Updated November 7, 2026 · By the Bonus Level Books team · Save to Pinterest
Every December it's the same question: what do you get a kid who only wants game stuff? A book set in a world they already love is a gift that lasts past the first week, and it gets them reading over the break.
Here are our gift picks by age. They're unofficial chapter books with original characters, every book is a complete story, and most come as paperbacks that wrap nicely and fit in a stocking.
Short chapters, simple sentences and lots of action. Great for reading together over the holidays.
Bluet has waited seven whole summers for Firefly Night. Now it's going to rain.
Gentle read-aloud stories about the smallest fairy in a mossy village, and the kindness that makes her brave.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
The dough is awake. And it wants to KEEP you.
Spooky-silly chase stories for younger readers on the bounciest obby course in town.
See the book · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Fall off, float down, try again. That's how the Tower works.
Funny tower-climbing stories for younger readers about falling, laughing and trying one more time.
See the book · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Funny, mysterious or full of animals. Pick the one that matches what they love doing in the game.
Mina Nightshade has one goal this week: be normal. That is very hard when you are an eleven-year-old vampire.
A family of night folk, a nosy neighbor and a lot of sun-sneezes: spooky-funny stories about being proud of who you are.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
The whole town says the fox did it. The detectives say: prove it.
Solve-it-yourself mysteries with fair-play clues, a one-horned goat with opinions and a reveal readers can beat the detectives to.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
My horse thinks she's a unicorn. My little sister agrees with her. I'm the one who cleans her hooves.
Ranch life, brave rescues and a very dramatic white mare who keeps thinking she's something else.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
The Fizzles are ranked dead last. Tonight, they're the only heroes left.
The lowest-ranked squad at a superhero school, where every power works like something from the blocky world.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Pizza-counter chaos, an underdog hero, a race to escape and hide-and-seek where a spoon is a bridge.
Hi! Welcome! Everything is fine! (It is not fine.)
A ten-year-old's after-school job at her friends' favorite pizza game, where every rush hour turns into chaos.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Everyone in Spawnbury thinks Nolan Tibbs just got here. He has lived there his whole life.
The kid everyone calls bacon hair keeps saving the day, and learns that what you wear never decides what you're worth.
See the book · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Crack the terminals. Dodge the Chiller. Go back for your friends before the frost reaches the top.
Four friends race to escape a game facility before time runs out, and nobody gets left behind. Code-breaker puzzles included.
See the book · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
She finds everyone. He has never been found.
Hide-and-seek showdowns where a spoon is a bridge and the seeker glows orange, told by the hider and the seeker in turn.
See all 2 books · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Japanese folklore horror for readers who already love scary stories.
On the shortest day of the year, Sumi Okada hears her little sister call her name from the dark mountain road. Once. But Koto is at home in the bath.
Japanese-folklore horror for brave older readers. Never answer the first call at dusk.
See the book · Start with book 1 on Amazon:
Snowy and holiday adventures, every one a complete story. Book 2 of a series works fine as a first read.
Everyone in Spawnbury thinks Nolan Tibbs just got here. He has lived there his whole life.
Nolan is the only kid in town who still wears the Starter Look: plain shirt, plain pants and brown hair in three flat strips that folks call bacon hair. His family runs the Welcome Hut beside the Spawn Pad.
Crack the terminals. Dodge the Chiller. Go back for your friends before the frost reaches the top.
A Christmas update drops a brand-new map: the Sleigh Hangar, with a giant red sleigh and a row of frost pods that glow cold blue. At midnight on Christmas Eve, it disappears.
The game room closes forever at the Ding. The power keeps going out. And the seeker is now a jar of jam.
Kenta Ward has never been found in a Showdown. Twelve times, Sol Benítez, the best seeker on Quince Street, has hunted him, and twelve times the clock has won. Tonight is a snow day and the last night of a winter event in the Roblox game Hide and Seek Extreme.
Every gift on the mountain has turned to snow, and the whole town says the snow golem did it.
On the morning before Gift Eve, the twelve gift chests at the Whitecap Market Hall should be full of presents. Instead, eleven hold a single snowball each, and a trail of snow runs straight to Sergeant Snowbank, the snow golem who guards the door.
One giant ox. One icy bridge. Three black banners waiting in the dark.
It's update day, and a brand-new zone called Shiver Ridge has opened. Its guardian, Big Shaggy, is a musk ox the size of a hill, and he can out-run anyone who carries his egg. Even the server's fastest player.
My horse thinks she's a snowplow. The snow doesn't agree. Neither do the things that come out of it at night.
Snow never falls on Sunny Meadow Ranch, so ten-year-old Tansy Mayfield and Peony, her very dramatic white mare, have never seen any. Then a letter comes from the snow country. An old friend of Grandpa's has broken her leg, and her three animals are alone with two days of hay.
Giving book 1 and book 2 together means your reader can keep going the minute they finish. These series have two or more books right now: The Dewlight Fairies, Blockburst Academy, Brewstone Academy, The Extra Cheese Crew, The Grand Lantern Hotel, Howlwood Pack, The Lighthouse Lookouts, Night Shift at Pawprint Hospital, The Nightshade Kids, Oddstone Middle School, The Redstone Detectives, Seaglass Mermaids, The Speedy Yolks, Sunny Meadow Ranch, Tiny in a Giant House.
Print our free Winter Break Reading Quest and slip it inside the cover. The gift comes with a game: color one block of ice for every 15 minutes of reading and reach the snow fort before school starts.
Paperbacks are the easiest to wrap and the best fit for a stocking. Order early in December, because shipping slows down right before Christmas. If your reader has a Kindle, the Kindle edition is the instant option.
No. They are unofficial stories with original characters. They are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Mojang, Microsoft, Roblox Corporation or any game's creators.
Any book. Every book is a complete adventure, so book 2 works fine as a first read. If you're giving a set, start with book 1.
Yes. Each story explains what a reader needs to know as it goes.
Our books are unofficial stories with original characters. They are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Mojang, Microsoft, Roblox Corporation or the creators of any game. Minecraft® is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB. ROBLOX is a registered trademark of Roblox Corporation.
Unofficial Minecraft chapter books for ages 6 to 12, sorted by age and mood.
Fiction chapter books for Roblox fans, ages 6 to 14: funny, action, survival and spooky.
Five ways to turn a gamer into a reader, and the books to start with.
Not-too-scary spooky books, sorted from silly to shivery.
Short, easy first chapter books for ages 6 to 8. Great read-alouds.
Snowy mysteries, icy heists and holiday saves. Easy stocking stuffers.
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