Top 10 React Books for Beginners in 2024
React JS is a declarative and efficient JavaScript framework to build user interfaces flexibly. It was initially developed by Facebook and is now maintained by all the open-source contributors. The flexibility, better performance, and better usability features of React.js make it a very solid front-end development app.
This article is going to go through a list of some of the best and most helpful React.js books for beginners.
Why Learn React?
There’s never been a better time to learn React. It is one of the top JavaScript frameworks that is trending in every web developer’s list.
A lot of programmers and developers are keen on hopping on the React train. This will open a whole new world of opportunities.
Here are reasons why you should choose to learn React.js:
Simple to learn: React is relatively easy to learn. Any developer with even basic knowledge of JavaScript can build beautiful apps in React after just a few days of learning.
SEO friendly platform: React is widely recognised as the friendliest JavaScript library for SEO purposes. React embraces SEO and its components are easier for Google to crawl.
Optimum Performance with Virtual DOM: React JS overcomes performance issued by using virtual DOM (Document Object Model) which is maintained in memory.
Amazing community: React.js has a massive community of dedicated developers. The community helps to maintain and grow the open-source library.
Popularity: The popularity of React has been growing every year. It is expected to take over AngularJS very soon.
What Makes Best React Books?
To help you in selecting a well-structured and latest React book for beginners, we have narrowed it down to the top 5 best React.js books for beginners.
Here are our criteria for selection of the books:
The book should have visuals, diagrams, and images. They break up the text and make it more readable.
It includes useful tips and techniques, and presents information in an easy-to-digest way.
Engage the learner effectively
Content must be up-to-date and should thoroughly explain the basic concepts of React.js
The book should have a clear layout and must be friendly toward self-taught programmers.
Best Books on React
Here is the list of the top 5 best React js books to read if you want to set yourself apart:
1. Best Book for Total Beginners: The Road to React: Your journey to master plain yet pragmatic React.js (2020 Edition)
The Road to React, by Robin Wieruch, teaches you the fundamentals of React.
You will build a real world application without complicated tooling. It explains general concepts, patterns and best practices in a real world React application.
The book uses a step by step approach to explore the concepts of React and how to use them in modern client applications to power our frontend. The contents covered in the book are:
Fundamentals of React
React’s Legacy
Styling in React
React Maintenance
Real World React (Advanced)
Deploying a React Application
The book comes with additional referenced reading material with each chapter. There are plenty of exercises after each chapter of the book. Besides, the reader will learn how to test their React components and how to organize them in the project.
This is a great book to begin expanding your knowledge of building and using React components.
2. Best Book for Step-by-step Learners: React Explained: Your Step-by-Step Guide to React (2020 Edition)
React Explained: Your Step-by-Step Guide to React by Zac Gordon is a fun and enjoyable introduction to React. The book gives some basic knowledge of how React works. You will learn how to build applications with it.
The book provides some easy-to-follow practice exercises to reinforce what you have learned. The 368-pages book includes the following contents:
The Javascript you should know for React
Helpful developer tools for React
High level overview of React
React Elements and Components Explained
JSX explained
Create React App Explained
Props in React Explained
State in React Explained
The Component Lifecycle Explained
Lifecycle
Context Explained
React Hooks Explained
Project Introduction
Step 1 - Listing Content from State
Step 2 - Routing and Single Content Views
Step 3 - Adding a Content Form
Step 4 - Adding Flash Messages
Step 5 - Updating Content
Step 6 - Deleting Content
Step 7 - Maintaining Persistent State With Local Storage
Step 8 - Authenticating With a Firebase Database
Step 9 - CRUD and Live Syncing With Firebase
Step 10 - Deploying the Project
Step 11 - Refactoring Your Code
By the end of the book, you will be able to create a real-world React project. This book is an absolute must if you want to learn React!
3. Best Book for Serious Learners: Learning React, 2nd Edition
Learning React by Alex Banks and Eve Porcello will help you learn how to build efficient React applications. The reader will learn the React library while learning the latest techniques currently emerging in the JS language.
This hands-on book is divided into twelve chapters and the contents are:
Chapter 1 gives an overview of React
Chapter 2 talks about JavaScript for React
Chapter 3 covers functional programming with Javascript
Chapter 4 talks about how React works
Chapter 5 covers React with JSX
Chapter 6 covers React State Management
Chapter 7 talks about Enhancing Components with Hooks
Chapter 8 talks about incorporating data
Chapter 9 covers suspense
Chapter 10 talks about React testing
Chapter 11 talks about React router
Chapter 12 talks about React and the Server
The book will introduce all of React’s basics from scratch. No prior knowledge of React or functional JavaScript is necessary.
4. Best Book for Learners on a Budget: Beginning React (incl. Redux and React Hooks)
Beginning React by Greg Lim is free with Kindle Unlimited. The book gives a great introduction to React and related technologies. This book is a fun, hands-on and pragmatic journey to master React.js.
Every section of this 166-pages book is written in a bite-sized manner and straight to the point. It is a well designed book and easily understandable. The contents covered in the book are:
Introduction
Creating and Using Components
Bindings, Props, State and Events
Working with Components
Conditional Rendering
Building Controlled Forms
Getting Data From RESTful APIs with Axios
React Routing
C.R.U.D. with Firebase
Introduction to Redux
React with Redux
Introduction to React Hooks
The book is easy to follow and includes illustrations, examples, code snippets, and code explanations. It is a great book for beginners. Through this book, you will start building React apps within minutes.
5. Best Book for Quick Learners: React Key Concepts
React Key Concepts: Consolidate your knowledge of React's core features by Maximilian Schwarzmüller gives a clear, concise explanation of core React 18 functionalities. You’ll gain a deep understanding of key React concepts with the help of step-by-step derivations. The book includes practical exercises that challenge you to apply your new skills and build your own simple apps.
Here’s what you’ll get from the book:
Build modern, user-friendly, and reactive web apps
Create components and utilize props to pass data between them
Handle events, perform state updates, and manage conditional content
Apply styles dynamically and conditionally to create a modern UI
Use advanced state management techniques such as React's context API
Utilize React router to render different pages for different URLs
Understand key best practices and optimization opportunities
The book is well-structured and easy to read. It is full of clear examples and valuable instruction. The clear, concise approach make this fast-paced guide the ideal resource for busy developers. The topics covere in the book are:
React - What and Why
Understanding React Components and JSX
Components and Props
Working with Events and State
Rendering Lists and Conditional Content
Styling React Apps
Portals and Refs
Handling Side Effects
Behind the Scenes of React and Optimization Opportunities
Working With Complex State
Building Custom React Hooks
Multipage Apps with React Router
Managing Data with React Router
Next Steps and Further Resources
This React book is for developers who have prior experience with, or who are currently learning, the basics of React.
This is one of the best books that I’ve read on React. I highly recommend it!
6. Best book for Mastering React Fundamentals: Beginning ReactJS Foundations Building User Interfaces with ReactJS
Beginning ReactJS Foundations Building User Interfaces with ReactJS by Chris Minnick teaches readers how to understand React and how to begin building applications with it. The book walks readers through the fundamental concepts of programming with the explosively popular front-end tool known as React JS.
The book covers all the basic concepts of how React works underhood and gives practical guidelines for writing efficient React code. It offers step-by-step examples of how to build a React app for specific situations. The book:
Explains and clarifies technical terminology with relevant and modern examples to assist people new to programming understand the language
Helps experienced programmers quickly get up to speed with React
Is stocked throughout with practical and applicable examples of day-to-day React work
Perfect for beginner, intermediate, and advanced programmers alike, React JS Foundations
The book is not overburdened with complex and superfluous examples: it's straight to the point. If you want to learn React, this is it.
Take your time with this book, and it will pay off!
7. Best book for fast-paced learners: React Quickly
React Quickly, Second Edition by Morten Barklund and Azat Mardan teaches you the skills you need to build React applications quickly! This fully revised second edition introduces JSX, functional components, React hooks, event and form handling, and more.
Here’s what you’ll get from the book:
Master React fundamentals
Implement best practices and the components of good architecture
Build intuitive user interfaces
Create dynamic components with JSX
Use lightweight functional components in React
Make your app interactive with stateful components
Utilize React hooks
Handle events like button clicks and pass data between components
You’ll explore over 80 useful and practical examples that put React into action. This new second edition has been completely rewritten to cover the latest developments in the React framework. The book is divided into twelve chapters and includes the following topics:
Chapter 1 talks about Meeting React
Chapter 2 covers Baby steps with React
Chapter 3 talks about JSX
Chapter 4 covers Functional Components
Chapter 5 talks about Making React interactive with states
Chapter 6 covers Effects and the React component life cycle
Chapter 7 covers Hooks to fuel your web applications
Chapter 8 talks about Handling events in React
Chapter 9 talks about Working with forms in React
Chapter 10 covers Advanced React hooks for scaling
Chapter 11 covers Project: Website menu
Chapter 12 covers Project: Timer
Chapter 13 covers Project: Task manager
You’ll appreciate the up-to-date coverage of functional components, React hooks, and web accessibility, along with interesting projects to practice your new skill.
8. Best Book for TypeScript Developers: Learn React with TypeScript
Learn React with TypeScript by Carl Rippon is designed to help web developers learn about ReactJS and TypeScript. The book enables you to create well-structured and reusable React components that are easy to read and maintain, leveraging modern design patterns. This second edition of Learn React with TypeScript is updated, enhanced, and improved to cover new features of React 18 including hooks, state management libraries, and features of TypeScript 4.
The book offers a well-structured and comprehensive guide to learning React with TypeScript. It does a great job explaining TypeScript's advanced features and guides you through state management with Redux and GraphQL web APIs.
Here’s what you’ll learn from the book:
Gain first-hand experience of TypeScript and its productivity features
Understand how to transpile your TypeScript code into JavaScript for running in a browser
Build a React frontend codebase with hooks
Interact with REST and GraphQL web APIs
Design and develop strongly typed reusable components
Create automated component tests
The book is divided into twelve chapters and includes the following topics:
Chapter 1 talks about Introducing React
Chapter 2 gives an introduction to TypeScript
Chapter 3 talks about Setting Up React and TypeScript
Chapter 4 talks about Using React Hooks
Chapter 5 talks about Approaches to Styling React Frontends
Chapter 6 covers Routing with React Router
Chapter 7 talks about Working with Forms
Chapter 8 covers State Management
Chapter 9 talks about Interacting with RESTful APIs
Chapter 10 talks about Interacting with GraphQL APIs
Chapter 11 covers Reusable Components
Chapter 12 covers Unit Testing with Jest and React Testing Library
This book is perfect for frontend devs with some knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
9. Best Book for Cross-platform React apps: React and React Native
React and React Native by Mikhail Sakhniuk and Adam Boduch teaches you how to build cross-platform JavaScript and TypeScript apps for the web, desktop, and mobile. You’ll get to grips with React fundamentals and modern React techniques and architecture. This updated fifth edition reflects the current state of React, including React framework coverage as well as TypeScript.
The book does a great job of introducing React to newbies. It starts from the fundamentals and moves later to the hard part! It goes deep into details about everything that you would use in your React project like routing, modularizing, etc. Here’s what you’ll get from the book:
Explore React architecture, component properties, state, and context
Work with React Hooks for handling functions and components
Fetch data from a server using the Fetch API, GraphQL, and WebSockets
Dive into internal and external state management strategies
Build robust user interfaces (UIs) for mobile and desktop apps using Material-UI
Perform unit testing for your components with Vitest and mocking
Manage app performance with server-side rendering, lazy components, and Suspense
The book is divided into twenty-eight chapters and includes the following topics:
Why React?
Rendering with JSX
Understanding React Components and Hooks
State Management in React
Event Handling, the React Way
Crafting Reusable Components
Handling Navigation with Routes
Code Splitting Using Lazy Components and Suspense
User Interface Framework Components
High-Performance State Updates
Fetching Data from a Server
State Management in React
Server-Side Rendering
Unit Testing in React
Why React Native?
React Native Under the Hood
Kickstarting React Native Projects
Building Responsive Layouts with Flexbox
Navigating Between Screens
Rendering Item Lists
Showing Progress
Geolocation and Maps
Collecting User Input
Displaying Modal Screens
Responding to User Gestures
Using Animations
Controlling Image Displays
Going Offline
This book is for any JavaScript or TypeScript developer who wants to start learning how to use React and React Native for web and mobile app development. By the end of this book, you'll have a big-picture view of React and React Native and be able to build applications with both.
10. Best Book for High School and College Students: React.Js Programming, In 8 Hours
React.Js Programming, In 8 Hours by Ray Yao covers all essential React.Js language knowledge. You can learn complete primary skills of React.Js programming fast and easily. The book includes a lot of practical examples, straightforward definitions, and elaborate explanations with a neat layout. You’ll love the distinctive and tidy writing style.
The topics covered in the book are:
Hour 1: What is React.Js, Use React Library, Hello World Program, React.Js Comment, Render, Dynamically Render, Independent File
Hour 2: JSX Expression, Conditional Statement, Element Style, Array Element, Component, Component Parameter
Hour 3: Component Class, Component Class Parameter, Complex Component, Constructor, State Object, About The Palace:
Hour 4: Props Parameter, Props Default Parameter, Event, Arrow Function, Arrow Function Argument, Conditional Render
Hour 5: Arithmetic Operators, Go through Array Elements, setState(), React Inline CSS, Property Names
Hour 6: Life cycle, Constructor(), getDerivedStateFromProps(), render(), componentDidMount(), shouldComponentUpdate()
Hour 7: componentDidUpdate(), getSnapshotBeforeUpdate(), componentWillUnmount(), Form, Submit Form
Hour 8: Click Event, Select Menu, Conditional Rendering, Textarea, Check Error
This book is only suitable for React.Js programming beginners, high school students and college students.
More Ways to Learn React
Each and every one of these books can provide you value if you are new to React. Although books are one of the best ways to learn to program, there are also other means to reinforce learning, such as online tutorials, video lessons, and many more.
And, If you need a course to go along with this book, I highly recommend these online courses:
Udemy: Check out The Complete React Developer Course on Udemy. You will learn how to build and launch React web applications using React, Redux, Webpack, React-Router, and more.
Codecademy: Check out this 20-hour course Learn React. With this course, you will develop a strong understanding of React’s most essential concepts. I’ve personally gone through this course and found it valuable in building muscle memory on core React concepts. For more on Codecademy Pro, see my Codecademy Pro review.
Coursera: Build Your First React Website is a 1-hour long project-based course. You will gain hands-on experience with one of the hottest web development framework, React.
So, what are you waiting for? Start your React.js journey today.