6 Books by YouTube Stars for Young Readers

DanTDM: Trayaurus and the Enchanted Crystal, by DanTDM
This graphic novel is perfect for any middle grader who loves Minecraft—and who doesn’t love Minecraft? DanTDM started his career streaming Minecraft, and in this book, he reimagines the Minecraft-style world with the characters he’s created, making a funny tale of good versus evil. Fans of DanTDM’s videos will especially appreciate the crossovers with his YouTube channel, but with well-drawn panels and an engaging story, this graphic novel will appeal to anyone familiar with Minecraft.

Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome, by Robby Novak and Brad Montague
Robby Novak is Kid President. This young YouTube celebrity touched so many with his earnest and thoughtful videos about how to be a better person, and his book continues that work. With everything from lists to interviews to recipes, this book will spread love and silliness to everyone who reads it. While his last video was uploaded in 2016, your kids may still remember Kid President (or maybe you can introduce them to him), so this is a delightful book to surprise them with.

Generation Next, by Oli White
Oli White is a UK fav YouTube star with over 2 million subscribers, known for his quirky videos about, well, basically everything. His debut novel shares his same quirky sense of humor as it follows a group of teenagers attempting to create a new kind of social media platform. Marketed as young adult, this is a terrific book for those middle grade readers about to transition into YA as it’s an easy read but does have some mature themes.

Casper Lee, by Caspar Lee and Emily Riordan Lee
This one may be cheating because technically the book is written by Casper Lee’s mom. BUT, Casper Lee, of course, doesn’t let his mom have the final say. Casper, with over 7 million subscribers on his channel of the same name, is known for his prank and challenge videos, so you know he has a good sense of humor about his mother’s take on his biography. But thanks to his mom’s perspective, we get to follow Casper from birth. Also for slightly older readers, this book is geared to readers ages 12-17.

Children of Eden, by Joey Graceffa
Joey Graceffa, with over 8 million subscribers on his self-titled channel, is a popular vlogger who has captured the hearts of millions with his earnest and playful videos. But with his debut novel (he also authored a memoir, In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World) he proves his literary chops as well. In this dystopian series starter, we are introduced to the dilemma of Rowan, a second child in a world where second children are not allowed. The dystopian world and page-turning events will suck any reader in from the start as they follow Rowan. Marketed as young adult, this book is also appropriate for a transitioning middle-grade reader.

BONUS: Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy, by Ameriie
This anthology, curated by BookTuber Ameriie, combines a collection of fairy tale stories from some of the most beloved young adult authors and well-known BookTubers (generally, that means YouTubers who review and discuss books). The stories are written from the villain’s perspective as they do villainous acts and marketed as young adult, so this one is also for the more mature middle grade reader. But the premise will delight anyone who’s a fan of either the underlying authors or BookTubers, as the BookTubers provide the prompts and the authors execute it into an awesome story. The BookTubers are also given space to respond after the stories, with either personal essays or literary criticism.