer according to Humphrey. Birney, Betty G. BR 20206.
As summer nears Humphrey and Og worry about their future and if they will ever see their friends again.

Your Skeleton Is Showing: Rhymes of Blunder from Six Feet Under. Cyrus, Kurt. DB 77512.
Silly and spooky poems describe the inhabitants of a graveyard.

Books for Kids in Grades 4-6

*Able to Play: Overcoming Physical Challenges. Stout, Glenn. DB 74747.
Profiles four professional baseball players who prevailed.

Circus Mirandus. Beasley, Cassie. DB 81868.
When he realizes that his grandfather's stories of an enchanted circus are true, Micah Tuttle sets out to find it.

Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids. Ray, Rachael. DB 64199
Recipes for sandwiches, soups, one-dish meals, and desserts suitable for preparation by chefs of all ages!

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. D’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire. BR 14795; DB 564556
Humorous, earthy retellings of the adventures of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece.

The Egypt Game. Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. BR 09393; DB 37531
A group of children entranced by the study of Egypt play their own Egypt game in an abandoned yard behind the antique shop.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Grabenstein, Chris. DB 77918.
Kyle and his friends enter a contest to win a Friday-night lock-in at the new library created by an eccentric game maker.

Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dahl, Roald. BR 18839; DB 25380
Three enraged farmers are determined to catch the wily old fox who helps himself to their livestock.

Fuzzy Mud. Sachar, Louis. BR 21131.
While taking a shortcut home, two kids discover something with the potential to wreak havoc on the entire world.

*Gone Crazy in Alabama. Williams-Garcia, Rita. DB 81548.
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern travel to Alabama to spend their summer on Big Ma's farm but they discover life is a bit different in the South.

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible. Vernon, Ursula. DB 83774.
Never a conventional princess, Harriet Hamsterbone becomes an adventurer when she learns she is cursed by the wicked fairy.

Honus and me. Gutman, Dan. DB 49915.
Shortly after Joe discovers a valuable 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, Honus mysteriously appears in his room.

*Loaves of Fun—A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from Around the World. Harbison, Elizabeth M. BR 11734
This history of bread begins in Asia in 73,000 B.C. and continues through Mesopotamia and Switzerland, then on to Egypt and Europe, and finally to America in the 1600s.

Mary Poppins. Travers, P. L. BR 00923; BR 12972; DB 50917
An east wind blows the astonishing Mary Poppins straight into the nursery of the Banks family.

*Stella by Starlight. Draper, Sharon M. BR 20950. DB 82165.
In 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Angleberger, Tom. BR 19478. DB 74732.
Sixth grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of the Star Wars character Yoda.

The Tale of Rescue. Rosen, Michael J. BR 21327. DB 83439.
When a family vacationing becomes trapped in a blizzard, a local farm cattle dog works to rescue them.

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer. Jones, Kelly. DB 82318.
Twelve-year-old Sophie Brown tells of her family's move to her great-uncle Jim's farm, where she begins taking care of some odd chickens.

*The War That Saved My Life. Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. BR 20662. DB 80472.
Ten-year-old Ada, who has a twisted foot, and her brother escape from London to the English countryside during World War II.

*Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman. Krull, Kathleen. DB 43739
Childhood polio left her leg paralyzed, but Wilma exercised until she not only walked but became an Olympic gold medal runner.

*The Year of the Rat. Lin, Grace. BR 17688; DBC03847
Taiwanese American Pacy learns that the Chinese year of the rat brings new beginnings.

You Must Be Joking! Lots of Cool Jokes. Brewer, Paul. BR 15363.
Not only a collection of over two hundred jokes and riddles but also tips on writing, memorizing, and telling them.

Books for Kids in Grades 7-9:

The Book of Three. Alexander, Lloyd. BR 15453.
Taran, assistant pig keeper, joins to fight against the evil that threatens the kingdom.

The Brooklyn Nine. Gratz, Alan DB 68902
Nine generations of one Brooklyn family and their love of baseball.

Close to Famous. Bauer, Joan. BR 19473.
After escaping her mother's abusive boyfriend, Foster McFee and her mother make a new start in West Virginia.

Doll Bones. Black, Holly. DB 76599
Zach, Alice, and Poppy must solve a mystery or be cursed.

*Echo. Ryan, Pam Muñoz. DB 81078.
Three children find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny and tied together by the same harmonica.

Fish in a Tree. Hunt, Lynda Mullaly. BR 21151.
Bullied and moved among different schools, Ally tries to conceal a secret.

Flipped. Van Draanen, Wendelin. BR 14401.
In alternating chapters, neighbors describe how their feelings have changed since second grade.

Football Genius. Green, Tim. DB 68601
Troy can predict football plays before they occur and wants to use this ability to help his favorite team.

Goodbye Stranger. Stead, Rebecca. BR 20997. DB 82093.
Bridge makes her way through seventh grade on Manhattan's Upper West Side with her best friends.

How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports. Paulsen, Gary. DB 56528. The author of many survival adventures recalls his own escapades at age 12.

*Hush. Woodson, Jacqueline. BR 14515.
When Toswiah's family enters the witness protection program, they are uprooted from a comfortable life in breaking all ties with their past.

I Am Princess X. Priest, Cherie. DB 82008
Libby is dead, so why is May seeing Princess X all over the city?

Mars Evacuees. McDougall, Sophia. DB 81856.
When aliens invade Earth, three hundred kids are evacuated to Mars to attend school and train as soldiers.

No More Dead Dogs. Korman, Gordon. BR 15530.
A football hero is given detention for telling the absolute truth when it hurts his teacher's feelings.

Penny From Heaven. Holm, Jennifer. BR 17369; DB 64582.
During the summer, eleven-year-old Penny faces a series of trials and tribulations in order to reunite her feuding family.

Princess Academy. Hale, Shannon. BR 16781; DB63020
Training to marry a prince isn't as easy as it seems.

*Running Dream. Van Draanen, Wendelin. DB 73998; BR 19489
Jessica loses her leg-- will a prosthetic gives her a second chance to compete?

*A Single Shard. Park, Linda Sue. Grades 5-8. BR 14214; DB 53670
Tree-ear, an orphan in twelfth-century Korea, takes advantage of a mishap in a potter’s yard to become his apprentice.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. Grisham, John. BR 19083.
Both kids and adults ask eighth grader Theo for legal advice because he knows the court system so well.

Books for High School

All These Things I’ve Done. Zevin, Gabrielle. BR 19718.
In a future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, Anya struggles with keeping her brother and sister safe and out of the business.

An Ember in the Ashes. Tahir, Sabaa. BR 20825. DB 81519.
Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy to find a way to save her brother.

*Black and White. Volponi, Paul. BR 16593, DB 62540
Two best friends find unequal justice in a biased system.

Bleachers. Grisham, John. BR 14929, DB 56894.
A former high school quarterback returns to his hometown, where he learns that his former coach is dying.

Bone Gap. Ruby, Laura. BR 21373. DB 81401.
Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to an abduction.

*Bronx Masquerade. Grimes, Nikki. BR 14623, DB 55776.
Tough students at a Bronx high school reveal their innermost thoughts, dreams, and fears during the monthly English class's Open-Mike Fridays.

*Dumplin’. Murphy, Julie. DB 82707.
Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just the fat girl.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. King, Stephen. BR 12212, DB 48270.
On a Maine hiking trail, nine-year-old Trisha becomes lost for days in the wilderness.

*Marcelo in the Real World. Scholastic. Stork, Francisco X. BR 18579, DB 70277.
Marcelo Sandoval, who has autism, gets a summer job working in the mail room of his father's law firm.

*More Happy Than Not. Silvera, Adam. DB 82411.
After enduring his father's suicide, his own suicide attempt, and broken friendships, Aaron considers a memory-alteration procedure.

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War. Sheinkin, Steve. DB 82850.
Recounts how Daniel Ellsberg, a government analyst, leaked 7,000 pages of secret documents.

Neverwhere. Gaiman, Neil. BR 11353, DB 72813.
After a loss of identity, two strangers embark on a perilous quest through an eerie subterranean realm.

*Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities. Gallo, Donald R. BR 17816, DB 66659.
Ten tales of teens dealing with school, teachers, parents, friends, the opposite sex--and a physical or mental disability.

Pinned. Martino, Alfred C. BR 16217.
Seniors Ivan and Bobby compete on rival New Jersey high school wrestling teams.

Rash. Hautman, Pete. BR 16729, DB 65447
Sixteen-year-old Bo Marsten is locked up for unsociable behavior like fighting.

*The Running Dream. Van Draanen, Wendelin. BR 19489, DB 73998.
After a school-bus accident, Jessica has her right leg amputated and is convinced she will never run again.

*Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Albertalli, Becky. BR 21328. DB 83557.
Not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his high school classmate.

*Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. Hamilton, Bethany. BR 19783, DB 59485.
Autobiography of a Hawaiian junior-champion surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack when she was 13.

Tangerine. Bloor, Edward. BRC01334, DB 46159.
When they move to Florida, Paul's new friendships help him uncover what he's really known all along about his brother, Erik.

Undercover. Kephart, Beth. BR 17831.
Elisa has a talent for observing the world and operates a business ghostwriting love letters for guys.