READ ALL ABOUT IT – Top 100 Picks For Kids

Here, listed by category, title, author and illustrator is our list of the best children’s books on the shelves – stories that will excite your kids and remain in their memories for years to come. This list represents the views of parents, children’s literature experts and our own readers.

While not every classic children’s book is listed, these are the books that strike a special chord and stay with us through adulthood.

Books for Babies l Picture Books l Chapter Books l Nonfiction/Poetry

BOOKS FOR BABIES
• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd

• Have You Seen My Duckling?, by Nancy Tafuri

• Pippo (series), by Helen Oxenbury

• Spot (series), by Eric Hill

• Ten, Nine, Eight, by Molly Bang

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

PICTURE BOOKS

• Alfie (series), by Shirley Hughes

• Arthur (series), by Marc Brown

• Babar (series), by Jean De Brunhoff

• Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban

• A Chair for My Mother, by Vera Williams

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Lois Ehlert

• Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes

• Doctor DeSoto, by William Steig

• Dog Heaven, by Cynthia Rylant

• Frog and Toad (series), by Arnold Lobel

• Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson

• Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, by Eric Kimmel, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

• A Hole Is to Dig, by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

• Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Seuss

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

• Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg

• Lon Po Po, by Ed Young

• Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans

• Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

• Martha Speaks, by Susan Meddaugh

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton

• Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag

• Miss Nelson is Missing!, by Harry Allard and James Marshall

• Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney

• The Mitten, by Jan Brett

• Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, by John Burningham

• Olivia, by Ian Falconer

• The Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall

• Peter Rabbit (The Tales of), by Beatrix Potter

• The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg

• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr

• The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats

• The Spider and the Fly, by Mary Howitt, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi

• The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson

• The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden

• The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, illustrated by William Nicholson

• Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, by Varda Aardema, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon click here to see Chapter Books and so much more

CHAPTER BOOKS

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Sir John Tenniel

• Anastasia Krupnik, by Lois Lowry

• Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

• Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo

• The Borrowers (series), by Mary Norton

• Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Patterson

• Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White

• The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen

• Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers

• The Friendship, by Mildred Taylor

• The Giver, by Lois Lowry

• The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Patterson

• Grimms’ Fairy Tales, by the Brothers Grimm

• Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh

• Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling, illustrated by Mary Grandpré

• Hatchet, by Gary Paulson

• Henry and Mudge (series), by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sucie Stevenson

• Holes, by Louis Sachar

• Homer Price (series), by Robert McCloskey

• The Indian in the Cupboard (series), by Lynne Reid Banks

• Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell

• James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl

• Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia series), by C.S. Lewis

• Little House (series), by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• M.C. Higgins the Great, by Virginia Hamilton

• Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli

• Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry

• One-Eyed Cat, by Paula Fox

• Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie

• The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster

• Ramona (series), by Beverly Cleary

• Redwall (series), by Brian Jacques

• Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan

• The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

• Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner

• The Story of Dr. Doolittle, by Hugh Lofting

• Stuart Little, by E.B. White

• The Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars

• The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke

• Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

• Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

• The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

• Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare

• A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

POETRY/NON-FICTION

• Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank

• It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris, illustrated by Michael Emberley

• A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein

• The New Kid on the Block, by Jack Prelutsky

• Talking Like the Rain (anthology), by Dorothy and X.J. Kennedy

• The Way Things Work, by David Macaulay

• You Be Good and I’ll Be Night, by Eve Merriam