100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime

The Amazon books editors got together and chose 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime. We defined children's books as those for kids age 12 or younger. We want to know what books you would choose. Add titles below, and vote on the titles added by fellow readers.

See the Amazon editors' list here - http://www.amazon.com/100childrensboo...

After two weeks of voting, here are the results of the readers picks: http://amzn.to/1sQUCMq
1

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4.47 avg rating — 10,123,637 ratings
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2

by
4.20 avg rating — 1,847,761 ratings
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3

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4.24 avg rating — 2,815,486 ratings
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4

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4.16 avg rating — 855,306 ratings
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5

by
4.25 avg rating — 1,007,131 ratings
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6

by
4.19 avg rating — 543,358 ratings
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7

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4.29 avg rating — 4,004,399 ratings
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8

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,178,524 ratings
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9

by
4.33 avg rating — 512,506 ratings
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10

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,247,392 ratings
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11

by
4.34 avg rating — 958,958 ratings
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12

by
4.38 avg rating — 1,132,862 ratings
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13

by
4.31 avg rating — 375,107 ratings
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14

by
4.34 avg rating — 1,409,894 ratings
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15

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,207,197 ratings
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16

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,496,574 ratings
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17

by
4.31 avg rating — 779,718 ratings
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18

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,165,236 ratings
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19

by
4.31 avg rating — 985,942 ratings
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20

by
4.58 avg rating — 4,220,280 ratings
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21

by
4.20 avg rating — 270,089 ratings
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22

by
4.43 avg rating — 3,957,499 ratings
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23

by
4.38 avg rating — 415,576 ratings
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24

by
4.15 avg rating — 200,374 ratings
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25

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,208,215 ratings
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26

by
4.30 avg rating — 259,094 ratings
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27

by
4.19 avg rating — 3,755,605 ratings
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28

by
4.06 avg rating — 566,373 ratings
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29

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,039,141 ratings
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30

by
4.05 avg rating — 548,920 ratings
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31

by
4.04 avg rating — 348,996 ratings
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32

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 455,384 ratings
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33

by
4.37 avg rating — 89,855 ratings
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33

by
4.26 avg rating — 213,150 ratings
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35

by
4.22 avg rating — 307,218 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 246,944 ratings
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37

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,576,068 ratings
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38

by
4.23 avg rating — 484,735 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 333,663 ratings
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40

by
4.35 avg rating — 345,177 ratings
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41

by
4.03 avg rating — 200,111 ratings
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42

by
3.99 avg rating — 279,803 ratings
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43

by
3.92 avg rating — 940,656 ratings
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44

by
4.37 avg rating — 1,092,591 ratings
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45

by
4.36 avg rating — 408,748 ratings
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46

by
4.28 avg rating — 164,962 ratings
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47

by
4.17 avg rating — 136,723 ratings
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48

by
4.19 avg rating — 90,115 ratings
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49

by
4.35 avg rating — 153,289 ratings
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50

by
4.01 avg rating — 219,783 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,268,851 ratings
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52

by
4.28 avg rating — 143,044 ratings
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53

by
4.01 avg rating — 524,007 ratings
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54

by
4.21 avg rating — 244,112 ratings
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55

by
4.19 avg rating — 571,016 ratings
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56

by
4.03 avg rating — 475,857 ratings
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57

by
4.20 avg rating — 287,962 ratings
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58

by
4.16 avg rating — 211,325 ratings
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59

by
4.13 avg rating — 133,908 ratings
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60

by
4.37 avg rating — 92,284 ratings
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61

by
4.36 avg rating — 328,791 ratings
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62

by
4.03 avg rating — 390,277 ratings
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63

by
4.24 avg rating — 93,400 ratings
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64

by
4.20 avg rating — 116,110 ratings
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65

by
4.32 avg rating — 221,821 ratings
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66

by
4.09 avg rating — 258,418 ratings
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67

by
4.10 avg rating — 71,948 ratings
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68

by
4.16 avg rating — 541,250 ratings
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69

by
4.21 avg rating — 53,023 ratings
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70

by
4.36 avg rating — 448,978 ratings
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71

by
3.98 avg rating — 78,413 ratings
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72

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,380,307 ratings
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73

by
4.23 avg rating — 82,905 ratings
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74

by
3.90 avg rating — 275,498 ratings
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75

by
4.16 avg rating — 179,053 ratings
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76

by
4.24 avg rating — 184,881 ratings
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77

by
4.01 avg rating — 413,657 ratings
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78

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 214,274 ratings
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79

by
4.28 avg rating — 298,296 ratings
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80

by
4.21 avg rating — 72,705 ratings
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81

by
3.84 avg rating — 492,461 ratings
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82

by
3.78 avg rating — 395,514 ratings
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83

by
3.90 avg rating — 432,727 ratings
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84

by
4.18 avg rating — 204,538 ratings
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85

by
4.19 avg rating — 113,017 ratings
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86

by
4.31 avg rating — 51,189 ratings
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87

by
4.42 avg rating — 55,524 ratings
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88

by
4.20 avg rating — 33,544 ratings
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89

by
4.18 avg rating — 140,039 ratings
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90

by
4.51 avg rating — 230 ratings
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91

by
4.22 avg rating — 56,456 ratings
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92

by
4.42 avg rating — 24,316 ratings
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92

by
3.94 avg rating — 240,819 ratings
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94

by
4.31 avg rating — 108,264 ratings
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95

by
4.02 avg rating — 152,778 ratings
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96

by
4.27 avg rating — 654,247 ratings
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97

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,531,240 ratings
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98

by
4.36 avg rating — 65,532 ratings
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99

by
4.28 avg rating — 26,388 ratings
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100

by
3.58 avg rating — 847 ratings
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2,205 books · 2,120 voters · list created July 29th, 2014 by Seira Wilson (votes) .
4 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Seira 93 books
28 friends
Melissa 502 books
25 friends
Melissa 479 books
9 friends
Susan 1616 books
58 friends
Cathy 2149 books
95 friends
Janie 194 books
27 friends
C. 271 books
43 friends
Stephanie 684 books
8 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 56 (56 new)


message 1: by Jamie (last edited Jul 29, 2014 09:56AM) (new)

Jamie Voorhies Great list - anyone know if there's a way to sort by appropriate age?


message 2: by Annabel (new)

Annabel Where ON EARTH is Roald Dahl?!?!


message 3: by Annabel (new)

Annabel Dahl added! :)


message 4: by Mhenretig (new)

Mhenretig Also, Mo Willems, lots of Gerald and Piggie books, not to mention Knuffle Bunny books, and the pigeon series are great, too. Kids laugh out loud. Not that many books generate that response.

Also, If you give a pig a pancake.... forget the author, the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton hears a Who and Horton hatches an Egg.


message 5: by Batfan7 (new)

Batfan7 Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!


message 6: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Hunter Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw


message 7: by Marla (new)

Marla Swoffer Some of these books are better understood and appreciated over age 12 - just to name a couple, I read To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn my freshman year in high school. Also, the Harry Potter books were designed to be read one per year, starting at age 11 (his age at the beginning). Ender's Game - also not appropriate for under teens. So much mature content is thrust upon kids so young, robbing them of their innocence and of the riches they could mine from these books when they are more mature.


message 8: by Julie (new)

Julie Haskett The Blah - don't know who it's by maybe somebody Kent.


message 10: by Sarah (last edited Aug 01, 2014 07:45PM) (new)

Sarah Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book.


message 11: by Susan (new)

Susan How is To Kill a Mockingbird a children's book?


message 12: by Barb (new)

Barb Missing a couple of my favorites: Mr. Popper's Penguins and the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle series.


message 13: by Jessica (last edited Aug 03, 2014 09:23AM) (new)

Jessica Batfan7 wrote: "Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!"

I was thinking the same thing. "The Book Thief" is not a children's book!


message 14: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman There is an existing list Best Children's Books which is actually pretty good.

But it is always interesting to start over. The Amazon Editor's list actually isn't bad either.


message 15: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman go list spammers go! I'd say which book but that should be clear by looking at most recent voters.


message 16: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes on 51 ratings. Very impressive.

And to be fair, the 4th is the collected works of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle


message 17: by Batfan7 (new)

Batfan7 I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so highly rated.


message 18: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Mitchell wrote: "We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes on 51 ratings. V..."

w


message 19: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Batfan7 wrote: "I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so highly rated."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming. Maybe research the author some what.


message 20: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Rayna wrote: "Mitchell wrote: "We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes..."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming. Maybe research the author some what.


message 21: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Mitchell wrote: "go list spammers go! I'd say which book but that should be clear by looking at most recent voters."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming.


message 22: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Rayna wrote: "Batfan7 wrote: "I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so hi..."

It has 205 ratings, yet accumulated 62 votes. I really don't think so, expecially beating out some big names. They should not do these votes with no limits. How misleading to the public.


message 23: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Amanda wrote: "Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book."


I read The Hobbit to my kindergartner aloud (so she was at most 7). And I myself read the Hobbit for the first time when I was 13. Based on that I thought it met the criteria of "children's books as those for kids age 12 or younger"


message 24: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman 47 votes on 60 ratings. Hurrah no Goodreads policy related to spamming lists - thus making any but super popular lists very easy to manipulate.

Which is why on my lists I explicitly state something like - any book less than 10 years old with <1000 ratings will be just removed arbitrarily with no notice.


message 25: by Elmena (new)

Elmena How do you vote for lists?lol


message 26: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Elmena wrote: "How do you vote for lists?lol" You either click "vote for this book" for a book already on a list. Or you click on the "add books to list" and pick a book (which could already be on the list or not).


message 27: by Elmena (new)

Elmena Mitchell wrote: "Elmena wrote: "How do you vote for lists?lol" You either click "vote for this book" for a book already on a list. Or you click on the "add books to list" and pick a book (which could already be on ..."
Thanks :) (y)


message 28: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Everson Batfan7 wrote: "Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!"

Animal Farm? Catcher in the Rye? what???


message 29: by Christine (new)

Christine Cunningham hauser Love You Forever


message 30: by J. Dallas (new)

J. Dallas I really enjoyed this list. And had fun voting in it.


message 31: by Nagueyalti (new)

Nagueyalti Warren Virginia Hamilton, The People Could Fly; M.C. Higgens the Great; Zeely; The House of Dies Dear; The Planet of Junior Brown; to name just a few Hamilton books. only one is on your list and it is about animals. She wrote about black people!And where is Lucille Clifton? Everett Anderson series? Alice Walker's Finding the Green Stone. As per usual coming out with a 100 list is short-sighted and biased. why do it?


message 32: by Sandra (new)

Sandra Givens Annabel wrote: "Where ON EARTH is Roald Dahl?!?!"

BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That's three on the list.


message 33: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie Salkin Why are there no poetry anthologies representing today's great children's poets and poetry anthologists e.g. Lee Bennett Hopkins? How can you leave out Jane Yolen and her many award-winning books? What about the Children's Poet Laureates? Are you even aware that there are Children's Poet Laureates e.g. Jack Petrusky who, I believe, was the 1st Children's Poet Laureate?


Cheryl Rives Werner I would like to see the series All of a Kind Family on this list


message 35: by Diane (new)

Diane Kimes Amanda wrote: "Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book."


I read it when I was in fifth grade. I think it just depends on the children and whether they like that type of book.


message 36: by Randi (new)

Randi S The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards. One of my all time favorites and so few people have even heard of it. Must read! Great for kids 3rd grade and up. I love reading it even as an adult. Fantasy based with similar vibe as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe


message 37: by Janice (new)

Janice I very much agree with this message 7: by Literary Mom
Jul 31, 2014 11:05PM


message 38: by Ashlee (new)

Ashlee D. Mitchell wrote: "There is an existing list Best Children's Books which is actually pretty good.

But it is always interesting to start over. The Amazon Editor's list actually isn't bad either."


Mitchell is correct (in my opinion and preferences); the list Best Children's Books he linked above is more along the lines of my favorites too.


message 39: by Michael (new)

Michael Bacon The Hobbit is definitely nothing like a children's book.


message 40: by Amelia (new)

Amelia Villella IT ISN'T!!!!!!


message 41: by Donna (new)

Donna Hall Adventures With Andy & Susie - Donna Hall, Author/Illustrator

Highly reviewed - 5 Star


message 43: by Elaine (new)

Elaine missing Anne of Green Gables. One of my all time forever favorites.


message 44: by Heidi (new)

Heidi The Catcher in the Rye is absolutely not a children's book.

Please delete it.


message 45: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Animal Farm is not a children's book.


message 46: by Heidi (new)

Heidi To Kill a Mockingbird Is not a book for young children.


message 47: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Wuthering Heights is not a book for young children.


message 48: by Leland (new)

Leland P. Any list misses some masterpieces. This list has left out George McDonald's, AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND. I believe anyone who has read it will agree it is a classic. I believe that its absence is do to its being written so long ago and now forgotten.

Leland P Gamson


message 49: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Why don't you add it yourself.
Don't you know how to do that.


message 50: by Katie (new)

Katie Akerman I love looking through these lists and seeing all sorts of books that I read as a child. Its very nice to get Ideas from a list for my children instead of trying to remember all the books that I loved.


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