Happy birthday to you! Okay, well, maybe your birthday isn’t this month, but we can all agree that birthdays are the best! Cake, ice cream, presents…what’s not to like? Celebrate birthday bliss with these fun books about everything from birthday wishes to the birthday song!
Youth
These picture books will have kids counting the days until their next birthday!
Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld
Did you know there were rules to making a birthday wish? In fact, there are 10 rules! One rule, of course, is it must be your birthday. This charming picture book with endearing illustrations lays out all 10 rules of making a birthday wish. Maybe you know two or three rules, but do you know all 10?
The Entertainer by Emma Dodd
An entertainer in a big cuddly bear costume arrives at a little boy’s birthday party and delights the children with his antics and surprises, but is everything as it seems?
How Many Sleeps Til My Birthday? by Mark Sperring
Like every small bear, Little Pip can’t wait until his birthday! How will Daddy Grizzle explain just how many sleeps there are to go?
Your experienced readers won’t be able to put down this hilarious chapter book!
Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett
It’s the Birthday Bunny! No, wait…the Battle Bunny? After receiving a birthday book from his grandmother, Alex decides to hijack the surprise birthday party story and turn it into a battle between superhero and villain instead. Illustrations within illustrations and scribbled over text make for a doubly hilarious story that begs to be read over and over again.
Are your kids up for some birthday trivia? There’s much to learn in these non-fiction titles.
Weird But True! Birthdays: 300 Fun-tastic Facts to Celebrate (National Geographic Kids)
Unwrap 300 wacky facts and pictures showcasing the hilarious history, crazy coincidences, awesome astrological beliefs, and surprising statistics behind birthdays.
Happy Birthday to You! The Mystery Behind the Most Famous Song in the World by Margot Theis Raven
In 1889, Patty and Mildred Hill, two Kentucky sisters, wrote the words and composed the melody of “Good Morning to All” for their kindergarten students. Initially written as a simple greeting and welcome, they later changed the words, and birthday celebrations were forever altered.
Tweens and Teens
These birthday-themed books contain just enough drama to keep your teens and tweens enthralled.
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
After celebrating their first nine same-day birthdays together, Amanda and Leo, having argued on their tenth and not spoken to each other for the last year, prepare to celebrate their eleventh birthdays separately. But peculiar things start to happen as the day of their birthday begins to repeat itself over and over again.
11 Before 12 by Lisa Greenwald
Best friends Kaylan and Arianna kick-start middle school with a list of 11 things they want to do to transform themselves before their shared twelfth birthday party.
You’re Invited by Jen Malone & Gail Nall
When 12-year-old Sadie is fired from her mother’s wedding planning company after a disastrous mishap, she starts her own party-planning business and recruits her three best friends.
