Top 100 List of the All Time Best Classic Literature for Children and Young Adults

 While it would be nearly impossible to list all the best books in classic literature for children and young adults, we have created a compilation based upon selections from our staff, reviewers and fans of Literary Classics.  Our list of top 100 books for children and young adults is sorted by recommended reading age.


Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown -  Age 2 and up


Love You Forever by Robert Munsch - Age 2 and up


On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman - Age 2 and up


The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle - Age 2 and up


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault - Age 3 and up


Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss - Age 3 and up


The Giving Tree by Shell Sliverstein - Age 3 and up


Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson Age 3 and up


The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper - Age 3 and up


Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney - Age 3 and up


Oh the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss - Age 3 and up


The Saggy Baggy Elephant by K. Jackson and B. Jackson - Age 3 and up


The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - Age 3 and up


Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne - Age 3 and up


Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good ,Very Bad Day by  Judith Viorst - Age 4 and up


Curious George by H.A. Rey - Age 4 and up


George and Martha by James Marshall - Age 4 and up


Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr Seuss - Age 4 and up


If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff - Age 4 and up


The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn - Age 4 and up


Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes - Age 4 and up


The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell - Age 4 and up


Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth - Age 4 and up


The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen - Age 4 and up


The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams - Ages 4 and up


Matthew and the Sea Singer by Jill Paton Walsh - Age 5 and up


Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner - Age 5 and up


The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats - Age 5 and up


Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg - Age 6 and up


A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein - Age 6 and up


The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Age 7 and up


Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume - Age 7 and up


Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis - Age 8 and up


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Age 8 and up


Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White - Age 8 and up


Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh - Age 8 and up


Holes by Louis Sachar - Age 8 and up


The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards - Age 8 and up


The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - Age 8 and up


My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George - Age 8 and up


The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White - Age 8 and up


Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - Age 8 and up


A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle - Age 8 and up


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Age 9 and up


Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Age 9 and up


Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis - Age 9 and up


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Age 9 and up


Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell - Age 9 and up


The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - Age 9 and up


Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - Age 9 and up


Watership Down by Richard Adams-  Age 9 and up


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain - Age 10 and up


The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - Age 10 and up


Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Age 10 and up


Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt - Age 10 and up


The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - Age 12 and up


Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - Age 12 and up


The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - Age 12 and up


A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Age 12 and up


The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - Ae 12 and up


The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Young Adult


Emma by Jane Austen - Young Adult


Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Young Adult


The Giver by Lois Lowry - Young Adult


Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - Young Adult


Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Young Adult


Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain - Young Adult


To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Young Adult


The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - Young Adult


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - Young Adult


Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Young Adult

This top 100 list of best books for children and young adults has been created as a reading guide to help parents and young readers gain exposure to some of the most highly respected works of literature of all time.
(Feel as though our list is lacking?  Let us know. We'd love to hear your comments.)  


LITERARY CLASSICS Book Reviews & Awards http://literaryclassicsreviews.com

Literary Classics Award Winning Books Announced

Literary Classics Announces Youth Media Top Book Award Winners

RAPID CITY, SD - Literary Classics announced its 2011 selection of top books for children and young adults today.  Award recipients were selected from entries received throughout the world.  The Literary Classics selection committee is proud to recognize the following titles in children's and young adult literature which exemplify the criteria set forth by the Literary Classics Awards committee.

A list of the 2011 award recipients follows:

Best First Picture Book

            The Adventures of Bella and Harry: Let's Visit Paris!

            Written by Lisa Manzione, illustrated by Kristine Lucco

Best Illustrator

            Stripey Follows His Dream

            Written by Gail Melville Shumway,  illustrated by Gail Melville Shumway

Picture Book - Preschool

- Gold Award Recipient

            Feed Your Fish!

            Written by Michael Madlener, illustrated by Patrick Reeves

Picture Book - Early Reader

- Gold Award Recipient

            Wacky Jacky: The True Story of An Unlikely Beauty Queen

            Written by Jaclyn Stapp, illustrated by Kristine Lucco

- Silver Award Recipient

            The Golden Pathway

            Written by Donna M. McDine,  illustrated by K.C. Snider

Special Interest, Activity Book

- Gold Award Recipient

            Monster Removal Guide

            Written by Garett Gruber, illustrated by Patrick Carlson

Special Interest, Cultural Issues

- Gold Award Recipient

            Dave Learns Spanish

            Written by Evelyn Rothstein

Special Interest, Educational

- Gold Award Recipient

            My Body is Special and Belongs to Me

            Written by Sally Berenzweig, MEd, MA & Cherie Benjoseph, LCSA     Illustrated by Lilah Cohen

Special Interest - Female Audience

- Gold Award Recipient

            The Ruby Red Slippers

            Written by DeeDee Fox, illustrated by DeeDee Fox

Special Interest, Self Esteem

- Gold Award Recipient

            Daria Rose and The Day She Chose

            Written by Yvonne Capitelli,  illustrated by Sherri Forrester Baldy

Fiction, Pre-Teen

- Gold Award Recipient

            The Magic of Finkleton

            Written by K.C. Hilton,

- Silver Award Recipient

            Ivy, Homeless in San Francisco

            Written by Summer Brenner

Mystery Pre-Teen

- Gold Award Recipient

            The Secret of the Sacred Scarab

            Written by Fiona Ingram

Faith Based, Young Adult

- Gold Award Recipient

            Muted Grey

            Written by Dianna L. Young

Literary Classics, an organization dedicated to furthering excellence in literature, takes great pride in its role to help promote classic literature which appeals to youth, while educating and encouraging positive values in the impressionable young minds of future generations.  Judging is based upon the criteria set forth by Literary Classics' highly selective awards committee which honors books promoting character, vision, creativity and learning, through content which possesses key elements found in well-crafted literature.

The Literary Classics judging committee consists of experts with backgrounds in publishing, writing, editing, design, illustration, and book reviewing.   To learn more about Literary Classics, visit their website at www.literaryclassicsawards.com.

LITERARY CLASSICS Book Reviews & Awards http://literaryclassicsreviews.com