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100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime

The Amazon books editors got together and chose 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime. We defined children's books as those for kids age 12 or younger. We want to know what books you would choose. Add titles below, and vote on the titles added by fellow readers.

See the Amazon editors' list here - http://www.amazon.com/100childrensboo...

After two weeks of voting, here are the results of the readers picks: http://amzn.to/1sQUCMq
1

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4.47 avg rating — 10,071,488 ratings
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2

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4.20 avg rating — 1,838,011 ratings
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3

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4.24 avg rating — 2,803,085 ratings
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4

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4.16 avg rating — 852,378 ratings
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5

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,004,578 ratings
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6

by
4.19 avg rating — 541,434 ratings
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7

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4.29 avg rating — 3,981,444 ratings
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8

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,172,648 ratings
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9

by
4.33 avg rating — 510,961 ratings
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10

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4.15 avg rating — 2,237,231 ratings
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11

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4.34 avg rating — 951,641 ratings
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12

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4.38 avg rating — 1,128,241 ratings
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13

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4.31 avg rating — 374,216 ratings
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14

by
4.34 avg rating — 1,404,829 ratings
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15

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,483,050 ratings
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16

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,203,621 ratings
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17

by
4.31 avg rating — 776,681 ratings
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18

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,133,896 ratings
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19

by
4.31 avg rating — 980,788 ratings
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20

by
4.58 avg rating — 4,194,392 ratings
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21

by
4.20 avg rating — 269,364 ratings
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22

by
4.43 avg rating — 3,936,131 ratings
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23

by
4.38 avg rating — 414,333 ratings
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24

by
4.15 avg rating — 200,087 ratings
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25

by
4.30 avg rating — 258,437 ratings
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26

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,201,789 ratings
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27

by
4.06 avg rating — 564,361 ratings
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28

by
4.19 avg rating — 3,737,475 ratings
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29

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,018,872 ratings
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30

by
4.05 avg rating — 546,951 ratings
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31

by
4.04 avg rating — 347,726 ratings
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32

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 453,744 ratings
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33

by
4.37 avg rating — 89,712 ratings
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33

by
4.26 avg rating — 212,836 ratings
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35

by
4.22 avg rating — 306,493 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 246,337 ratings
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37

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,562,248 ratings
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38

by
4.23 avg rating — 482,829 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 332,810 ratings
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40

by
4.35 avg rating — 344,088 ratings
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41

by
4.03 avg rating — 199,548 ratings
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42

by
3.99 avg rating — 278,668 ratings
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43

by
4.37 avg rating — 1,087,667 ratings
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44

by
3.92 avg rating — 937,375 ratings
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45

by
4.36 avg rating — 407,263 ratings
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46

by
4.28 avg rating — 164,708 ratings
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47

by
4.17 avg rating — 136,565 ratings
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48

by
4.19 avg rating — 89,993 ratings
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49

by
4.35 avg rating — 153,061 ratings
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50

by
4.01 avg rating — 218,655 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,266,392 ratings
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52

by
4.28 avg rating — 142,861 ratings
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53

by
4.01 avg rating — 521,661 ratings
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54

by
4.21 avg rating — 243,671 ratings
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55

by
4.19 avg rating — 568,648 ratings
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56

by
4.03 avg rating — 474,073 ratings
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57

by
4.20 avg rating — 287,067 ratings
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58

by
4.16 avg rating — 210,889 ratings
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59

by
4.13 avg rating — 133,689 ratings
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60

by
4.37 avg rating — 92,178 ratings
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61

by
4.36 avg rating — 327,752 ratings
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62

by
4.03 avg rating — 389,894 ratings
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63

by
4.24 avg rating — 93,242 ratings
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64

by
4.20 avg rating — 115,955 ratings
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65

by
4.32 avg rating — 221,451 ratings
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66

by
4.09 avg rating — 257,426 ratings
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67

by
4.10 avg rating — 71,899 ratings
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68

by
4.16 avg rating — 539,390 ratings
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69

by
4.21 avg rating — 52,981 ratings
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70

by
4.36 avg rating — 447,491 ratings
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71

by
4.23 avg rating — 82,749 ratings
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72

by
3.98 avg rating — 78,170 ratings
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73

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,375,671 ratings
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74

by
3.90 avg rating — 274,578 ratings
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75

by
4.16 avg rating — 178,711 ratings
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76

by
4.24 avg rating — 184,699 ratings
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77

by
4.01 avg rating — 413,011 ratings
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78

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 213,299 ratings
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79

by
4.28 avg rating — 297,645 ratings
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80

by
4.21 avg rating — 72,660 ratings
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81

by
3.84 avg rating — 490,028 ratings
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82

by
3.78 avg rating — 393,676 ratings
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83

by
3.90 avg rating — 430,925 ratings
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84

by
4.18 avg rating — 204,046 ratings
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85

by
4.19 avg rating — 112,843 ratings
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86

by
4.31 avg rating — 51,133 ratings
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87

by
4.42 avg rating — 55,395 ratings
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88

by
4.20 avg rating — 33,539 ratings
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89

by
4.18 avg rating — 139,939 ratings
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90

by
4.52 avg rating — 229 ratings
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91

by
4.22 avg rating — 56,385 ratings
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92

by
4.42 avg rating — 24,269 ratings
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92

by
3.94 avg rating — 239,905 ratings
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94

by
4.31 avg rating — 108,182 ratings
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95

by
4.02 avg rating — 152,426 ratings
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96

by
4.27 avg rating — 651,714 ratings
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97

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,527,048 ratings
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98

by
4.36 avg rating — 65,511 ratings
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99

by
4.28 avg rating — 26,360 ratings
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100

by
3.58 avg rating — 846 ratings
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2,200 books · 2,115 voters · list created July 29th, 2014 by Seira Wilson (votes) .
4 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Seira 93 books
28 friends
Melissa 502 books
25 friends
Melissa 477 books
9 friends
Susan 1609 books
58 friends
Cathy 2134 books
95 friends
Janie 194 books
27 friends
C. 271 books
43 friends
Stephanie 682 books
7 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 56 (56 new)


message 1: by Jamie (last edited Jul 29, 2014 09:56AM) (new)

Jamie Voorhies Great list - anyone know if there's a way to sort by appropriate age?


message 2: by Annabel (new)

Annabel Where ON EARTH is Roald Dahl?!?!


message 3: by Annabel (new)

Annabel Dahl added! :)


message 4: by Mhenretig (new)

Mhenretig Also, Mo Willems, lots of Gerald and Piggie books, not to mention Knuffle Bunny books, and the pigeon series are great, too. Kids laugh out loud. Not that many books generate that response.

Also, If you give a pig a pancake.... forget the author, the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton hears a Who and Horton hatches an Egg.


message 5: by Batfan7 (new)

Batfan7 Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!


message 6: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Hunter Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw


message 7: by Marla (new)

Marla Swoffer Some of these books are better understood and appreciated over age 12 - just to name a couple, I read To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn my freshman year in high school. Also, the Harry Potter books were designed to be read one per year, starting at age 11 (his age at the beginning). Ender's Game - also not appropriate for under teens. So much mature content is thrust upon kids so young, robbing them of their innocence and of the riches they could mine from these books when they are more mature.


message 8: by Julie (new)

Julie Haskett The Blah - don't know who it's by maybe somebody Kent.


message 10: by Sarah (last edited Aug 01, 2014 07:45PM) (new)

Sarah Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book.


message 11: by Susan (new)

Susan How is To Kill a Mockingbird a children's book?


message 12: by Barb (new)

Barb Missing a couple of my favorites: Mr. Popper's Penguins and the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle series.


message 13: by Jessica (last edited Aug 03, 2014 09:23AM) (new)

Jessica Batfan7 wrote: "Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!"

I was thinking the same thing. "The Book Thief" is not a children's book!


message 14: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman There is an existing list Best Children's Books which is actually pretty good.

But it is always interesting to start over. The Amazon Editor's list actually isn't bad either.


message 15: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman go list spammers go! I'd say which book but that should be clear by looking at most recent voters.


message 16: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes on 51 ratings. Very impressive.

And to be fair, the 4th is the collected works of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle


message 17: by Batfan7 (new)

Batfan7 I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so highly rated.


message 18: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Mitchell wrote: "We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes on 51 ratings. V..."

w


message 19: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Batfan7 wrote: "I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so highly rated."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming. Maybe research the author some what.


message 20: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Rayna wrote: "Mitchell wrote: "We now have 3 book on the first page of this list with less than 1000 ratings - One with 41 votes but only 185 ratings. And another with 40 votes by only 229 ratings. And 31 votes..."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming. Maybe research the author some what.


message 21: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Mitchell wrote: "go list spammers go! I'd say which book but that should be clear by looking at most recent voters."

It's very easy to see who is feeding votes, by like what you said. One book particularly that just came out 2 months ago about Tuesday, looks to me to be spamming.


message 22: by Rayna (new)

Rayna Rayna wrote: "Batfan7 wrote: "I think it's lovely that in the top ten, there is a poetry book included. I don't think most children today put much stock into poetry, so it's nice to see something like that so hi..."

It has 205 ratings, yet accumulated 62 votes. I really don't think so, expecially beating out some big names. They should not do these votes with no limits. How misleading to the public.


message 23: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Amanda wrote: "Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book."


I read The Hobbit to my kindergartner aloud (so she was at most 7). And I myself read the Hobbit for the first time when I was 13. Based on that I thought it met the criteria of "children's books as those for kids age 12 or younger"


message 24: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman 47 votes on 60 ratings. Hurrah no Goodreads policy related to spamming lists - thus making any but super popular lists very easy to manipulate.

Which is why on my lists I explicitly state something like - any book less than 10 years old with <1000 ratings will be just removed arbitrarily with no notice.


message 25: by Elmena (new)

Elmena How do you vote for lists?lol


message 26: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Elmena wrote: "How do you vote for lists?lol" You either click "vote for this book" for a book already on a list. Or you click on the "add books to list" and pick a book (which could already be on the list or not).


message 27: by Elmena (new)

Elmena Mitchell wrote: "Elmena wrote: "How do you vote for lists?lol" You either click "vote for this book" for a book already on a list. Or you click on the "add books to list" and pick a book (which could already be on ..."
Thanks :) (y)


message 28: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Everson Batfan7 wrote: "Some of these choices, although good books, are really not for the "Under age 12" crowd. I'm looking at you "Once and Future King"!"

Animal Farm? Catcher in the Rye? what???


message 29: by Christine (new)

Christine Cunningham hauser Love You Forever


message 30: by J. Dallas (new)

J. Dallas I really enjoyed this list. And had fun voting in it.


message 31: by Nagueyalti (new)

Nagueyalti Warren Virginia Hamilton, The People Could Fly; M.C. Higgens the Great; Zeely; The House of Dies Dear; The Planet of Junior Brown; to name just a few Hamilton books. only one is on your list and it is about animals. She wrote about black people!And where is Lucille Clifton? Everett Anderson series? Alice Walker's Finding the Green Stone. As per usual coming out with a 100 list is short-sighted and biased. why do it?


message 32: by Sandra (new)

Sandra Givens Annabel wrote: "Where ON EARTH is Roald Dahl?!?!"

BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That's three on the list.


message 33: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie Salkin Why are there no poetry anthologies representing today's great children's poets and poetry anthologists e.g. Lee Bennett Hopkins? How can you leave out Jane Yolen and her many award-winning books? What about the Children's Poet Laureates? Are you even aware that there are Children's Poet Laureates e.g. Jack Petrusky who, I believe, was the 1st Children's Poet Laureate?


Cheryl Rives Werner I would like to see the series All of a Kind Family on this list


message 35: by Diane (new)

Diane Kimes Amanda wrote: "Although the The Hobbit or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien is a middle-earth shaking epic of genre changing proportions that can be enjoyed by all ages, I wouldn't call it a children's book."


I read it when I was in fifth grade. I think it just depends on the children and whether they like that type of book.


message 36: by Randi (new)

Randi S The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards. One of my all time favorites and so few people have even heard of it. Must read! Great for kids 3rd grade and up. I love reading it even as an adult. Fantasy based with similar vibe as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe


message 37: by Janice (new)

Janice I very much agree with this message 7: by Literary Mom
Jul 31, 2014 11:05PM


message 38: by Ashlee (new)

Ashlee D. Mitchell wrote: "There is an existing list Best Children's Books which is actually pretty good.

But it is always interesting to start over. The Amazon Editor's list actually isn't bad either."


Mitchell is correct (in my opinion and preferences); the list Best Children's Books he linked above is more along the lines of my favorites too.


message 39: by Michael (new)

Michael Bacon The Hobbit is definitely nothing like a children's book.


message 40: by Amelia (new)

Amelia Villella IT ISN'T!!!!!!


message 41: by Donna (new)

Donna Hall Adventures With Andy & Susie - Donna Hall, Author/Illustrator

Highly reviewed - 5 Star


message 43: by Elaine (new)

Elaine missing Anne of Green Gables. One of my all time forever favorites.


message 44: by Heidi (new)

Heidi The Catcher in the Rye is absolutely not a children's book.

Please delete it.


message 45: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Animal Farm is not a children's book.


message 46: by Heidi (new)

Heidi To Kill a Mockingbird Is not a book for young children.


message 47: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Wuthering Heights is not a book for young children.


message 48: by Leland (new)

Leland P. Any list misses some masterpieces. This list has left out George McDonald's, AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND. I believe anyone who has read it will agree it is a classic. I believe that its absence is do to its being written so long ago and now forgotten.

Leland P Gamson


message 49: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Why don't you add it yourself.
Don't you know how to do that.


message 50: by Katie (new)

Katie Akerman I love looking through these lists and seeing all sorts of books that I read as a child. Its very nice to get Ideas from a list for my children instead of trying to remember all the books that I loved.


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