By Christie Waldman
August 11, 2020, updated April 8, 2024.
There are so many wonderful children’s books! These are my personal favorites. I just listed a few books at most by any one author. Many of these books hold special memories for me. Feel free to add your own favorites or lists to the comments. Books published recently are most welcome! I also loved to read mysteries as a kid, but I don’t remember the names of any. One of these days maybe I will alphabetize this list by author’s name.
Other lists:
“Children’s Booklist, Compiled by The Children’s Committee of The Theosophical Society, Pasadena, California.” https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/chilbklst/bklst-hp.htm.
“Elisabeth’s Recommended Reading,” News and Updates, download available from ElizabethElliott.org, https://elisabethelliot.org/elisabeths-recommended-reading/.
“The 100 greatest children’s books of all time,” Culture, BBC, May 23, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230522-the-100-greatest-childrens-books-of-all-time.
“50 Essential Children’s Books,” https://www.abebooks.com/books/best-childrens-books/index.shtml.
–Middle Grade
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The, by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorn Clemens).
—-A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
—-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Series.
Beezus and Ramona, by Beverly Cleary. Illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers. New York: Harper Collins reprint 2020. All books by Beverly Cleary (d. March 25, 2021) are great!
—-Dear Mr. Henshaw. Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. New York: Harper Collins reprint, 2000.
Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders.Written in “first-person dog.”
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Written in “first-person horse.”
Blue Willow by Doris Gates. New York: Viking: 1940. Maybe it is a timeless story of a young daughter of a migrant worker.
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White (my favorite of his three children’s novels).
Cat Who Went to Heaven, The, by Elizabeth Coatsworth. One of my daughter’s favorites.
Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. Series.
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. Aladdin Books, 2006 [1881]. Series.
—-Five Little Peppers Midway
Great Gilly Hopkins, The, by Katherine Patterson. http://katherinepaterson.com/. I have not yet read, but want to:
—-The Bridge to Terebithia.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri.
King Matt the First by Janusz Korczak. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. The author ran an orphanage for children during the Holocaust.
Little Lame Prince and his Travelling Cloak, The, by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. London: Daldy Isbister and Co., 1875.
Little Prince, The, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
—-Little Men.
–—Eight Cousins.
Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren. Illustrated by Louis S. Glanzman. Translated by Florence Lamborn. New York: Puffin Books, 1988. Series.
Secret Garden, The, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
—-The Little Princess.
Velveteen Rabbit, The, by Margery Williams.
—-The Little Wooden Doll (Margery Williams Bianco). New York: Macmillan, 1953 [1925]). My mom just let me have her copy to give to her great-grand-daughter. I love the book, but must pass this copy on.
Wind in the Willows, The, by Kenneth Grahame. First published in London by Methuen, 1908. I have very much enjoyed the Commuters Library audio-book, read by Shakespearean actor Ralph Cosham (Sound Room Publishers). It was just the right length for a 6 l/2 hour drive. Here’s what my friend, author Eric Mayer (who, with his wife Mary Reed, is the author of the twelve-volume Byzantine mystery series beginning with One for Sorrow (Poisoned Pen Press) and two “Grace Baxter” mysteries) wrote after reading the book as an adult: https://maywrite.blogspot.com/2004/02/the-orphan-scrivener-issue-twenty-five.html#willows (“Eric’s Bit, or, a Spell Cast by Willows,” The Orphan Scrivener, February 2004).
–Poetry
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. If you can find it, Disney had a nice recording, setting these poems to music. I particularly remember their rendition of “The Swing.”
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein. I was glad I had bought the audio-book as well.
—-Where the Sidewalk Ends.
A Special Collection: Illustrated Poems for Children. Illustrated by Krystyna Orska. My husband and I bought this book used at the SIU campus-wide yard sale when I was in late pregnancy with our first child. It became a family favorite. I bought each of my adult children a copy. Some of our favorites were: “Custard the Dragon,” “The Highwayman,” and “Eletelephony.”
Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
–Picture Books
A Baby Sister for Frances by Tana and Russell Hoban. New York: Harper Collins, 2011. This is nice for an older sibling when a new baby will be joining the family.
—-Bread and Jam for Frances.
Babar by Jean de Brunhoff (Histoire de Babar. 1931 (French); 1933 (English). These are based on stories Jean’s wife Cecile told their children. A.A. Milne helped it to get published in England and the United States as The Story of Babar. One of my children was very fond of these stories.
Blueberries for Sal, written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey.
—-Make Way for Ducklings. New York: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1941.
Corduroy the Bear. New York: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1968. All by Don Freeman. I remember the day I discovered Don Freeman, in the Mount Carmel, Illinois public library. My youngest was about eight months old. I love all his books.
Faye and Dolores, by Barbara Samuels. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985. Fun!
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.
Heartaches of a French Cat, The. Written and illustrated by Barbara McClintock. New York: Godine, 1989. Based on a Balzac novel. One might call it a graphic novel with beautiful art.
Little Engine That Could, The, by Watty Piper. Platt & Munk, 1930.
Little House, The, by Virginia Lee Burton. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers, Anniversary Edition, 2017.
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmens. New York: Viking Press, 1967. All the Madeleine books.
Story about Ping, The, by Marjorie Flack. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, reissue, 2014.
Story of Ferdinand, The, by Munro Leaf.
Wild Baby, The, by Barbro Lindgren. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1981. Fun!
Easy Readers
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman.
Cat in the Hat, The, by “Dr. Seuss” (Theodore Geisel). New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1957. All by this beloved author.
Five Chinese Brothers, The, by Claire Huchet Bishop. Illustrated by Kurt Weise. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938. I loved this in the first grade.
Frog and Toad Together, Days with Frog and Toad, Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel. Series.
—-Owl at Home. Story collection, includes “Tear-Water Tea.” “Tear-water tea is always very good.”
Chapter Books
Toy House Dolls, The (also published as Open the Doors and See all the People), by Clyde Robert Bulla (1914 – 2007). Scholastic, 1974. Bulla, of Missouri, wrote over 50 published books for children. I just finished reading his short autobiographical book for children, A Grain of Wheat: A Writer Begins. Boston: David R. Godine, 1985.
Story Collections
Adventures of Yemima and other Stories, The, by Abraham Soyer. New York: Viking Press, 1979.
Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson. Translated by Mrs. E.V. Lucas and Mrs. H. B. Paull. Illustrated by Arthur Szyk. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1945.
Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories (series), by Arthur Stanley Maxwell. We had several volumes of these when I was growing up. They were a gift from my grandmother. I still remember some of the stories and pictures. It looks like there are twenty-one volumes in all.