100 Great Children's Books

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

About this list

The New York Public Library (NYPL), 100 Books

This list was created by expert children’s librarians at The New York Public Library to celebrate 100 years of inspiring young readers. Curated in 2013, it highlights 100 beloved books published over the prior century that have stood the test of time—or are well on their way to becoming classics. The selection spans picture books, early readers, and middle-grade novels, representing a rich diversity of stories, authors, and cultural perspectives that continue to engage generations of children and their families.

Who voted?
100 Great Children’s Books was selected by The New York
Public Library’s Jeanne Lamb, Coordinator, Youth
Collections, and Elizabeth Bird, Supervising Librarian.

This list was originally published in 2013 and was added to this site about 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14985 Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst 1972 American English
14856 All Of A Kind Family Sydney Taylor 1951 American English
14788 Amelia Bedelia Peggy Parish 1963 American English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
17153 Bark, George Jules Feiffer 1999 American English
14232 Because Of Winn Dixie Kate DiCamillo 2000 American English
17153 Ben’s Trumpet Rachel Isadora 1979 American English
17153 Big Red Lollipop Rukhsana Khan 2010 Canadian English
17153 The Birchbark House Louise Erdrich 1999 American English
3256 The Book Of Three Lloyd Alexander 1964 American English
10359 The Borrowers Mary Norton 1952 British English
17153 The Bossy Gallito El Gallo De Bodas Lucía M. González 1994 Unknown English
14103 Bread And Jam For Frances Russell Hoban 1964 American English
13067 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
17153 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin Jr. 1967 American English
14101 Caps For Sale Esphyr Slobodkina 1940 American English
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
17153 Chains Laurie Halse Anderson 2008 American English
17153 A Chair For My Mother Vera B. Williams 1982 American English
102 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
17153 Chato’s Kitchen Gary Soto 1995 American English
13941 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin Jr. 1989 American English
10722 Corduroy Don Freeman 1968 American English
14765 Curious George H. A. Rey 1941 American English
14163 D'aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths Ingri d'Aulaire 1962 American English
13941 Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! Mo Willems 2003 American English
14232 Esperanza Rising Pam Muñoz Ryan 2000 American English
17153 Freight Train Donald Crews 1978 American English
14763 Frog And Toad Are Friends Arnold Lobel 1970 American English
1941 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
17153 George And Martha James Marshall 1972 American English
1799 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
14716 Go, Dog. Go! P. D. Eastman 1961 American English
636 Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown 1947 American English
17153 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
4459 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4683 Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss 1960 American English
1680 Harold and the Purple Crayon Crockett Johnson 1955 American English
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
5629 Hatchet Gary Paulsen 1987 American English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
5231 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
14232 The Invention Of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick 2007 American English
17153 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
14232 Jumanji Chris Van Allsburg 1981 American English
17153 Just A Minute Yuyi Morales 2003 Unknown English
17153 Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse Kevin Henkes 1996 American English
6469 The Lion and the Mouse Jerry Pinkney 2009 American English
381 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
14728 The Little House Virginia Lee Burton 1942 American English
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
17153 Locomotion Jacqueline Woodson 2003 American English
17153 Lon Po Po Ed Young 1989 American English
2088 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
13790 Make Way For Ducklings Robert McCloskey 1941 American English
1346 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
17153 Meet Danitra Brown Nikki Grimes 1984 American English
14766 Millions Of Cats Wanda Gág 1928 American English
17153 Miss Nelson Is Missing! Harry Allard 1977 American English
14788 Mr. Popper's Penguins Florence and Richard Atwater 1938 American English
14228 Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh Robert C. O'Brien 1971 American English
17153 Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters John Steptoe 1987 American English
15912 My Father's Dragon Ruth Stiles Gannett 1948 American English
14985 My Name Is Yoon Helen Recorvits 2003 American English
14985 Olivia Ian Falconer 2000 American English
14232 One Crazy Summer Rita Williams-Garcia 2010 American English
17153 The People Could Fly Virginia Hamilton 1985 American English
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
15912 Pierre Maurice Sendak 1962 American English
17153 Pink And Say Patricia Polacco 1994 American English
267 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
13931 Ramona The Pest Beverly Cleary 1968 American English
17153 Rickshaw Girl Mitali Perkins 2007 American English
1307 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
14985 Rumpelstiltskin Paul O. Zelinsky 1986 American English
17153 A Sick Day For Amos Mc Gee Philip Stead 2010 American English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
17153 Starry River Of The Sky Grace Lin 2012 American English
17153 The Stories Julian Tells Ann Cameron 1981 American English
1055 Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf 1936 American English
14985 Strega Nona Tomie dePaola 1975 American English
15912 Swimmy Leo Lionni 1963 American English
5926 Sylvester And The Magic Pebble William Steig 1969 American English
14174 Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume 1972 American English
17153 The Tales Of Uncle Remus Julius Lester 1987 American English
14985 Tar Beach Faith Ringgold 1991 American English
17153 Ten, Nine, Eight Molly Bang 1983 American English
17153 Tomie De Paola’s Mother Goose Tomie dePaola 1985 American English
14985 The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs Jon Scieszka 1989 American English
17153 Tuesday David Wiesner 1991 American English
1821 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle 1969 American English
14232 The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 Christopher Paul Curtis 1995 American English
5617 The Westing Game Ellen Raskin 1978 American English
14232 When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead 2009 American English
14232 Where Is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox 2004 Australian English
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
17153 Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People’s Ears Verna Aardema 1975 American English
165 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English