List of children's classic books

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See also: Children's literature

This is a list of children's classic books published at least 20 years ago and still available in the English language.

Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century. Before that, books were written mainly for adults – although some later became popular with children. Most printed works were hard to come by due to their cost and were mostly available for purchase only by upper class society. Scholarship on children's literature includes professional organizations, dedicated publications, and university courses.

Contents

[edit] Before 18th century

Title Author Year published References
Aesop's Fables Aesop c. 600 BC [1][2]
Arabian Nights unknown before 8th century AD [3][4]
Orbis Pictus John Amos Comenius 1658 Earliest picture book specifically for children.[5][6]
A Token for Children. Being An Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths of several Young Children James Janeway 1672 One of the first books specifically written for children which shaped much eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century writing for children.[citation needed][7]

[edit] 18th century

Title Author Year published References
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1719 [8][9][10]
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 [8][11]
Tales of Mother Goose Charles Perrault 1729 (English) [9][12][13]
Little Pretty Pocket-book John Newbery 1744 [14]
Little Goody Two Shoes Oliver Goldsmith 1765 [15]
Lessons for Children Anna Laetitia Barbauld 1778-9 The first series of age-adapted reading primers for children printed with large text and wide margins; in print for over a century.[16]
The History of Sandford and Merton Thomas Day 1783-9 A bestseller for over a century, it embodied Rousseau's educational ideals.[17]

[edit] 19th century

Title Author Year published References
The Swiss Family Robinson Johann Rudolf Wyss 1812-3 [8]
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King E. T. A. Hoffman 1816 [18]
Ivanhoe Walter Scott 1819 [19]
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving 1819 [8][20]
Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving 1820 [8][21]
Grimm's Fairy Tales Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 1823 (English) [9][22]
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 [8][12]
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas, père 1844
Fairy Tales Hans Christian Andersen 1846 (English) [9]
The Children of the New Forest Frederick Marryat 1847
Slovenly Peter Heinrich Hoffmann 1848 (English)
David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1850 [8]
Little Eva: The Flower of the South Philip J. Cozans 1853 First known children's novel to feature racial (i.e. pro-slavery) bias.[citation needed]
The King of the Golden River John Ruskin 1851 [9]
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1853 [8]
The Coral Island R. M. Ballantyne 1857
Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes 1857 [9]
The Water Babies Charles Kingsley 1863 [9]
A Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 [8]
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 [8][12]
Max and Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates Mary Mapes Dodge 1865 [8]
Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 [8][9][12]
Lorna Doone R. D. Blackmore 1869
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea Jules Verne 1870 [8]
At the Back of the North Wind George MacDonald 1871
The Princess and the Goblin George MacDonald 1871 [9]
Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 [8][9]
A Dog of Flanders Ouida 1872
What Katy Did Susan Coolidge 1873 [9]
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 [8][9][12][23]
Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 [8][9]
The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 [8][9][12][23]
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 [12][23]
Nights with Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1883
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 [8][9][12][23]
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 [8][23]
Heidi Johanna Spyri 1884 (English) [9]
King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1885
Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 [8][12]
Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886 [8][9]
The Happy Prince and Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888
The Blue Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1889
The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 [8][9][12][23]
Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 [9]
Moonfleet J. Meade Falkner 1898
The Story of the Treasure Seekers E. Nesbit 1899

[edit] 20th century

Title Author Year published References
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 [9][12][23]
Five Children and It E. Nesbit 1902 [9]
Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling 1902 [9][12]
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter 1902 [9][12]
King Arthur and His Knights Howard Pyle 1902-3
The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903 [8]
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Kate Douglas Wiggin 1903
Peter Pan J. M. Barrie 1904 [12]
A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 [9]
The Railway Children E. Nesbit 1906
White Fang Jack London 1906
Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery 1908 [8][9]
The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1908 [8][9][23]
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1909/1911 [8][9][12]
The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1912
Pollyanna Eleanor H. Porter 1913 [9]
The Magic Pudding Norman Lindsay 1918 [24]
The Story of Doctor Dolittle Hugh Lofting 1920 [8][9][12]
Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 [8][9][12]
The House at Pooh Corner A. A. Milne 1927 [8][9]
Emil and the Detectives Erich Kästner 1929 [25]
Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 1930–1931 [9]
Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932 [8]
The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 [8][9][12][23]
Curious George H. A. Rey 1941
Five on a Treasure Island Enid Blyton 1942
Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 [12]
The Reluctant Dragon Kenneth Grahame 1938 [12]
The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 [26]
Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 [8][27]
The Little White Horse Elizabeth Goudge 1946
Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown 1947 [12][28]
Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson 1949 [29]
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis 1950 [8][9][12][23]
The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 First high quality limited-vocabulary book, written for early readers[citation needed]
James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl 1961
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1962 Pulitzer for book market to children; also seminal work on race.[citation needed]
Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl 1964
A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 and sequels broke ground for epic fantasy in several ways: the first book had a non-white hero, the later books explored the role of gender in fantasy and power, and the quest structure is not good vs. evil but balance.[citation needed]
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 approached puberty more openly than children's books had in the past.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Silvey 1995, p. 3
  2. ^ Temple, Olivia; Temple, Robert K. G. (translators) (1998). Aesop, The Complete Fables. New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044649-4. 
  3. ^ Silvey 1995, p. 25,86
  4. ^ 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 978-1846141584. 
  5. ^ Epstein, Connie C. (1991). The Art of Writing for Children. Archon Books. p. 2. ISBN 0-208-02297-X. 
  6. ^ 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 978-0766108257. 
  7. ^ 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 978-1877611766. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Nesbit, Eva Marie. "Classic novels". Cullinan & Person 2003. pp. 171–175. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah hunt 2001, p. xvi–xxii
  10. ^ Defoe, Daniel (2001). Robinson Crusoe (Modern Library paperback ed. ed.). New York: The Modern Library. ISBN 978-0375757327. 
  11. ^ Swift, Jonathan (2002). Rivero, Albert J.. ed. Gulliver's travels. Based on the 1726 text : contexts, criticism (1st ed. ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0393957242. 
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Silvey 1995, pp. xi–xvi
  13. ^ 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 978-0395570029. 
  14. ^ Newbery, John, ed. (2009). A Little pretty pocket-book. Dodo Press. ISBN 978-1409949749. 
  15. ^ Welsh, Charles (2010). Goody Two Shoes (reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 9781162756226. 
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Hoffman, E.T.A. (2003). The Nutcracker : the heirloom edition. Illustrated by Don Daily. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 978-0762416684. 
  19. ^ Scott, Sir Walter (2000). Ivanhoe (1st Tor ed.). New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 978-0812565652. 
  20. ^ Irving, Washington (1990). The legend of Sleepy Hollow. Introduction, afterword by Charles L. Grant] (1st Tor ed.). New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 978-0812504750. 
  21. ^ Irving, Washington (1993). Rip Van Winkle and other selected stories (1st Tor ed.). New York: TOR. ISBN 9780812523324. 
  22. ^ Grimm, Wilhelm (2006). Owens, Lily. ed. The complete Brothers Grimm fairy tales (Deluxe ed.). New York: Gramercy Books. ISBN 9780517229255. 
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Baskin, Barbara H.; Harris, Karen. "Classics". Silvey 1995, pp. 140–142. 
  24. ^ hunt 2001, p. 36
  25. ^ hunt 2001, p. 361
  26. ^ hunt 2001, pp. 569–570
  27. ^ hunt 2001, pp. 406–407
  28. ^ hunt 2001, p. 97
  29. ^ Silvey 1995, p. 350

[edit] Further reading

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