First, know phonics and be able to read. Start with the Read with Dot series.
Best long-term reading: Bible
Ages 5-7
365 Read Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories
Bible Ages 8+ (casual English)
The Message
Buy at christianbook.com
Bible Ages 12+ (formal yet natural English)
The New Living Translation
Buy at christianbook.com
Bible for Memorizing (all ages, traditional English)
The New King James Version
Buy at christianbook.com
Bible for Study (word-for-word)
New American Standard (1995)
Buy at christianbook.com
School subjects for students
The Magic School Bus (Science series for many reading levels)
Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different (ISBN 987-1-78747-198-6)
100 Things to Know
100 Things to Know about Science (ISBN 987-1-4095-8218-2)
100 Things to Know about Numbers, Computers & Coding (ISBN 987-1-4749-4299-7)
100 Things to Know about the Human Body (ISBN 978-1-47491-615-8)
100 Things to Know about Space (ISBN 978-1-40959-392-8)
100 Things to Know about History (ISBN 978-1-47492-275-3)
100 Things to Know about Food (ISBN 978-1-40959-861-9)
The Way Things Work
The Way Things Work (ISBN 978-0-39542-857-3)
The New Way Things Work (ISBN 978-0-39593-847-8)
The Way Things Work Now (ISBN 978-0-54482-438-6)
The Way We Work (ISBN 978-0-61823-378-6)
Built to Last (ISBN 978-0-54734-240-5)
Rich Dad Poor Dad (978-1612680194)
Classics by reading level
Age 4–5+
Dr. Seuss (author)
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Fox in Sox
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Horton Hears a Who
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
The Giving Tree
Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury (anthology)
The Berenstain Bears (series)
Little Critter (series)
Age 6+
Stone Soup
The Complete Tales & Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Stuart Little
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Just So Stories
Age 7+
Charlotte’s Web
The Whipping Boy
Roald Dahl (author)
Hans Christian Andersen (author)
Age 8+
Percy Jackson (series)
Sugar Creek Gang (series)
The Cooper Kids Adventure (series)
The Chronicles of Narnia (series)
Little House on the Prairie (series)
Age 9+
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Anne of Green Gables
The Black Stallion
The Hobbit
A Wrinkle in Time
Jungle Book
Harry Potter (series)
Age 10–12+
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Stone Fox
White Fang
Hatchet
The Cay
My Side of the Mountain
Call of the Wild
Flowers for Algernon
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Age 13+
Lord of the Flies
Animal Farm
Fahrenheit 451
Pilgrim’s Progress
The Outsiders
The Screwtape Letters
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
The Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Rings (series)
The Hunger Games (series)
Homer (author)
Shakespeare (author)
Age 16+
1984
Brave New World
The Giver
The Scarlet Letter
Pride and Prejudice
Heart of Darkness
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Les Misérables
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Count of Monte Cristo
Charles Dickens (author)
Edgar Allan Poe (author)
Fyodor Dostoyevski (author)