Mountains are the one landscape that argues back. A river will carry you, a field will let you cross it, but a mountain sets terms: the weather changes three times before lunch, the trail is longer than it looked from the parking lot, and the summit stays exactly as far away as it wants to. Children understand this immediately, which is why so much of the best writing for them ends up on a slope somewhere — a boy living inside a hollow hemlock in the Catskills, a girl carried up an Alpine path to a grandfather who does not want her, an errand over Hemlock Mountain that everyone insists has no bears on it. The mountain is never only scenery. It is the thing that has to be gotten over.
Drawing from Bookroo’s collection of 156 mountain books, our editors picked thirteen worth keeping on the shelf: two Newbery Honor classics that have not aged a day, the Caldecott Honor book about the first woman to stand on top of Everest, a gentle cat-carries-the-groceries story for three-year-olds, a Who HQ explainer for the child who wants the altitude in numbers, and a folktale about moving a mountain that Arnold Lobel made funnier than it has any right to be. Start with the shortlist, then browse the whole collection by age — board books for toddlers, picture books for read-alouds and geography units, and chapter books for readers who want the climb at full length.
Sam Gribley leaves New York City with a penknife, forty dollars and some flint, and spends a year in a hollowed-out hemlock on the Catskill slopes.
Grandfather comes up from the coal mine black as night, and Grandmother has already put the cornbread on.
Minli spends her last two coins on a goldfish, then sets off for Never-Ending Mountain to ask the Old Man of the Moon how to change her family's fortune.
Ellie's family lost everything and moved up the mountain. Now her father lies in a coma, everyone blames her, and the cure may be with the woman who lives higher up.
Junko Tabei was told women did not climb. An avalanche buried her camp high on Everest; twelve days later she stood on the summit, the first woman ever to do it.
Heidi is left with a grandfather nobody likes, on a mountain nobody visits, and turns out to be exactly where she belongs.
Every Sunday Mrs. Badger walks up the mountain with a cake, a watering can and her paints. This Sunday she brings Lulu.
Peak Marcello is arrested for climbing a New York skyscraper and shipped to the father he barely knows — who wants him on the summit of Everest before his fifteenth birthday.
Jonathan has to walk over Hemlock Mountain and back to borrow a pot. Everyone assures him there are no bears on Hemlock Mountain.
29,032 feet, two tectonic plates grinding together, a zone near the top where the air will not keep you alive — and a mountain that is still getting taller.
Hilda wakes up in a troll's body, outside the city walls, with the mountain full of trolls who are about to be attacked on her account.
The mountain stood between Dashrath Manjhi's village and the doctor. So he bought a hammer and chisel and started.
The mountain keeps shaking Ming Lo's house. The wise man's solution involves a very long dance backwards.
Bears going over the mountain, little engines getting up one, and first peaks in sturdy cardboard — for ages 0–4.
A little engine faces a daunting mountain with determination and grit.
Discover mountain wonders and adventures in a bedtime journey.
Explore the Adirondacks with a bear duo, discovering wildlife and adventure year-round.
Discover the names of baby mountain animals in this enchanting collection.
A bear's journey reveals unexpected sights beyond the mountain.
Hikes, climbs, Appalachian childhoods, Himalayan legends, and how a mountain gets made in the first place, for ages 4–8.
Follow tracks in the snow to uncover the elusive snow leopard's hidden world.
A small yak discovers her unique talents when faced with a big challenge.
A teacher inspires students to dream of faraway places they'll visit someday.
A fox's quest for a rare plant leads to an unexpected discovery.
A prince, a dragon, and a quest for ice in the land of giants.
A family must find the perfect Christmas tree amidst wartime challenges.
A mysterious bird transforms a desolate mountain.
A mountain twist on Cinderella with a hog fairy godmother.
A cook's ingenuity saves a wilderness expedition, inspiring the National Park Service.
A heroic Saint Bernard saves lives from deadly avalanches.
A warrior's love faces a deadly challenge and a deceitful enemy. Will love conquer all or end in eternal slumber?
A woodstove's glow reveals a girl's world of warmth and imagination.
Everest expeditions, wilderness survival, mountain mysteries, and novels where a whole childhood happens on one ridge, for ages 6–11.
A boy's dream of owning two dogs leads to triumph and tragedy in the Ozarks.
A mountain girl faces a contest to become a princess, risking her home and heart.
A magical compass leads to a daring mountain descent.
A girl must outsmart hunters to save her leopard friend.
A girl must face her fears to save endangered leopards from poachers.
A missing plane, a Yeti skull, and a daring mountain rescue.
A girl battles tradition to electrify her Appalachian home, facing resistance from her own family.
A plane crash in the Himalayas leads to a daring rescue mission.
Separated by fate, can a girl and her dog find their way back to each other across mountains and time?
A desperate plea summons Jayfeather to save a tribe on the brink of extinction.
A forbidden hex unleashes chaos. Can rivals unite to save their town?
A determined girl defies expectations to conquer the world's tallest peak.
