1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

sturlington: This is the very first book I read aloud to my son. I don't think he understood much of it, but I love this book!

PitcherBooks: JF. 1963 Multiple Award-Winner. KidLit fantasy classic written & illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Naughty Max is sent to his bedroom. His bedroom transforms to a jungle and he sails to the Island of the Wild Things but then decides to return home. Equally appealing to boys & girls. Every kid needs a copy. Totally skip the horrendous movie.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read for the world. Love Sendak but not my favorite by him.

sturlington: This was a favorite of mine as a child and is still a favorite today.

sturlington: An all-time favorite.

PitcherBooks: JF. 2001 Multiple Award-Winner. Have read this picture book aloud to a number of kids. This is a humor classic! You'll laugh too!

sturlington: This is just a beautifully written and illustrated book. A favorite.

sturlington: Really beautiful picture book and a terrific story.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read for the world.

sturlington: Richard Scarry is essential. This one is cool because it goes into various jobs, something I always wondered about as a kid.

PitcherBooks: JF. 1984 Multiple Award-Winner. PictureBook. Funny cumulative tale of everyone in the house piling on Granny's bed one by one. Don Wood's art is as a amusing as Audrey Wood's poem. Always a hit.

PitcherBooks : Not a top 1000 read by me. No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read for the world.

sturlington: A lot of fun to read aloud. My son loves it.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a must-read.

PitcherBooks: 1885 Classic collection of children's poetry written by Stevenson. Free e-book at Gutenberg.org. If you're buying a copy, treat yourself to an edition with one the top illustrators: Eulalie, Charles Robinson, Tasha Tudor, Jesse Willcox Smith, Eloise Wilken ...

PitcherBooks: JF, YA, All Ages. 1937 BritLit kid fantasy adventure classic. Prequel to LOTR (and actually the only book of that series that I found truly enjoyable). A hobbit's journey and adventures with a wizard and dwarf troupe. Don't recommend the movie adaptations.

sturlington: My son preferred the graphic novel adaptation. The full text was a little too slow-going for him. He loves the movies.

sturlington: Listened to the audiobook. Loved it.

sturlington: We listened to the audio version. Great.

sturlington: Listened to the audio version. Wonderful.

sturlington: Comic books as an entree to mythology. My son mostly read this with his father, actually.

sturlington: Loved this version of the Greek myths as a child. Passed it on to my son.

PitcherBooks: JF, YA, All Ages. 1950 BritLit kid fantasy adventure classic. Equally appealing to both boys & girls. The first and best of the seven book Narnia series. ... Of course, if you or your particular kid doesn't like it, give it a thumbs down. "sturlington: I have read a lot of these books. I decided to use this list to track books I have read with my son. I'll thumbs down books I wouldn't read with my son or that didn't work for him." Which makes me discount most of sturlington's ratings and comments as limited and anecdotal.

sturlington: I have read a lot of these books. I decided to use this list to track books I have read with my son. I'll thumbs down books I wouldn't read with my son or that didn't work for him.

sturlington: Does not translate well as an audiobook! :-)

sturlington: All the little baby spiders ballooning away brought my son to tears.

sturlington: Read the abridged version with lots of explanatory notes and pictures, which seemed to work better for a curious 6-year-old.

sturlington: Childhood favorite.

PitcherBooks : Since Sturlington states "Fairy tales seem to be on the list as both collections and individual books, so I'm thumbing down the individuals." I wonder why not also thumbs down all collections? And while I enjoy the Grimm Brothers, their tales live up to their name - definitely on the grim side as opposed to Hans Christian Andersen.

sturlington: Read most of them; my son enjoyed. To answer the comment, I thumbed down the individual stories because they are included in the collections and are therefore duplicates on this list. This is a list of the books selected for the book 1001 Children's Books to Read Before You Die, but some books are erroneously tagged, which is how duplicates get on the list.

PitcherBooks: KidLit Classic. Politically Correct CHILDREN'S VERSIONS AVAILABLE. Original fairy tales written by Hans Christian Anderson, Denmark, between 1835 & 1872. Free ebook at Gutenberg.org. I've always enjoyed HCA's fairy tale collections better than any other possibly because I found them more full-bodied, interesting or entertaining than most. The Tinderbox, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, The Wild Swans, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, etc. All wonderful stories to this day. There are as many HCA storybook collection editions as there are individual picture books based on HCA's stories. Illustrators have done some of their best work on both the collections as on the individual picture book stories. Get one of the HCA collections with a top illustrator: Michael Adams, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, William Heath Robinson, Gennady Spirin, Margaret Tarrant, Lizbeth Zwerger, .... Of course, if you or your particular kid doesn't like it, give it a thumbs down. "sturlington: I have read a lot of these books. I decided to use this list to track books I have read with my son. I'll thumbs down books I wouldn't read with my son or that didn't work for him." Which makes me discount most of sturlington's ratings and comments as limited and anecdotal.

sturlington: Read most of them. Some of them I found inappropriate--even more so than Grimm.

sturlington: Love the Edward Gorey illustrations.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read. Not on my list. Maybe there should be a pop-lit list for books like this rather than a must-read list.

sturlington: My son and I both loved this story. Captivating.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read for the world. Maybe there should be a pop-lit list for books like this rather than a must-read list.

sturlington: My son dug the Fudge books; we read three together. In this one, I skipped the chapter where Santa is outed.

PitcherBooks : An interesting adventure book & movie but wouldn't place it in my top 1000. No explanation by others on what makes this particular edition a must-read.

sturlington: Great adventure story that had both me and my son enthralled.

sturlington: My son and I both enjoyed reading this; it was a childhood favorite for me.

PitcherBooks : No explanation on what makes this particular edition a top 1000 must-read for the world.

sturlington: Still great after all these years, although my son was probably a little too young for it when I read it to him.

PitcherBooks: Multiple award winner. JF, YA, All Ages. Humorous tale of a brave girl genius with neglectful parents sent to a school - terrible in every way - except for her one wonderful teacher, Ms. Honey, and her poor put-upon classmates :-) Trials and tribulations abound but she overcomes all to a happy and satisfying end. The movie is well-done also.

sturlington: Terrific book!

PitcherBooks : Lemony Snicket is fun PopLit but far from a must-read classic. Not every bit of PopLit is a must-read. Maybe there should be a pop-lit list for books like this rather than a must-read list.

sturlington: My 8 year old loved this book.

aulsmith: Nesbit was one of the first writers of domestic fantasy. I had a lot of trouble finding them as a child and would hate to have them disappear again.

PitcherBooks : E. Nesbit was never a favorite of mine but she has many fans. All of her books are in public domain and free downloads are available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=e.+nesbit http://manybooks.net/authors/nesbite.html

sturlington: I found portrayals of girls and Indians a little troubling. My son enjoyed this and requested a reading of the sequel.

cej1027: Except the last chapter, which you can skip most/all of.

aulsmith: Read as an adult and hated it.

PitcherBooks: JF, YA, All Ages. Multiple award winner. The 1998 book that started it all, first of the 7-book series. Harry Potter learns he's to be a student wizard at Hogwarts and so escape his awful Muggle relatives. Despite the dire predicaments his new status brings him, he is buoyed up with new friends and a wizard mentor. If you read one, you'll end up reading them all ... aulsmith: You have this listed as recommended book #67. Perhaps you might wish to delete if from your list if you hate it?

: Has hidden messages of racism, antisemitism, segregation, etc.

sturlington: Read the abridged version

sturlington: My son and I probably liked it even better than the first one.

sturlington: My son thought it was weird but descriptive.

sturlington: Read many of the Maisy books together.

sturlington: I don't think we finished it, but we got a good ways into it.

sturlington: All the Mo Willems books are fun.

sturlington: Not read aloud, but my son has read most of these collections to himself.

sturlington: Have always loved.

sturlington: My son read this to himself.

sturlington: Almost forgot we read this; charming book.

sturlington: For older children/teens