1001 Children's Books You Should Read Before You Grow Up
Page 1 of 5 · sorted by reading level
Classic and essential children's books from the bestselling guide by Julia Eccleshare. Spanning picture books to young adult fiction.
Based on the book by Julia Eccleshare
452 of 998 books rated
This collection of 452 1001 children's books you should read before you grow up spans picture books through Grade 10. Reading level alone doesn't tell parents whether a book is right for a child — text difficulty and emotional weight grow at different rates, especially for strong, twice-exceptional, or sensitive readers. HootRated rates every book on this list for both, so you can match to your child's actual readiness on both axes.
Across this list, 79% of the titles are rated Gentle or Mild — appropriate for sensitive readers or kids reading ahead of their emotional comfort zone. 2% are rated Intense or Very Intense, with heavier thematic territory for readers ready to tackle weighty subjects. Average content intensity for the list is 1.8/5.
Use the intensity badges (color-coded green → red) to filter by emotional readiness rather than just age. For more on what each intensity level means, see our rating methodology.
Alfie gets in first
Shirley Hughes
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's dairy
Lynley Dodd
Pocket for Corduroy
Don Freeman
Snowy Day
Ezra Jack Keats
Stellaluna
Janell Cannon
The Bear Went over the Mountain (Baby Bear Books)
John Prater
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle
Where's My Teddy?
Jez Alborough
Where's Spot?
Eric Hill
Dear Zoo
Rod Campbell
Are you my mother?
P. D. Eastman
Amos & Boris
William Steig
Bad Case Of Stripes
David Shannon
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Bill Martin Jr.
Corduroy
Don Freeman
Curious George: 75th Anniversary Edition
H. A. Rey
Doctor De Soto (A Sunburst Book)
William Steig
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Mo Willems
Drac and the Gremlin
Allan Baillie
Each Peach Pear Plum
Allan Ahlberg
Go, Dog. Go!
P. D. Eastman
Goodnight moon
Margaret Wise Brown
Green Eggs and Ham (1988)
Dr. Seuss
Harry the Dirty Dog Board Book
Gene Zion
Henry and Amy (right-way-round and upside down)
Stephen Michael King
Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers
Cynthia Rylant
I Hate School
Jeanne Willis
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Laura Joffe Numeroff
Lyle, Lyle crocodile storybook treasury
Bernard Waber
Miffy
Dick Bruna
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
John Steptoe
Old Tom Goes to Mars (Old Tom)
Leigh Hobbs
One woolly wombat
Rod Trinca
Owl Moon
Jane Yolen
Pumpkin soup
Helen Cooper
Slinky Malinki, open the door
Lynley Dodd
Stina
Lena Anderson
Story about Ping
Marjorie Flack
That pesky rat
Lauren Child
The Velveteen Rabbit: Or, How Toys Become Real
Margery Williams Bianco
The church mouse
Graham Oakley
The day the babies crawled away
Peggy Rathmann
The great escape from City Zoo
Tohby Riddle
The three railway engines
Reverend W. Awdry
We're going on a bear hunt
Michael Rosen
Window
Jeannie Baker
Wolves
Emily Gravett
'Twas the night before Christmas; or, account of A visit from St. Nicholas
Clement Clarke Moore
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Judith Viorst
Amazing Grace
Mary Hoffman
Angelina Ballerina Book & Doll Set
Katharine Holabird
Animalia
Graeme Base
Are We There Yet?
Alison Lester
Avocado Baby (Red Fox Picture Books)
John Burningham
Barbapapa
Annette Tison
Bedtime for Frances
Russell Hoban
Beegu
Alexis Deacon
Borka
John Burningham
Bridget and the Moose Brothers
Pija Lindenbaum
Chanticleer and the fox
Geoffrey Chaucer
Children of the Forest
Elsa Beskow
Clifford the Big Red Dog (Clifford the Big Red Dog)
Norman Bridwell
Cow Who Fell in the Canal
Peter Spier
Crictor
Tomi Ungerer
Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish
Michael Foreman
Dogger
Shirley Hughes
Edward Lear's book of nonsense
Edward Lear
Emperor's New Clothes (Grimm's and Anderson)
Hans Christian Andersen
Enormous Crocodile
Roald Dahl
Father Christmas
Raymond Briggs
Figgie hobbin.
Charles Causley
Fox
Margaret Wild
Freight train
Donald Crews
Friends from the other side =
Gloria Anzaldúa
Good Night, Alfie Atkins
Gunilla Bergström
Guess how much I love you
Sam McBratney
Hey, Al
Arthur Yorinks
I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato (Charlie & Lola)
Lauren Child
Ivor the Engine - the First Story (Picture Lions)
Oliver Postgate
Jennifer Jones Won't Leave Me Alone
Frieda Wishinsky
Jumanji
Chris Van Allsburg
Kipper
Mick Inkpen
Leo the Late Bloomer
Robert Kraus
Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch
Ronda Armitage
Llama Llama Red Pajama
Anna Dewdney
Lotta's Bike
Astrid Lindgren
Lucky Luke - The Tender Foot (Lucky Luke)
Morris
Marc Just Couldn't Sleep
Garbiela Keselman
Millions of cats
Wanda Gág
Miss Nelson is Missing! Book and CD (Read-Along)
Harry G. Allard
Mister Magnolia
Quentin Blake
Mog the forgetful cat
Judith Kerr
Morris' Disappearing Bag
Rosemary Wells
Mr. Archimedes' bath
Pamela Allen
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Charlotte Zolotow
Mr. Tickle
Roger Hargreaves
Not Now, Bernard (Mini Hardback)
David Mckee
Not So Fast, Songololo
Niki Daly
Old Bear
Jane Hissey
For teens (ages 13+)
64 more books on this list are written for readers 13 and up. A few of them:
Asterix the Gaul (Asterix)
René Goscinny
Asterix the Gaul (Asterix)
René Goscinny
Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde
Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde
Flour Babies (Laurel Leaf Books)
Anne Fine
Flour Babies (Laurel Leaf Books)
Anne Fine
Dougy
James Moloney
Dougy
James Moloney
Elidor (Collins Modern Classics)
Alan Garner
Elidor (Collins Modern Classics)
Alan Garner
Finding Violet Park
Jenny Valentine
Finding Violet Park
Jenny Valentine
Friends
Rosa Guy
Friends
Rosa Guy
Heart's delight
Per Nilsson
Heart's delight
Per Nilsson
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell
Lavender's Blue
Kathleen Lines
Lavender's Blue
Kathleen Lines
Little Old Mrs Pepperpot (Galaxy Children's Large Print)
Alf Proysen
Little Old Mrs Pepperpot (Galaxy Children's Large Print)
Alf Proysen
Marianne Dreams
Catherine Storr
Marianne Dreams
Catherine Storr
Peeling the onion
Wendy Orr
Peeling the onion
Wendy Orr
Some of the Kinder Planets
Tim Wynne-Jones
Some of the Kinder Planets
Tim Wynne-Jones
The Incredible Journey
Sheila Burnford
The Incredible Journey
Sheila Burnford
The Red Pony
John Steinbeck
The Red Pony
John Steinbeck
The mystery of the yellow room
Gaston Leroux
The mystery of the yellow room
Gaston Leroux
The outsiders
S. E. Hinton
The outsiders
S. E. Hinton
The red shoe
Ursula Dubosarsky
The red shoe
Ursula Dubosarsky
The slave dancer
Paula Fox
The slave dancer
Paula Fox
Through The Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll
Through The Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll
Lord of the flies
William Golding
Lord of the flies
William Golding
Ark angel
Anthony Horowitz
Ark angel
Anthony Horowitz
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Questions parents ask about this list
- What's on this 1001 children's books you should read before you grow up list?
- 1001 Children's Books You Should Read Before You Grow Up contains 452 books spanning picture books through Grade 10. Classic and essential children's books from the bestselling guide by Julia Eccleshare. Spanning picture books to young adult fiction. Every book on the list is rated for reading level and content intensity so you can pick what matches your child.
- What age range is appropriate for this list?
- Books on this list span picture books through Grade 10. 356 (79%) are rated Gentle or Mild; 11 (2%) are rated Intense or Very Intense. Average intensity is 1.8/5. Match the intensity badge to your child's emotional readiness.
- How is this list curated?
- Based on the book by Julia Eccleshare. HootRated rates every book on this list for both reading level (text difficulty) and content intensity (emotional weight) — the two axes parents need to choose books. We rated 452 of 998 books from the source list; some titles fell out because we couldn't gather enough data to rate them confidently.