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
2050 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
2088 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
2101 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2142 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
2436 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2528 The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen Alan Garner 1960 British English
2750 The Montessori Method Maria Montessori 1909 Italian Italian
2750 Struwwelpeter, Or, Merry Rhymes and Funny Pictures... Heinrich Hoffmann 1845 German German
2773 Max And Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865 German German
2841 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
2915 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
3046 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3209 The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton 1943 British English
3256 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
4178 Kleine Gedigten Voor Kinderen Hieronymus van Alphen 1778 Dutch Dutch
4722 My Book House Olive Beaupré Miller 1920 American English
4785 Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan 1985 American English
4948 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
5128 The Influence Ramsey Campbell 1988 British English
5649 Nothing To See Here Kevin Wilson 2019 American English
6555 King Matt The First Janusz Korczak 1923 Polish Polish
6607 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
6653 Invisible Child Andrea Elliott 2021 American English
6665 The Gashlycrumb Tinies Edward Gorey 1963 American English
6699 It's A Good Life Jerome Bixby 1953 American English
6766 A Curious Hieroglyphic Bible Isaiah Thomas 1788 American English
6766 New England Primer Unknown 1687 American English
6766 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
7215 Puck Of Pook's Hill Rudyard Kipling 1906 British English
8682 Fantasy Literature For Children And Young Adults Ruth Nadelman Lynn 1989 American English
8694 Cry, Heart, But Never Break Glenn Ringtved 2001 Danish Danish
9149 The Curve Of Time M. Wylie Blanchet 1961 Canadian English
9600 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
9676 Gone Baby Gone Dennis Lehane 1998 American English
9936 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
10518 The Suitcase Kid Jacqueline Wilson 1992 British English
11267 The Turn Of The Key Ruth Ware 2019 British English
11357 The Illustrated Mum Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11413 Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line Deepa Anappara 2020 Indian English
12083 John Dollar Marianne Wiggins 1989 American English
12513 A Mom's Life Kathryn Grody 1991 American English
12832 Magic Eyes Wendy Ewald 1992 American English
13359 Household Education Harriet Martineau 1848 British English
13498 Jerusalem Plays Hide And Seek Ariella Deem 2021 Unknown Unknown
13591 The School For Good Mothers Jessamine Chan 2022 American English
13599 Les Enfants Gâtés Philippe Heriat French French
13986 Parenting With Love And Logic Foster Cline 1990 American English
14629 Dad Is Fat Jim Gaffigan 2013 American English
14872 The Real Mother Goose Blanche Fisher Wright 1916 American English
14983 God Of Carnage Yasmina Reza 2006 French French
15897 The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton 1939 British English
15897 The Animals' Conference Erich Kästner 1949 German German
15897 Life Among The Savages Shirley Jackson 1953 American English
15897 A Hole Is To Dig Ruth Krauss 1952 American English
15897 Village School Miss Read 1955 British English
15897 Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 Australian English
16566 Anne Of Avonlea L. M. Montgomery 1909 Canadian English
16717 Life With Father Howard Lindsay, Russell Crouse 1939 American English
17117 The Water Is Wide Pat Conroy 1972 American English
17117 Hobby Jane Yolen 1996 American Unknown
17117 Father Goose W. C. Chapman-Mortimer 1899 British Unknown
16759 La edad de oro José Martí 1889 Cuban Spanish
17117 At Freddie's Penelope Fitzgerald 1982 British English
17117 Ние, мушмороците Viktor Samuilov 1981 Bulgarian Bulgarian
17117 Telephone Tales Gianni Rodari 1962 Italian Italian
17117 Войната на таралежите the Mormarev Brothers 1979 Bulgarian Bulgarian
17117 Magic Trees Of The Mind Marion Diamond, Janet Hopson 1998 American English
17117 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17117 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
17117 Candy Experiments Loralee Leavitt 2013 Unknown English
17117 Talking Like The Rain X. J. Kennedy 1992 American English
17117 Pensa Hi Brigitte Labbé 2002 Unknown Unknown
17117 The Emigration To The North Of The Children Of Hathoot Majid Tubia 1974 Egyptian Unknown
16933 The Enchanted Castle Edith Nesbit 1907 British English
17117 Each Kindness Jacqueline Woodson 2012 American English
17117 The Institute Stephen King 2019 American English
17117 Free To Learn Peter O. Gray 2013 American English
17117 Another Day In The Death Of America Gary Younge 2016 British English