The Greatest Books of All Time on Children

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
462 The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 1923 Lebanese English
600 Nine Stories J. D. Salinger 1953 American English
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
1277 A High Wind in Jamaica Richard Hughes 1929 British English
1736 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
2052 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
2089 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
2103 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2143 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
2438 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2530 The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen Alan Garner 1960 British English
2752 The Montessori Method Maria Montessori 1909 Italian Italian
2752 Struwwelpeter, Or, Merry Rhymes and Funny Pictures... Heinrich Hoffmann 1845 German German
2774 Max And Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865 German German
2844 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
2917 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
3049 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3210 The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton 1943 British English
3257 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
3321 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3475 Патиланско царство Ran Bosilek 1923 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3547 Five Children And It Edith Nesbit 1902 British English
4179 Kleine Gedigten Voor Kinderen Hieronymus van Alphen 1778 Dutch Dutch
4724 My Book House Olive Beaupré Miller 1920 American English
4787 Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan 1985 American English
4951 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
5131 The Influence Ramsey Campbell 1988 British English
5652 Nothing To See Here Kevin Wilson 2019 American English
6557 King Matt The First Janusz Korczak 1923 Polish Polish
6609 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
6655 Invisible Child Andrea Elliott 2021 American English
6666 The Gashlycrumb Tinies Edward Gorey 1963 American English
6700 It's A Good Life Jerome Bixby 1953 American English
6767 A Curious Hieroglyphic Bible Isaiah Thomas 1788 American English
6767 New England Primer Unknown 1687 American English
6767 Mc Guffey's Newly Revised Eclectic Primer William Holmes McGuffey 1836 American English
7046 The Children's Crusade Florina Ilis 2005 Romanian Romanian
7136 Chronicler Of The Winds Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
7216 Puck Of Pook's Hill Rudyard Kipling 1906 British English
8686 Fantasy Literature For Children And Young Adults Ruth Nadelman Lynn 1989 American English
8698 Cry, Heart, But Never Break Glenn Ringtved 2001 Danish Danish
9154 The Curve Of Time M. Wylie Blanchet 1961 Canadian English
9605 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
9679 Gone Baby Gone Dennis Lehane 1998 American English
9940 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
10523 The Suitcase Kid Jacqueline Wilson 1992 British English
11274 The Turn Of The Key Ruth Ware 2019 British English
11363 The Illustrated Mum Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11419 Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line Deepa Anappara 2020 Indian English
12084 John Dollar Marianne Wiggins 1989 American English
12515 A Mom's Life Kathryn Grody 1991 American English
12834 Magic Eyes Wendy Ewald 1992 American English
13362 Household Education Harriet Martineau 1848 British English
13500 Jerusalem Plays Hide And Seek Ariella Deem 2021 Unknown Unknown
13592 The School For Good Mothers Jessamine Chan 2022 American English
13600 Les Enfants Gâtés Philippe Heriat French French
13986 Parenting With Love And Logic Foster Cline 1990 American English
14630 Dad Is Fat Jim Gaffigan 2013 American English
14876 The Real Mother Goose Blanche Fisher Wright 1916 American English
14985 God Of Carnage Yasmina Reza 2006 French French
15916 The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton 1939 British English
15916 The Animals' Conference Erich Kästner 1949 German German
15916 Life Among The Savages Shirley Jackson 1953 American English
15916 A Hole Is To Dig Ruth Krauss 1952 American English
15916 Village School Miss Read 1955 British English
15916 Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 Australian English
16596 Anne Of Avonlea L. M. Montgomery 1909 Canadian English
16753 Life With Father Howard Lindsay, Russell Crouse 1939 American English
17162 The Water Is Wide Pat Conroy 1972 American English
17162 Hobby Jane Yolen 1996 American Unknown
17162 Father Goose W. C. Chapman-Mortimer 1899 British Unknown
16802 La edad de oro José Martí 1889 Cuban Spanish
17162 At Freddie's Penelope Fitzgerald 1982 British English
17162 Ние, мушмороците Viktor Samuilov 1981 Bulgarian Bulgarian
17162 Telephone Tales Gianni Rodari 1962 Italian Italian
17162 Войната на таралежите the Mormarev Brothers 1979 Bulgarian Bulgarian
17162 Magic Trees Of The Mind Marion Diamond, Janet Hopson 1998 American English
17162 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17162 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
17162 Candy Experiments Loralee Leavitt 2013 Unknown English
17162 Talking Like The Rain X. J. Kennedy 1992 American English
17162 Pensa Hi Brigitte Labbé 2002 Unknown Unknown
17162 The Emigration To The North Of The Children Of Hathoot Majid Tubia 1974 Egyptian Unknown
16990 The Enchanted Castle Edith Nesbit 1907 British English
17162 Each Kindness Jacqueline Woodson 2012 American English
17162 The Institute Stephen King 2019 American English
17162 Free To Learn Peter O. Gray 2013 American English
17162 Another Day In The Death Of America Gary Younge 2016 British English