100 children’s books to read in your lifetime

As you know, I love lists. I enjoy going through lists like this one and checking off the ones I’ve completed.

I found a reading challenge you’d perhaps like to take on.

Here are the top 100 Children’s Books to Read in your Lifetime as chosen by Goodreads readers and Amazon editors. These books are for age 12 or younger but are enjoyed by all ages and readers. Books listed in a series have been combined. 

Which of these have you read? In green are the ones I’ve read.

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J. K. Rowling

2. Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White

3. The Chronicles of Narnia – C. S. Lewis

4. Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown

5. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle

6. Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak

7. The Giver – Lois Lowry

8. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

9. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Barrett

10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

11. The Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss

12. The House at Pooh Corner – A. A. Milne

13. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum

14. Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein

15. Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmens

16. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

17. The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien

18. The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle

19. The Story of Ferdinand – Munro Leaf

20. Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder

21. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – Virginia Lee Burton

22. Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss

23. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

24. Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren

25. Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales – the Brothers Grimm

26. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E. L. Konigsburg

27. Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock – Carolyn Keene

28. Press Here – Hervé Tullet

29. The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster

30. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

31. Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell

32. Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site – Sherri Duskey Rinker

33. The Wind in the Willows -Kenneth Grahame

34. The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin

35. Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie

36. Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

37. Holes – Louis Sachar

38. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan

39. Wonder – R. J. Palacio

40. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

41. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! – Dr. Seuss

42. The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein

43. Flora and the Flamingo – Molly Idle

44. Curious George – Margret & H. A. Rey

45. Amelia Bedelia – Peggy Parish

46. Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson

47. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

48. Matilda – Roald Dahl

49. Heidi – Johanna Spyri

50. The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

51. The Snowy Day – Ezra Jack Keats

52. Ivy and Bean – Annie Barrows

53. The Boxcar Children – Gertrude C. Warner

54. A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett

55. Peek-A Who? – Nina Laden

56. The Paper Bag Princess – Robert Munsch

57. Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt

58. The Day the Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt

59. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

60. Hatchet – Gary Paulsen

61. Bread and Jam for Francis – Russell Hoban

62. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

63. The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams

64. Because of Winn Dixie – Kate DiCamillo

65. The One and Only Ivan – Katherine Applegate

66. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Elizabeth George Speare

67. The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter

68. The BFG – Roald Dahl

69. The Call of the Wild – Jack London

70. A Bear Called Paddington – Michael Bond

71. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Beverly Cleary

72. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 – Christopher Paul Curtis

73. Oh, the Places You’ll Go – Dr. Seuss

74. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective – Donald J. Sobol

75. Harold and the Purple Crayon – Crockett Johnson

76. Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

77. Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl

78. Going Over – Beth Kephart

79. Achren (The Chronicles of Prydain) – Lloyd Alexander

80. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – Judi Barrett

81. The Twits – Roald Dahl

82. Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

83. White Fang – Jack London

84. Rhyme Schemer – K. A. Holt

85. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken

86. Esperanza Rising – Pam Muñoz Ryan

87. The Dark Is Rising – Susan Cooper

88. The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick

89. Danny, the Champion of the World – Roald Dahl

90. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi

91. When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead

92. A Girl of the Limberlost – Gene Stratton-Porter

93. Bud Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

94. Daddy Long Legs – Jean Webster

95. Bambi – Felix Salten  (I’ve only read the Disney version of this one)

96. Low Riders in Space – Cathy Camper

97. The Once and Future King – T. H. White

98. Flora and Ulysses – Kate DiCamillo

99. Pictures of Hollis Woods – Patricia Reilly Giff

100. Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery

Out of 100 books read, the average score is 33. I was doing pretty well, until two-thirds of the way through the list. My score is 40, and I have 5 more that I’ve not completed.

What is your score? Are there any on the list you want to read?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂 ♥