100 Best Children's Classics Books of All Time

Clare MorpurgoThe book is about a girl coming to live in England from India. She is a sickly child who had a pretty awful early childhood in India. (Source)

M G LeonardThe redemptive power of the natural world and gardening was something that struck a chord with me. (Source)

Mary BurkeyOne thing that was also very nice was having a title that’s for younger children recognized as a truly stellar audiobook, because sometimes people think that audiobooks are to help kids learn to read and not for them to fall in love with literature. And that’s what the audiobook recording of Charlotte’s Web does. It lets young kids and their parents revisit a beautiful title and fall in love with... (Source)

Chris AndersonAs a child, they exploded my imagination. (Source)

Lev GrossmanYou win some Turkish delight. Everyone knows Lewis’s Narnia books are a foundational work of the modern fantastic. But I don’t think Lewis gets enough credit for his craft as a writer. Those books are deceptively simple. Look at the way he constructed the opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He puts the shadows of the war in the background, the excitement of a new house in the country... (Source)

Chris AndersonAs a child, they exploded my imagination. (Source)

Amy ChuaMarmee is a character that really resonates for me. She’s obviously not Chinese, but she believes that integrity and hard work are the most important things in life. She holds her daughters to very high standards. She doesn’t sugarcoat much. She also reveals to her rebellious daughter Jo, the star of the book and a character loosely modeled on Louisa May Alcott herself, that she had a bad temper... (Source)

Anne Thériault@mmarmoset I love that book so much, and then I got to see Patty Smith perform the year I read it, and she made a Little Women reference during the show, and my heart overflowed (Source)

Jay KleinbergNancy Drew is another series which follows in those footsteps. The book is all led by her. I think if one looks in the magazine literature it would be hard to find a similar character at that time. These were stories initially published in a magazine and then bound together as a book. (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Barack ObamaDuring a trip to a public library in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood in 2015, Obama shared some of his childhood favorites with a group of young students. He also read (and acted out) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to kids at the White House in 2014. (Source)

Martha StewartIn this photo, Jimmy Fallon and I enjoy slurping Eggs of Newt together for Season-5 of “The Martha Stewart Show." I am dressed as "Queen of the Wild Things" inspired by the beloved Maurice Sendak children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." https://t.co/1ZBqXEW7dC (Source)

Ryan HolidayEqually allegorical, I read The Little Prince for the first time which for some reason I’d never been exposed to before. If you’re in the same boat, read it. It’s short but great. (Source)

Brandon Stanton[Brandon Stanton recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Karen PaolilloThe Little Prince has influenced me in every aspect of my life, from my own emotions and how I feel inwardly, to how I like to view our planet. (Source)

Neil GaimanI think The Wind in the Willows is an excellent candidate for Best Book Ever Written. https://t.co/Uepg8wc1uE (Source)

Melvin BurgessIt’s the first book I fell in love with. The fiction that I liked when I was young was very much about cosy little adventures with animals. (Source)

Trevor PhillipsReading Wind in the Willows opened my eyes to the way the English upper middle classes lived and the things they thought were important. Woods – what the hell were woods? (Source)

Eric Weinstein[Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter.] (Source)

Larry DoyleYou’d have to be a zombie to miss the humour in it – it’s hilarious. Although the book is ancient, the humour feels modern (Source)

Jean WebbAn imaginative, clever and fun fantasy story that satirises nineteenth century England at the same time as celebrating academic thinking. (Source)

Audrey PennI have to go with Black Beauty. It’s very tough for me to read, because of the cruelty. I can’t stand cruelty. I don’t understand it, I will never understand it. Never in a million years. But if you want to take my illness and you want to equate it with anything, you can equate it with Black Beauty. (Source)

Mary KingAs a horsey young girl, it was a wonderful book to have read to you. It was written in 1877, in the first person – ground-breaking at the time. (Source)

Tilly Burnbecause you believe Roald Dahl and trust him and because you know he tells a good story, you immediately accept that he’s telling you to root for Charlie Bucket. And you’re like, Yeah, sure. Here we go! (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Cressida CowellThe Hobbit is such a richly imagined fantasy that, especially as a child, you can live in it. It is so completely immersive. (Source)

Lev GrossmanFirst up, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by JRR Tolkien. But you knew I was going to say that. This one book, which was published in 1937, defined so many variables for the fantasy tradition that are still in place today. Tolkien’s extraordinary achievement was to recover the epic landscapes of Anglo-Saxon myth, bring them back to life, and then to take us through them on foot, so we could... (Source)

Kiran Millwood HargraveThe classic story of Matilda who gets magical powers from reading books. (Source)

Dr. Gabor MatéOne of the seminal books of my childhood. [...] What struck me about Pooh, of course, [was that] there was this bear of little brains who was so much wiser than everybody else. (Source)

Joe Lycettguys i just read this book called harry potter well worth checking out it’s about a really interesting magic lad (Source)

Neal LaytonIt’s a book full of questions, about a boy and a tree, but whether there are any answers there or not is another thing. (Source)

Todd GordonI got to spend lunch with this wonderful group of 5 yr olds reading The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein. Great book and good lesson about the value of friendship! (note, I have permission to post this). https://t.co/HahANdNYpq (Source)

Kaci Lambe KaiI cry every time I read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. That story breaks my heart. I recently read it to my nephew (then five at the time) and I cried the whole time. (Source)

Jean WebbIn this book a family has to negotiate and find out what the rules are for living in the wilds of the American West. (Source)

Walter IsaacsonRead [this book]. (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Michael VossI enjoy nearly everything Mark Twain ever wrote, but my favorite is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This novel showcases Twain at the top of his game in terms of acerbic wit, sharp societal observations and the use of regional dialects - for which he initially garnered great criticism, before the passage of time enabled critics to understand and acknowledge its authenticity. (Source)

Amanda PalmerAbout what love is. A classic, but oh man. As I age, every time I read this aloud I cry a little harder. (Source)

Vanessa KingPippi is simply joyful. She is curious and courageous, creative and kind. (Source)

Maude Garrett@GeekBomb Best use of time travel in a book or series to date (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Barack ObamaDuring a trip to a public library in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood in 2015, Obama shared some of his childhood favorites with a group of young students. He also read (and acted out) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to kids at the White House in 2014. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Where the Wild... (Source)

Michael MorpurgoThis is the first book that I ever read on my own and I take great pleasure and pride in that. It was the first book where I really identified strongly with the boy Jim in it. He was about the same age as I was when I began reading it. (Source)

Tilly BurnI think it is one of his darkest books and I think it’s a very sad book. It’s his first ever children’s book, written in 1961, fresh off the back of writing his short stories. (Source)

Julie Dobbs@mraye I was def channeling Goodnight Moon and love that so many people got it 😍 sweet little book! 🌙 (Source)

Muna AbusulaymanGoodnight Moon and The surprising story of power, taste, educational philosophy, and the crumbling of traditional gatekeepers.. (I loved the book so much, I inscribed "I love you forever, I love you for always" on necklaces for both my daughters.) https://t.co/HUIjJzczP1 (Source)

Julie ZhuoTo this day, I can think of no better book that captures the imagination, wonder and adventure of life that children so intuitively grasp. (Source)

Clara JefferyThe best kids book ever https://t.co/9f3UGfmPdi (Source)

Seth Mandel@kampeas My favorite Dr. Seuss book has always been The Grinch Owns The Libs (Source)

Gary BuryTruthfully, I have 3 young kids so don’t get much time to read other than to my kids at bedtime. So you’ll understand when I say my favourite books are Children's books by Dr Seuss, they’re a joy to read and cover a range of social and political issues with an elegance and simplicity that exceeds many adult books. The anti materialism/ consumerism ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ and ‘The Lorax’... (Source)

Kate MilnerThe exuberance and the sheer energy of it is just fantastic. The rhyme and the repetition give it even more momentum and energy. (Source)

Big Structural Change@siriusclaw Azkaban ftw! Goblet is the worst of the series. Great book though. (Source)

Shami ChakrabartiIt’s all about the War on Terror as far as I’m concerned. (Source)

Audrey PennMy favourite book of all when I was growing up was Pollyanna. Pollyanna was the daughter of a missionary – she had only one parent, her dad. She was very poor and she used to get things out of a missionary barrel. She wanted a doll but instead she got a pair of crutches and she started to cry. Her father said, “Let’s play a glad game”. She said, “There’s nothing glad about crutches”. He said,... (Source)

Georg GreyThe best book on programming for the layman is Alice in Wonderland; but that's because it's the best book on anything for laymen. (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Ovidiu DruganQuestion:What books had the biggest impact on you? (perhaps changed the way you see things, dramatically changed your career path) Answer: Dune – Frank Herbert Write It Down, Make It Happen – Henriette Anne Klauser Two years vacations – Jules Verne (and all the well known books) – navigation & cast away story The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey Huckleberry Finn – Mark... (Source)

Jennifer Gunter@SuetheLibrarian I suppose if you only have one great book in you Watership Down is knocking it out of the park! (Source)

Philip ReeveWatership Down is one of the most famous animal adventures ever written. It is a far stranger book than many people expect. (Source)

Philip ReeveWatership Down is one of the most famous animal adventures ever written. It is a far stranger book than many people expect. (Source)

Danny Meyer@DearDara My 2nd favorite book growing up, just barely edged out by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Source)

Robin StevensThis is an American book that I read as a young child, and it’s a classic in America. It’s a phenomenal book, and one of the cleverest mystery stories I’ve ever read. (Source)

Neal LaytonIt is a very funny story, written in rhyme, with wonderful, crazy Seuss illustrations – and a big environmental message for young readers. (Source)

Gary BuryTruthfully, I have 3 young kids so don’t get much time to read other than to my kids at bedtime. So you’ll understand when I say my favourite books are Children's books by Dr Seuss, they’re a joy to read and cover a range of social and political issues with an elegance and simplicity that exceeds many adult books. The anti materialism/ consumerism ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ and ‘The Lorax’... (Source)

Georgina StevensThe best verse in town, wonderful illustrations and an honest look at what we are doing to our world – with a message that each and every one of us can make the decision to change at any moment. (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Chris GowardNarrowing down a favourite book in either business or non-business from the hundreds of mind-expanding books I've benefited from in the four decades of my life (beginning with Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss) would be impossible. (Source)

Tilly BurnIt’s about the enterprising and wonderful Mr Fox whose family are starving in their burrow. He’s fed up of not having enough food to feed them. Mrs Fox asks him to go out and get some food and he comes up with a phenomenal plan to dig tunnels underneath three farmers, Mr Boggis, Mr Bunce, and Mr Bean and steal chickens and ham, cider and lots of other goodies from them all (Source)

Uta FrithI think of this as a story about our genetic endowment at birth. We are all dealt out gifts of good genes and also some not so good ones. (Source)

Jamie Grayson@frigay13 Boys. My love is very deep for this book & film. This is a painting I have. https://t.co/x7crDkEuFu (Source)

Yaro StarakDuring the early days of my life, my mother read to me the classics, like “The Hobbit”, “The Lord of the Rings”, Enid Blyton, “The Land of the Faraway Tree”, “The Narnia Chronicles”, “The Neverending Story” . All these books were really important to me as a kid and they became just as important to me as an adult because I read through most of them again, for example (obviously) The Lord of the... (Source)

Tim Fargo@Quixoticnance Good point, Nancy. The museum is a powerful experience, esp. when you've read her book. (Source)

Catalina PenciuI'm a huge fan of personal stories and biographies like this one. (Source)

Alice LittleI remember being a fourth grader and trying to check out [this book] and being told it was grossly inappropriate and going so far as to have my parents take it to the school board and petition for me to be allowed to read this book. (Source)

Hannah Fry@robeastaway @icecolbeveridge P.s. you know this is basically the plot to objectively the best book of all time - the wonky donkey (Source)

Alvin LindsayATTENTION: Do you hate your job? "HOW TO ESCAPE THE JOB YOU HATE" FREE Sunday Times Best Seller Book & DVD package will show you a simple way. https://t.co/uLzyBw429W #england #UK #Unitedkingdom shipping ONLY! #business #marketing 😉 ❤ https://t.co/JddHTMJaJj (Source)

Alex StojkovicWarren Buffett and Bill Gates Both Say This is the Best Business Book in the World https://t.co/4xVWetLsvF (Source)

Cressida CowellPublished over 100 years ago yet, because of the brilliant characterisation, it still feels fresh and original today. (Source)