NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

100 Best Children's Books

1906-2006

Biography and History

BULLY FOR YOU, TEDDY ROOSEVELT!
Jean Fritz
The dynamic life of the 26th president who hunted big game animals and fought for conservation.
 

CHARLES A. LINDBERGH: A HUMAN HERO
James Cross Giblin
A fascinating portrait that explores the accomplishments and shortcomings of the adventurous American aviator, enhanced
 

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: A LIFE OF DISCOVERY
Russell Freedman
Photographs and insight portray a dynamic first lady devoted to public service and humanitarian causes.
 

EZRA JACK KEATS
Dean Engel
Fans and young readers alike will be delighted with this insightful story of the beloved picture book author and illustrator.
 

HOMESICK: MY OWN STORY
Jean Fritz
The author's memoir of her childhood in China in the 1920's.
921 Fri

LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY
Russell Freedman
The life of the 16th president movingly portrayed in words and pictures. 1988 Newbery Award.
921 LIN

LITTLE: A WRITER'S EDUCATION
Jean Little
Recollections of her childhood in Taiwan and Canada and what it was like to be almost blind reveal the source for the strength and feelings in her books.
 

LIVES OF THE MUSICIANS
Kathleen Krull
Good times, bad times (and what the neighbors thought) - a witty collection. First in a series.
920 Kru

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL
Anne Frank
The secret journal of a Dutch Jewish girl written during the time her family went into hiding from the Nazis during World War II.
B Fra

LEONARDO da VINCI
Diane Stanley
A recreation of the life of the Renaissance painter and inventor through handsomely detailed illustrations.
921 Vin

Fantasy

CHARLOTTE'S WEB
E. B. White
The story of a little girl named Fern who loves a little pig named Wilbur and of Wilbur's dear friend, Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautiful, large grey spider who lives with Wilbur in the barn.

FALCON'S EGG
Luli Gray
A girl finds a large, hot, red egg in Central Park and cares for the remarkable creature which hatches from it.

THE BOGGART
Susan Cooper
When an ancient and mischievous spirit is accidently transported from Scotland to Toronto, it wreaks havoc for Emily and her brother Jessup.

THE BOOK OF THREE
Lloyd Alexander
Taran, would-be hero and assistant pig-keeper, assembles a group of companions to rescue the oracular pig Hen Wen from the forces of evil. One book in five of the Prydain Chronicles.

THE DARK IS RISING
Susan Cooper
Will Stanton's 11th birthday is the beginning of a frightening yet wonderful discovery of a special gift - immortality and power against the forces of evil.

THE HAUNTING
Margaret Mahy
After a shy and rather withdrawn eight-year-old begins receiving frightening supernatural images and messages, he learns about a family legacy which could be considered a curse or a rare gift.

THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE
C. S. Lewis
Four English children go through a wardrobe door to Narnia where Aslan, the noble lion, fights the spell of the white witch. First in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

THE MOORCHILD
Eloise McGraw
Feeling that she is neither fully human nor "Folk," a changeling learns her true identity and attempts to find the human child whose place she had been given.

THE RETURN OF THE TWELVES
Pauline Clarke
In his new home, a young boy finds twelve old wooden soldiers (all alive) that once belonged to the famous Bronte children.

TUCK EVERLASTING
Natalie Babbitt
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.

Favorite Animal Stories

ABEL'S ISLAND
William Steig
Castaway on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he strugglesto survive and return home.

BABE, THE GALLANT PIG
Dick King-Smith
A piglet destined to be butchered arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.

BUNNICULA
Deborah Howe
Though scoffed at Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny is a vampire.

MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH
Robert O'Brien
In need of help for her children, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory has given them wisdom. 1972 Newbery Award.

POPPY
Avi
A courageous girl mouse embarks on a journey to save her family and defeat the tyrannical horned owl who rules the forest.

SHILOH
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man who shoots deer out of season and mistreats his dogs.1992 Newbery Award.

SOUNDER
William Armstrong
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding with the help of his devoted dog Sounder. 1970 Newbery Award.

THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE
George Selden
A fast-talking mouse and a city-wise cat welcome a country cricket to a new home in a NYC subway station.

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
Sheila Burnford
Two dogs and a cat support each other through hardships, hunger, and danger as they travel two hundred and fifty miles across Canada to reach home.

THE WAINSCOTT WEASEL
Tor Seidler
A sensitive but heroic young weasel finds a way to save his seaside community on Long Island. Beautifully illustrated.

Historical Fiction

ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY
Sydney Taylor
A Jewish family finds life in New York City in the early 20th century a joyous and adventurous experience. First in a series.

BULL RUN
Paul Fleischman
Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.

I, JUAN DE PAREJA
Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
A fictionalized biography of the African slave of the great Spanish painter Velazquez.

LETTERS FROM RIFKA
Karen Hesse
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's perilous 1919 flight from Russia to America, and her own experiences when she has to be left behind in Belgium.

LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura and her pioneer family share a home in the wilderness of Wisconsin in this first of a beloved series.

MORNING GIRL
Michael Dorris
Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her younger brother, Star Boy, who loves the night, take turns describing their life on a Caribbean island just before Columbus lands.

ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
Mildred Taylor
A black family living in Mississippi in 1933 is faced with prejudice. 1977 Newbery Award.

THE MASTER PUPPETEER
Katherine Paterson
In 18th century Osaka, the thirteen-year-old son of a poor puppet-maker becomes a theater apprentice and discovers the identity of the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the starving poor in famine-struck Japan.

THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE
Karen Cushman
In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world. 1996 Newbery Award.

THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND
Elizabeth George Speare
A sixteen-year-old girl from Barbados moves to a Puritan colony in Connecticut and is accused of being a witch.

Humor

FREAKY FRIDAY
Mary Rodgers
A thirteen-year-old girl gains a much more sympathetic understanding of her relationship with her mother when the two switch bodies.

HARRIS AND ME: A SUMMER REMEMBERED
Gary Paulsen
Pig wrestling and mouse hunting are just two of a young boy's raucous escapades the summer he lived on his cousin's farm.

HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS
Thomas Rockwell
Two boys set out to prove that worms can make a delicious meal.

KNIGHTS OF THE KITCHEN TABLE
Jon Scieszka
A magic book transports three boys back to the days of King Arthur in the first book of the "The Time Warp Trio."

LIZARD MUSIC
Daniel Manus Pinkwater
When left to take care of himself, a young boy encounters a community of intelligent lizards who tell him of a little known invasion from outer space.

ORDINARY JACK
Helen Cresswell
An eleven-year-old English boy, Jack, the only "ordinary" member of the talented and eccentric Bagthorpe family, concocts a scheme to distinguish himself as a modern-day prophet. The first book in The Bagthorpe Saga.

SQUASHED
Joan Bauer
Ellie is determined that Max, her 600 pound pumpkin, will win the big weigh-in at the County Fair.

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH
Norton Juster
Milo, a little boy who didn't know what to do with himself, goes through the phantom tollbooth, behind which lies a strange land and even stranger adventures.

THE TWITS
Roald Dahl
The misadventures of two terrible old people who enjoy playing nasty tricks and are finally outwitted a family of monkeys.

UNREAL!
Paul Jennings
Magic underpants, a ghost that haunts an outhouse, and ice cream that can make you smart are some of the ingredients in these "eight surprising stories. 

Mystery

DOWN A DARK HALL
Lois Duncan
Suspicious and uneasy about the atmosphere at her new boarding school, fourteen-year-old Kit slowly realizes why she and the other three students at school were selected.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN: BOY DETECTIVE
Donald Sobol
The first in a series of detective stories in which the reader is challenged to match wits with the ten-year-old mastermind of Idaville's war on crime.

FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER
E. L. Konigsburg
A twelve-year-old girl and her brother run away to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1968 Newbery Award.

THE DOLLHOUSE MURDERS
Betty Ren Wright
A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the middle of the night and dolls that have moved from where she has left them lead Amy and her sister to unravel the mystery surrounding grisly murders that took place years ago.

THE EGYPT GAME
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Melanie and her new friend April enjoy a common interest in ancient Egypt and develop a land of Egypt in an abandoned storage yard.

THE HOUSE OF DIES DREAR
Virginia Hamilton
Thirteen-year-old Thomas and his family move from North Carolina to a strange, old mansion in Ohio which was once a station on the Underground Railroad.

THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS                                                             John Bellairs
A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion that has a clock hidden in the walls which is ticking off the minutes until doomsday.

THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE
Phillip Pullman
In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.

THE VIEW FROM THE CHERRY TREE
Willo Davis Roberts
Rob admits to having seen a murder, but in the confusion of his older sister's wedding no one believes him - except the murderer.

THE WESTING GAME
Ellen Raskin
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. 1979 Newbery Award.

Poetry and Song

A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN
Jack Prelutsky
Humor, rhythm and rhyme abound in nearly 100 poems.
 

AND THE GREEN GRASS GREW ALL AROUND: FOLK POETRY FROM EVERYONE
Alvin Schwartz
Teases and taunts, wishes and warnings - a bouyant collection of beloved childhood nonsense.
 

BRATS
X. J. Kennedy
Forty-two poems describe a variety of particularly unpleasant children.

I AM THE DARKER BROTHER
Arnold Adoff
An anthology of African-American poets.

JOYFUL NOISE
Paul Fleischman
The world of insects captured in poems for two voices that are perfect for reading aloud. 1989 Newbery Award.
 

SINGING AMERICA: POEMS THAT DEFINE A NATION edited
Neil Philip
Poetic voices illuminate the character and history of our country.
 

SOUL LOOKS BACK IN WONDER
Artwork
Tom Feelings and poems such writers as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Askia Toure portray the creativity, strength, and beauty of their African American heritage.
 

THE DREAM KEEPER AND OTHER POEMS
Langston Hughes
Lyrical poems, songs, and blues explore the black experience.

WHAT TO DO WHEN A BUG CRAWLS IN YOUR MOUTH AND OTHER POEMS TO DRIVE YOU BUGGY
Roaches, bees, ants, beetles – silly verse to chuckle over in a colorfully illustrated book.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
Shel Silverstein
A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings.

Science Fiction

A WRINKLE IN TIME
Madeline L'Engle
A trio of whimsical characters, intent on helping Meg find her father, take her, her brother, and a friend on an interplanetary voyage to a distant planet where an omnipotent brain has robotized everyone. 1963 Newbery Award.

ANNA TO THE INFINITE POWER
Mildred Ames
A twelve-year-old math whiz accidentally learns the startling facts about her true identity and her role in an important secret experiment.

CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Louise Lawrence
After a nuclear war devastates the earth, a small band of people struggles for survival in a new world where children are born with mutations.

ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS
Sylvia Engdahl
Three civilizations from different planets in widely varying stages of development clash in what could be either a mutually disastrous or beneficial encounter.

EVA
Peter Dickinson
After a terrible accident, a young girl wakes up to discover that she has been given the body of a chimpanzee.

INTERSTELLAR PIG
William Sleator
Barney's boring seaside vacation suddenly becomes more interesting when the cottage next door is occupied three exotic neighbors who are addicted to a doomsday game.

STINKER FROM SPACE
Pamela Service
An agent of the Sylon Confederacy who is fleeing from enemy ships, crash lands on Earth, transfers his mind to the body of a skunk, and enlists the aid of two children in getting back to his home planet.

THE EAR, THE EYE, AND THE ARM
Nancy Farmer
In 2194 Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine, while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.

THE GIVER
Lois Lowery
At the Ceremony of the Twelves, Jonas begins to learn the horrifying truth about the perfect society in which he has grown up. 1994 Newbery Award.

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS
John Christopher
The harrowing escape of a young boy from a futuristically mechanized tyranny is compellingly described. First book of the author's trilogy about the Tripods, of which The City Of Gold and Lead, and The Pool Of Fire form the second and third books respecti

Stories

SARAH PLAIN AND TALL                                                                                        Patricia MacLachlan
Caleb and Anna hope that the mail-order bride who comes from Maine to their prairie home will stay.
 

Survival / Adventure

A GIRL NAMED DISASTER
Nancy Farmer
While journeying to Zimbabwe, eleven-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits

HATCHET
Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.

ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS
Scott O'Dell
When her younger brother dies in 1800, Karana, an Indian girl, spends eighteen years alone on the Island of San Nicholas, far off the coast of California. 1961 Newbery Award.

JULIE OF THE WOLVES
Jean Craighead George
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended a wolf pack. 1973 Newbery Award.

SAVE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Louise Moeri
After miraculously surviving a Sioux Indian raid on the trail to Oregon, a brother and sister set out with few provisions to find the rest of the settlers.

SLAKE'S LIMBO
Felice Holman
Thirteen-year-old Aremis Slake, hounded his fears and misfortunes, flees them into New York City's subway tunnels, never again--he believes--to emerge.

STONE FOX
John Reynolds Gardiner
Willy tries desperately to win a sled dog race against an enigmatic Indian.

THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE
Avi
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.

THE WHIPPING BOY
Sid Fleischman
A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws. 1987 Newbery Award.

Z FOR ZACHARIAH
Robert O'Brien
Seemingly the only person left alive after the holocaust of a war, a young girl is relieved to see a man arrive into her valley until she realizes that he is a tyrant and she must somehow escape.

Today's Kids

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET
Judy Blume
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

HARRIET THE SPY
Louise Fitzhugh
Precocious, overpriviledged Harriet darts around her Manhattan neighborhood ferreting out the "scoop" on the moving scene.

MANIAC MAGEE
Jerry Spinelli
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries. 1991 Newbery Award.

MOTOWN AND DIDI
Walter Dean Myers
Motown and Didi, two teenage loners in Harlem, become allies in a fight against Touchy, the drug dealer whose dope is destroying Didi's brother, and find themselves falling in love with each other.

SHABANU: DAUGHER OF THE WIND
Suzanne Fisher Staples
When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying

THE FRIENDS
Rosa Guy
A young West Indian girl in Harlem, New York recognizes that her own selfish pride rather than her mother's death and her father's tyrannical behavior created the gulf between her and her best friend.

THE GOATS
Brock Cole
Abandoned on an island by their fellow campers, a boy and a girl learn to survive both physically and emotionally.

TONING THE SWEEP
Angela Johnson
On a trip to the desert to bring her dying grandmother home, Emily learns about the family's tragic past and gains pride as a third generation black woman.

WALK TWO MOONS
Sharon Creech
After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip to Idaho retracing her mother's route. 1995 Newbery Award.

WHAT JAMIE SAW
Carolyn Coman
Having fled to a family friend's hillside trailer after his mother's boyfriend tried to throw his baby sister against a wall, nine-year-old Jamie finds himself living an existence full of uncertainty and fear.