Best Childrens Books

[wat??]

Post essential reading for children ages seven through twelve.

My picks,

The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkein
The Chronicles of Narnia (all) - C.S Lewis
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Redwall Series - Brian Jacques

Also include some books which children may not be able to properly read themselves, but would still be good to read with them or to them.

Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams

[Whifflingpin]

Wizard of Earthsea etc - Ursula le Guin

The Blue Hawk, Tulku, Shadow of a Hero, AK, The Tears of a Salamander etc - Peter Dickinson

various books by Joan Aiken

[wat??]

I read those Earthsea books when I was eleven or so, great choice.

[andave_ya]

I LOVE children's literature.

the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series
the Wizard of Oz series
the Chincoteague books
the Peter Rabbit Books
ditto the Chronicles of Narnia books
and the Redwall series.

[Babelfish]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll

[JBI]

A Wizard of the Earthsea, Ursula K. LeGuin.

[seanlol]

The Chronicles of Narnia books and A Series of Unfortunate Events books.

[andave_ya]

Also, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

[Thespian1975]

The Famous Five - Enid Blyton

[TheFifthElement]

Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson

[kelby_lake]

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

[PabloQ]

For them to read:
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
The BFG by Roald Dahl was one of my son's favorites during those years, plus others by Dahl.
The Mouse on the Motorcycle - Beverly Cleary
Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
The Little House on the Prairie books - Laura Ingalls Wilder

It sounds awfully sexist, but have both a daughter and a son and these recommendations on what to read them are based on the types of books the seemed to gravitate to on their own.

To read to boys:
Treasure Island
20,000 Leagues under the Sea

To read to girls:
Little Women
The Anne of Green Gables books
Black Beauty
The Little Princess
The Secret Garden

To read to either or both genders:
Tom Sawyer
Oliver Twist
The Three Musketeers

[wat??]

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I remember that! The colours for the animations were amazing in my version.

Edit: For quote

[Dark Muse]

I read The Little Prince when I was a bit older but it was a very good book and one that has stuck with me.

When I was younger here are my most memoriable and favortie books

The Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Black Stallion books
Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Wild Things Are
Call of the Wild
Asops Fables

[subterranean]

The Famous Five - Enid Blyton

Ow, they were my favorite too! My most adorable young age detectives, the best compare to the rest (i.e. STOP). But overall, Blyton was truly a master.

[kiki1982]

Matilda by Roald Dahl was my absolute favourite! I read it several times and I was not a great reader.
Charlie and de chocolate factory was one as well. My first book in English.

[crystalmoonshin]

Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Animorphs! I started reading those when i was around 8.

Also:
Little Women
Jo's Boys
Roald Dahl's books
Redwall series by Brian Jacques (I still read them. They're great!)
Harry Potter
The Chronicles of Narnia
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

[saba]

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (a personal favorite as a child)

[Tsuyoiko]

Spoilt for choice. I read anything I could get my hands on as a kid. We were allowed six books at a time from the local library, so I would borrow six every Saturday morning and read them over the week. Add to that a couple of books a week from the school library and the hours spent poring over my dad's bookshelves...

I would recommend most of what's already been suggested, and from classic books I would add A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. My mum had a beautiful picture book version that we read together when I was very small. I feel as though I owe my love of reading to that book.

I worked as a school librarian not so long ago, and there are wonderful children's books coming out all the time. I would recommend anything by the following authors:
Philip Pullman
Lemony Snicket
Geraldine McCaughrean
Diana Wynne Jones
Eoin Colfer
Anne Fine

The best children's book I read recently was Holes by Louis Sachar. Un-put-down-able :D

[Mariamosis]

A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle

Tao te Ching - Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell's translation)
(This may not really be a children's book, but my Dad read it to me at 10 and spent time helping me to understand what was being said. I LOVED it!)

[The Comedian]

A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle

I'll second this. Man, I can't believe I didn't think of this one before. It's such a fun read.

[electricpenguin]

Books I loved as a child: Enid Blyton's The Secret Island and The Far-Away Tree; the Kitty books by Bel Mooney; Anne Fine's Flour Babies; Anne Holm's I Am David; all Roald Dahl books, especially Fantastic Mr Fox, James and the Giant Peach, and George's Marvellous Medicine!!


As for contemporary kids books, the Skullduggery Pleasant books are a massive hit with both myself (I'm 25) and my brother (who's 9) - female protagonist helped by a male skeleton necromancer sidekick... pretty exciting stuff! My brother is not a big reader at all, but he has been hooked on these! Also I've just discovered Melvin Burgess' Bloodtide and Bloodsong books, rewrites of the Icelandic Volsunga saga... these are for teens though.