100 Great Children's Books

This is one of the 743 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
14901 Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst 1972 American English
14767 All Of A Kind Family Sydney Taylor 1951 American English
14701 Amelia Bedelia Peggy Parish 1963 American English
3940 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
17007 Bark, George Jules Feiffer 1999 American English
14165 Because Of Winn Dixie Kate DiCamillo 2000 American English
17007 Ben’s Trumpet Rachel Isadora 1979 American English
17007 Big Red Lollipop Rukhsana Khan 2010 Canadian English
17007 The Birchbark House Louise Erdrich 1999 American English
3249 The Book Of Three Lloyd Alexander 1964 American English
10335 The Borrowers Mary Norton 1952 British English
17007 The Bossy Gallito El Gallo De Bodas Lucía M. González 1994 Unknown English
14041 Bread And Jam For Frances Russell Hoban 1964 American English
13034 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
17007 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin Jr. 1967 American English
14039 Caps For Sale Esphyr Slobodkina 1940 American English
777 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
17007 Chains Laurie Halse Anderson 2008 American English
17007 A Chair For My Mother Vera B. Williams 1982 American English
107 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
17007 Chato’s Kitchen Gary Soto 1995 American English
13890 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin Jr. 1989 American English
14901 Corduroy Don Freeman 1968 American English
14678 Curious George H. A. Rey 1941 American English
14098 D'aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths Ingri d'Aulaire 1962 American English
13890 Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! Mo Willems 2003 American English
14165 Esperanza Rising Pam Muñoz Ryan 2000 American English
17007 Freight Train Donald Crews 1978 American English
14676 Frog And Toad Are Friends Arnold Lobel 1970 American English
1939 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
17007 George And Martha James Marshall 1972 American English
1798 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
14633 Go, Dog. Go! P. D. Eastman 1961 American English
634 Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown 1947 American English
17007 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
4454 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4674 Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss 1960 American English
1679 Harold and the Purple Crayon Crockett Johnson 1955 American English
986 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
5621 Hatchet Gary Paulsen 1987 American English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
5222 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
14165 The Invention Of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick 2007 American English
17007 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
14165 Jumanji Chris Van Allsburg 1981 American English
17007 Just A Minute Yuyi Morales 2003 Unknown English
17007 Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse Kevin Henkes 1996 American English
6457 The Lion and the Mouse Jerry Pinkney 2009 American English
379 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
14645 The Little House Virginia Lee Burton 1942 American English
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
17007 Locomotion Jacqueline Woodson 2003 American English
17007 Lon Po Po Ed Young 1989 American English
2083 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
13738 Make Way For Ducklings Robert McCloskey 1941 American English
1343 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
17007 Meet Danitra Brown Nikki Grimes 1984 American English
14679 Millions Of Cats Wanda Gág 1928 American English
17007 Miss Nelson Is Missing! Harry Allard 1977 American English
14701 Mr. Popper's Penguins Florence and Richard Atwater 1938 American English
14161 Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh Robert C. O'Brien 1971 American English
17007 Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters John Steptoe 1987 American English
15786 My Father's Dragon Ruth Stiles Gannett 1948 American English
14901 My Name Is Yoon Helen Recorvits 2003 American English
14901 Olivia Ian Falconer 2000 American English
14165 One Crazy Summer Rita Williams-Garcia 2010 American English
17007 The People Could Fly Virginia Hamilton 1985 American English
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
15786 Pierre Maurice Sendak 1962 American English
17007 Pink And Say Patricia Polacco 1994 American English
265 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
13880 Ramona The Pest Beverly Cleary 1968 American English
17007 Rickshaw Girl Mitali Perkins 2007 American English
1307 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
14901 Rumpelstiltskin Paul O. Zelinsky 1986 American English
17007 A Sick Day For Amos Mc Gee Philip Stead 2010 American English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
17007 Starry River Of The Sky Grace Lin 2012 American English
17007 The Stories Julian Tells Ann Cameron 1981 American English
1053 Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf 1936 American English
14901 Strega Nona Tomie dePaola 1975 American English
15786 Swimmy Leo Lionni 1963 American English
5916 Sylvester And The Magic Pebble William Steig 1969 American English
14109 Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume 1972 American English
17007 The Tales Of Uncle Remus Julius Lester 1987 American English
14901 Tar Beach Faith Ringgold 1991 American English
17007 Ten, Nine, Eight Molly Bang 1983 American English
17007 Tomie De Paola’s Mother Goose Tomie dePaola 1985 American English
14901 The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs Jon Scieszka 1989 American English
17007 Tuesday David Wiesner 1991 American English
1820 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle 1969 American English
14165 The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 Christopher Paul Curtis 1995 American English
5608 The Westing Game Ellen Raskin 1978 American English
14165 When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead 2009 American English
14165 Where Is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox 2004 Australian English
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
17007 Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People’s Ears Verna Aardema 1975 American English
164 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
292 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English