50 Books Every Kid Should Read

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

About this list

Entertainment Weekly, 50 Books

This list presents a curated set of 50 recommended books designed to build a kids’ library and spark a lifelong love of reading, spanning early picture books through teen novels and organized with age-range guidance and short editorial notes; selections are driven by editorial judgment focused on age-appropriateness, lasting literary quality, cultural relevance, award recognition, and the books’ ability to teach empathy, imagination, or essential life lessons, with each entry accompanied by a brief staff-written blurb explaining why it made the cut. The list was put together by Entertainment Weekly’s editorial team and reflects an internal curation process rather than a public poll, with clear age recommendations and occasional references to awards or historical significance noted alongside each entry.

Who Voted: EW Staff, the number of voters and names are unknown

This list was originally published in 2016 and was added to this site about 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
6469 The Lion and the Mouse Jerry Pinkney 2009 American English
4683 Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss 1960 American English
17158 Library Lion Michelle Knudsen 2006 American English
14103 Bread And Jam For Frances Russell Hoban 1964 American English
17158 The Polar Express Chris Van Allsburg 1985 American English
17158 The Mitten Jan Brett 1989 American English
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
2089 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
14985 Strega Nona Tomie dePaola 1975 American English
2540 A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond 1958 British English
5620 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney 2007 American English
12554 Histoire de Babar Jean de Brunhoff 1931 French French
17158 Magic Tree House Mary Pope Osborne 1992 American English
13931 Ramona The Pest Beverly Cleary 1968 American English
14985 Tar Beach Faith Ringgold 1991 American English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
5927 Sylvester And The Magic Pebble William Steig 1969 American English
102 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
2638 The Adventures of Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey 1997 American English
1444 James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl 1961 British English
14232 One Crazy Summer Rita Williams-Garcia 2010 American English
16540 The Black Stallion Walter Farley 1941 American English
4547 Island Of The Blue Dolphins Scott O'Dell 1960 American English
13941 The Tale Of Despereaux Kate DiCamillo 2003 American English
4306 Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls 1961 American English
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
14856 All Of A Kind Family Sydney Taylor 1951 American English
10361 The Borrowers Mary Norton 1952 British English
14163 D'aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths Ingri d'Aulaire 1962 American English
3922 Wonder R. J. Palacio 2012 American English
14232 Esperanza Rising Pam Muñoz Ryan 2000 American English
14985 Smile Raina Telgemeier 2010 American English
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
3152 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
1941 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
1799 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
1308 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
14985 Bud, Not Buddy Christopher Paul Curtis 1999 American English
5232 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
573 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
381 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
13067 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
17158 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Anne Brasheres 2001 American English
1388 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
8548 Monster Walter Dean Myers 1999 American English
779 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
3486 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English