100 Greatest Childrens Books of All Time

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

BBC, 100 Books

BBC Culture polled 177 books experts from 56 countries in order to find the greatest children's books ever. From Where the Wild Things Are to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, here's the top 100.

This list was originally published in 2023 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
267 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
399 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
234 The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
165 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
102 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
1346 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
225 Fairy Tales and Stories Hans Christian Andersen 1835 Danish Danish
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
1821 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle 1969 American English
1005 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
1377 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
867 Heidi Johanna Spyri 1881 Swiss German
636 Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown 1947 American English
684 The Adventures Of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 Italian Italian
278 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
1806 Moominland Midwinter Tove Jansson 1957 Finnish Swedish
4980 I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen 2011 Canadian English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
6931 Duck, Death And The Tulip Wolf Erlbruch 2007 German German
2046 The Brothers Lionheart Astrid Lindgren 1973 Swedish Swedish
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
3217 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
4193 The Three Robbers Tomi Ungerer 1961 French English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
2426 The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr 1968 British English
2086 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
224 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
1548 Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce 1958 British English
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
1014 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter 1902 British English
2436 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2170 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
4540 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
2050 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
1055 Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf 1936 American English
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
1537 The Owl Service Alan Garner 1967 British English
1598 Ronia, The Robber's Daughter Astrid Lindgren 1981 Swedish Swedish
1134 The Neverending Story Michael Ende 1979 German German
563 Panchatantra Unknown -300 Multiple Sanskrit
115 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
1736 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
762 Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfeild 1936 British English
5975 So Much! Trish Cooke 1994 British English
3095 We're Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen 1989 British English
3107 The Adventures Of Cipollino Gianni Rodari 1951 Italian Italian
2194 The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein 1964 American English
3593 The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson 1999 British English
7669 Julián Is A Mermaid Jessica Love 2018 American English
4513 Comet In Moominland Tove Jansson 1946 Finnish Swedish
4516 Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson 1948 Finnish Swedish
1931 The Witches Roald Dahl 1983 British English
2538 A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond 1958 British English
136 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1908 British English
1307 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
1417 Karlson On The Roof Astrid Lindgren 1955 Swedish Swedish
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
4631 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
1941 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
4554 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr 1971 German English
4555 A Naughty Boy G'afur G'ulоm 1940 Uzbek Uzbek
5082 Ernest And Celestine Gabrielle Vincent 1981 French French
9590 A Kind Of Spark Elle McNicoll 2020 Scottish English
3131 Little Nicholas Rene Goscinny 1959 French French
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
3134 Daddy Long Legs Jean Webster 1912 American English
4570 No Kiss For Mother Tomi Ungerer 1973 French English
1172 My Family And Other Animals Gerald Durrell 1956 British English
2808 Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson 1980 American English
1686 The Lorax Dr. Seuss 1971 American English
2331 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
4573 The Moomins And The Great Flood Tove Jansson 1945 Finnish Swedish
340 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 American English
1838 Just William Richmal Crompton 1922 British English
1405 The Twits Roald Dahl 1980 British English
1730 The Mouse And His Child Russell Hoban 1967 American English
6289 Out Of My Mind Sharon M. Draper 2010 American English
4574 Moominvalley In November Tove Jansson 1970 Finnish Swedish
1442 Little House In The Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932 American English
1043 Danny The Champion Of The World Roald Dahl 1975 British English
4862 The Snowman Raymond Briggs 1978 British English
7652 Wave Suzy Lee 2008 Unknown English
4575 The Black Brothers Lisa Tetzner 1941 German German
1853 The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams 1922 British English
3151 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
4459 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
3478 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
1744 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English