List of children's classic books

This is a list of children's classic books published no later than 1990 and still available in the English
language.[1][2][3]

Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century. Before that, books were written mainly for adults –
although some later became popular with children. In Europe, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press
around 1440 made possible mass production of books, though the first printed books were quite expensive and
remained so for a long time. Gradually, however, improvements in printing technology lowered the costs of
publishing and made books more affordable to the working classes, who were also likely to buy smaller and
cheaper broadsides, chapbooks, pamphlets, tracts, and early newspapers, all of which were widely available
before 1800. In the 19th century, improvements in paper production, as well as the invention of cast-iron,
steam-powered printing presses, enabled book publishing on a very large scale, and made books of all kinds
affordable by all.

Scholarship on children's literature includes professional organizations, dedicated publications, and university
courses.

Contents
Before 18th century
18th century
19th century
20th century
See also
References
Further reading

Before 18th century

 Year
Title Author References and Brief Introduction
published
Ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal
fables in verse and prose, in a frame story
Vishnu
Panchatantra c. 800 BC format. Similar stories are found in later works
Sharma
including Aesop's Fables and the Sindbad tales
in Arabian Nights.[4]

Aesop's Fables Aesop c. 600 BC [5][6]

Collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk

11th tales as retold by a Saivite Brahmin named
Kathasaritsagara Somadeva Century Somadeva. Generally believed to derive from
AD Gunadhya's Brhat-katha, written in Paisachi
dialect from the south of India.
before 8th
Arabian Nights unknown century [7][8]
AD
John Earliest picture book specifically for
Orbis Pictus Amos 1658
children.[9][10]
Comenius
A Token for Children. Being An Exact One of the first books specifically written for
Account of the Conversion, Holy and James children which shaped much eighteenth- and
1672
Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths Janeway
early nineteenth-century writing for children.[11]
of several Young Children

18th century
Year
Title Author References
published
Daniel [1][3][12]
Robinson Crusoe 1719
Defoe
Jonathan [1][13]
Gulliver's Travels 1726
Swift
Tales of Mother Charles 1729 [3][2][14]
Goose Perrault (English)
Little Pretty John [15]
1744
Pocket-book Newbery
Little Goody Two Oliver [16]
1765
Shoes Goldsmith
Anna The first series of age-adapted reading primers for children printed
Lessons for
Laetitia 1778-9
Children with large text and wide margins; in print for over a century.[17]
Barbauld
The History of A bestseller for over a century, it embodied Rousseau's educational
Thomas
Sandford and 1783-9
Day ideals.[18]
Merton

19th century
 Title Author Year published References

The Swiss Family Robinson Johann Rudolf Wyss 1812-3 [1]

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King E. T. A. Hoffmann 1816 [19]

Ivanhoe Walter Scott 1819 [20]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving 1819 [1][21]

Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving 1820 [1][22]

Grimm's Fairy Tales Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 1823 (English) [3][23]

A Visit From St. Nicholas Clement Clarke Moore 1823 [3]

Tales of Peter Parley About America Peter Parley (pseudonym) 1827 [3]

Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1838 [1]

Nicholas Nickelby Charles Dickens 1839

A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 [1][2]

The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas, père 1844

Fairy Tales Hans Christian Andersen 1846 (English) [3]

The Children of the New Forest Frederick Marryat 1847

Slovenly Peter Heinrich Hoffmann 1848 (English)

David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1850 [1]

The Wide, Wide World Elizabeth Wetherell (pseudonym) 1850 [3]

The King of the Golden River John Ruskin 1851 [3]

A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1853 [1]

The Coral Island R. M. Ballantyne 1857

Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes 1857 [3]

Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1861 [1][24]

The Water Babies Charles Kingsley 1863 [3]

A Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 [1]

Little Prudy Rebecca Sophia Clarke 1864 [25]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 [1][2]

Max and Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates Mary Mapes Dodge 1865 [1]

Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 [1][3][2]

Ragged Dick Horatio Alger, Jr. 1868 [3]

Lorna Doone R. D. Blackmore 1869

Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances Juliana Horatia Ewing 1869 [26]

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea Jules Verne 1870 [1]

At the Back of the North Wind George MacDonald 1871 [1]

The Brownies and other Tales Juliana Horatia Ewing 1871

The Princess and the Goblin George MacDonald 1871 [3]

Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 [1][3]

Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 [1]

A Dog of Flanders Ouida 1872

What Katy Did Susan Coolidge 1873 [3]

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 [1][3][2][27]

Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 [1][3]

The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain 1881

The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 [1][3][2][27]

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 [2][27]

Nights with Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1883

Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 [1][3][2][27]

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 [1][27]

Heidi Johanna Spyri 1884 (English) [3]

King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1885

Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 [1][2]

Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886 [1][3]

The Happy Prince and Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain 1889
The Blue Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1889

The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 [1][3][2][27]

Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 [3]

The Second Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1895 [1]

Moonfleet J. Meade Falkner 1898

The Black Corsair Emilio Salgari 1898
The Reluctant Dragon Kenneth Grahame 1898
The Story of the Treasure Seekers E. Nesbit 1899

20th century
 Year
Title Author References
published
The
L. Frank [1][3][2][27]
Wonderful 1900
Baum
Wizard of Oz
The Tigers of Emilio
1900
Mompracem Salgari
Five Children [3]
E. Nesbit 1902
and It
Just So Rudyard [1][3][2]
1902
Stories Kipling
The Tale of Beatrix [3][2]
1902
Peter Rabbit Potter
King Arthur
Howard
and His 1902-3
Pyle
Knights
The Call of Jack [1]
1903
the Wild London
Rebecca of Kate
Sunnybrook Douglas 1903 [1]
Farm Wiggin
Frances
A Little [1][3]
Hodgson 1905
Princess
Burnett
The Railway
E. Nesbit 1906
Children
Jack
White Fang 1906
London
Anne of Lucy Maud [1][3]
1908
Green Gables Montgomery
The Wind in Kenneth [1][3][27]
1908
the Willows Grahame
Frances
The Secret [1][3][2]
Hodgson 1909/1911
Garden
Burnett
Peter and [2]
J. M. Barrie 1911 Based on the author's play Peter Pan (1904)
Wendy
Sir Arthur
The Lost
Conan 1912
World
Doyle
Eleanor H. [3]
Pollyanna 1913
Porter
The Magic Norman [28]
1918
Pudding Lindsay
Johnny
Raggedy Ann 1918
Gruelle
The Story of Hugh [1][3][2]
1920
Doctor Dolittle Lofting
The Heart of a Albert 1921 [1]
Dog Payson
Terhune
 Puerto
Rican [29]
Juan Bobo 1921
school
children
The
Margery [1]
Velveteen 1922
Williams
Rabbit
The Voyages
Hugh [1]
of Doctor 1922
Lofting
Dolittle
Charles
The Dark [1]
Boardman 1923
Frigate
Hawes
Smoky the [1]
Will James 1926
Cowhorse
Winnie-the- [1][3][2]
A. A. Milne 1926
Pooh
The House at [1][3]
A. A. Milne 1928
Pooh Corner

Bambi Felix Salten 1928 [1]

The
Trumpeter of Eric P. Kelly 1928 [1]
Krakow
Milly-Molly- Joyce
Mandy Lankester 1928
Stories Brisley
Emil and the Erich [30]
1929
Detectives Kästner
Swallows and Arthur 1930– [3]
Amazons Ransome 1931
Jean de
Babar 1931
Brunhoff
Little House in Laura
the Big Ingalls 1932 [1]
Woods Wilder
P. L.
Mary Poppins 1934
Travers
Noel
Ballet Shoes 1936
Streatfeild
The Story of
Munro Leaf 1936
Ferdinand
J. R. R. [1][3][2][27]
The Hobbit 1937
Tolkien
The Sword in
T. H. White 1938
the Stone
Ludwig
Madeline 1939
Bemelmans
My Name Is William
1940 Children's immigrant experience in the US
Aram Saroyan
Curious H. A. Rey 1941
George
Five on a
Treasure Enid Blyton 1942
Island
Johnny Esther [1][2]
1943
Tremain Forbes
Antoine de
The Little [1][31]
Saint- 1943
Prince
Exupéry
Pippi Astrid [1][32]
1945
Longstocking Lindgren
The Little Elizabeth
1946
White Horse Goudge
Thomas the Wilbert
1946
Tank Engine Awdry
Goodnight Margaret [2][33]
1947
Moon Wise Brown
I Capture the
Dodie Smith 1948
Castle
Finn Family Tove [34]
1949
Moomintroll Jansson
Noddy Goes
Enid Blyton 1949
To Toyland
The Lion, the
Witch, and C.S. Lewis 1950 [1][3][2][27]
the Wardrobe
Charlotte's [1][35][36]
E. B. White 1952
Web
The
Mary Norton 1952
Borrowers
The Children
Lucy M.
of Green 1954
Boston
Knowe
Beezus and Beverly
1955
Ramona Cleary
Kay It was first published in 1955, but was aimed at adults. It was re-
Eloise 1955
Thompson published in 1969, this time marketed to children.
The Hundred
and One Dodie Smith 1956
Dalmatians
Harry the
Gene Zion 1956
Dirty Dog
The Silver Ian
1956 Known in the US as Escape From Warsaw.
Sword Serraillier
The Cat in the
Dr. Seuss 1957 First high quality limited-vocabulary book, written for early readers
Hat
Else
Little Bear Holmelund 1957
Minarik
Tom's Philippa 1958
Midnight Pearce
Garden
A Bear Called Michael
1958
Paddington Bond
Margery
The Rescuers 1959
Sharp
The
Weirdstone of Alan Garner 1960
Brisingamen
James and
the Giant Roald Dahl 1961 [1]
Peach
The Phantom Norton [1]
1961
Tollbooth Juster
Stan and
The Big
Jan 1962
Honey Hunt
Berenstain
A Wrinkle in Madeleine
1962
Time L'Engle
The Wolves
of Willoughby Joan Aiken 1962
Chase
Stig of the
Clive King 1963
Dump
Where the
Maurice
Wild Things 1963
Sendak
Are
Clifford the Norman
1963
Big Red Dog Bridwell
Amelia Peggy
1963
Bedelia Parish
Charlie and
the Chocolate Roald Dahl 1964 [1]
Factory
Flat Stanley Jeff Brown 1964
The Giving Shel
1964
Tree Silverstein
Harriet the Louise
1964
Spy Fitzhugh
Chitty-Chitty-
Bang-Bang:
Ian Fleming 1964
The Magical
Car
The Owl
Alan Garner 1967
Service
With its sequels, it broke ground for epic fantasy in several ways: the
A Wizard of Ursula K. Le first book had a non-white hero, the later books explored the role of
1968
Earthsea Guin gender in fantasy and power, and the quest structure is not good vs.
evil but balance.
The Iron Man Ted Hughes 1968
The Tiger Judith Kerr 1968
Who Came to
Tea
The Very
Hungry Eric Carle 1969
Caterpillar
Charlotte Penelope
1969
Sometimes Farmer
Are You
There, God?
Judy Blume 1970 Approached puberty more openly than children's books had in the past.
It's Me,
Margaret
When Hitler
Stole Pink Judith Kerr 1971
Rabbit
The Lorax Dr Seuss 1971
Watership Richard
1972
Down Adams
Doris Taboo-breaking children's book (Grades 4-6) concerning a child's first
A Taste of
Buchanan 1973
Blackberries grief experience. HarperCollins. 19th edition published 2005.[37][38]
Smith
The Worst
Jill Murphy 1974
Witch
Bridge to Katherine
1977
Terabithia Paterson
Janet and
Each Peach
Allan 1978
Pear Plum
Ahlberg
Raymond
The Snowman 1978
Briggs
The
Michael
Neverending 1979
Ende
Story
The Indian in Lynne Reid
1980
the Cupboard Banks
The Paper Robert
1980
Bag Princess Munsch
Chris Van
Jumanji 1981
Allsburg
Goodnight Michelle
1981
Mister Tom Magorian
The Secret
Diary of Sue
1982
Adrian Mole, Townsend
Aged 13¾
Michael
War Horse 1982
Morpurgo
The Sheep- Dick King-
1983 Filmed as Babe in 1995. Known as Babe, the Gallant Pig in the US.
Pig Smith
The Castle in Elizabeth
1985
the Attic Winthrop
Howl's Moving Diana 1986 Made famous because of the Studio Ghibli movie.
 Castle Wynne
Jones
Madame Published as Alias Madame Doubtfire in the US. Made famous
Anne Fine 1987
Doubtfire because of the film adaptation (Mrs Doubtfire) starring Robin Williams.
Matilda Roald Dahl 1988

See also
List of American children's books
List of children's literature authors
List of fairy tales

References
1. Nesbit, Eva Marie. "Classic novels". Cullinan & Person 2003. pp. 171–175.
2. Silvey 1995, pp. xi–xvi
3. Hunt 2001, p. xvi–xxii
4. Vijay Bedekar (27 December 2008). "Seminar on 'Suhbashita, Panchatantra & Gnomic
Literature in Ancient & Medieval India' " (http://www.orientalthane.com/speeches/speech2008.h
tm). Institute for Oriental Study, Thane. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
5. Silvey 1995, p. 3
6. Temple, Olivia; Temple, Robert K. G. (translators) (1998). Aesop, The Complete Fables (https://
archive.org/details/completefables00aeso). New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044649-4.
7. Silvey 1995, p. 25,86
8. Lyons (2008). Three tales from the Arabian nights. translated by Malcolm C. Lyons, Robert
Irwin, and Ursula Lyons ; with an introduction by Robert Irwin. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-
84614-158-4.
9. Epstein, Connie C. (1991). The Art of Writing for Children (https://archive.org/details/artofwriting
forc0000epst/page/2). Archon Books. p. 2 (https://archive.org/details/artofwritingforc0000epst/p
age/2). ISBN 0-208-02297-X.
10. Comenius, John Amos (1999). Orbis Pictus : [Orbis Sensualium Pictus. A world of things
obvious to the scenes drawn in pictures] ([Faks.Repr.] ed.). Kessinger. ISBN 978-0-7661-0825-
7.
11. Janeway, James (1994). A token for children : being an exact account of the conversion, holy
and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young children in two parts. To which is
added, A token for the children of New England / by Cotton Mather. Pittsburgh, PA: Soli Deo
Gloria Publications. ISBN 978-1-877611-76-6.
12. Defoe, Daniel (2001). Robinson Crusoe (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780375757327)
(Modern Library paperback ed.). New York: The Modern Library. ISBN 978-0-375-75732-7.
13. Swift, Jonathan (2002). Rivero, Albert J. (ed.). Gulliver's travels. Based on the 1726 text :
contexts, criticism (1st ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-95724-2.
14. Perrault, Charles (1963). The complete fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Illustrated by Sally
Holmes ; newly translated by Neil Philip and Nicoletta Simborowski ; with an introduction and
notes on the story by Neil Philip. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 978-0-395-57002-9.
15. Newbery, John, ed. (2009). A Little pretty pocket-book. Dodo Press. ISBN 978-1-4099-4974-9.
16. Welsh, Charles (2010). Goody Two Shoes (reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-162-
75622-6.
17. Pickering, Samuel F., Jr. John Locke and Children's Books in Eighteenth-Century England.
Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1981. ISBN 0-87049-290-X.
18. Darton, F. J. Harvey. Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. 3rd ed. Rev.
Brian Alderson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1982), 146.
19. Hoffman, E.T.A. (2003). The Nutcracker : the heirloom edition. Illustrated by Don Daily.
Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 978-0-7624-1668-4.
20. Scott, Sir Walter (2000). Ivanhoe (1st Tor ed.). New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 978-0-
8125-6565-2.
21. Irving, Washington (1990). The legend of Sleepy Hollow (https://archive.org/details/legendofsle
epyho00irvi). Introduction, afterword by Charles L. Grant] (1st Tor ed.). New York: Tom Doherty
Associates. ISBN 978-0-8125-0475-0.
22. Irving, Washington (1993). Rip Van Winkle and other selected stories (1st Tor ed.). New York:
TOR. ISBN 978-0-8125-2332-4.
23. Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (2006). Owens, Lily (ed.). The complete Brothers Grimm fairy
tales (Deluxe ed.). New York: Gramercy Books. ISBN 978-0-517-22925-5.
24. Nesbit gave an incorrect date of 1863 for the publication. See, for example, Robert L. Patten
(1978), Charles Dickens and His Publishers (https://archive.org/details/charlesdickenshi0000p
att/page/288), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 288–293 (https://archive.org/details/charlesd
ickenshi0000patt/page/288), ISBN 0198120761
25. "Little Prudy" (https://www.loc.gov/item/26003641/). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
20540 USA. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
26. Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature (https://openlibrary.org/work
s/OL15828144W) by Humphrey Carpenter, 1985, Part II, Chapter 1: "It seemed to open the door
to a new way of writing for, and about, children"
27. Baskin, Barbara H.; Harris, Karen. "Classics". Silvey 1995, pp. 140–142.
28. Hunt 2001, p. 36
29. Journal of American Folklore, Vol.34, p. 143; by J. Alden Mason & Aurelio M. Espinosa, ed.;
1921 (https://books.google.com/books?id=B_4oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192) Retrieved 2013-05-
31.
30. Hunt 2001, p. 361
31. Hunt 2001, pp. 569–570
32. Hunt 2001, pp. 406–407
33. Hunt 2001, p. 97
34. Silvey 1995, p. 350
35. Introducing Children's Literature: From Romanticism to Postmodernism by Deborah Cogan
Thacker, Routledge, 2002, page 123
36. 100 Best Books for Children by Anita Silvey, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004, page 131
37. "Doris Buchanan Smith" (http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDeta
ilsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=BIC1&action=e
&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1663000396&mode=view&userGrou
pName=nypl&jsid=3ce48fd1879e2c4e7ba70c5f5862ea9a). St. James Guide to Young Adult
Writers. Gale Biography In Contex. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
38. Trelease, Jim (2006). The Read-Aloud Handbook. New York: Penguin Group (USA)
Incorporated. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-14-303739-2.

Further reading
Kay E. Vandergrift. "Traditional Classics in Children's Literature" (http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/pr
ofessional-development/childlit/HistoryofChildLit/classics.html). Rutgers University. Retrieved
2 December 2011.
Baker, Franklin Thomas; Abbot, Allan (2008) [1908]. A bibliography of children's reading (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=n1ctAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false)
 (digitized ed.). Teachers College.
Cullinan, Bernice E.; Person, Diane G., eds. (2003). The Continuum encyclopedia of children's
literature (Reprinted ed.). New York, NY: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-1516-5.
Hunt, Peter (2001). Children's literature (1st ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-21141-9.
Hunt, Peter, ed. (1996). International companion encyclopedia of children's literature. London:
Routledge. ISBN 9780203168127.
Lundin, Anne (2004). Constructing the canon of children's literature : beyond library walls and
ivory towers. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-8153-3841-4. A scholarly examination of canons of
children's literature.
Silvey, Anita, ed. (1995). Children's books and their creators (https://archive.org/details/children
sbooksth0000unse). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-65380-7. Includes a basic
reading list on pp. xi–xvi.
Spitz, Ellen Handler (2000). Inside picture books. New Haven: Yale University Press.
ISBN 9780300084764.
Thwaite, Mary F. (1972). From primer to pleasure in reading : an introduction to the history of
children's books in England from the invention of printing to 1914 with an outline of some
developments in other countries (https://archive.org/details/fromprimertoplea0000thwa) (1st
American ed.). Boston: The Horn book. ISBN 978-0-87675-275-3.
Zipes, Jack, ed. (2006). The Oxford encyclopedia of children's literature (https://archive.org/deta
ils/oxfordencycloped0000unse_o5w8). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195146565.

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