You Love books, but the kid in your house loathes them? Well, that won’t work! Living in the same house as a book lover, you don’t want your kids or your younger ones not to love books. But when it comes to young children, you can’t force them to read. It’ll repulse them even more from reading. Then, what can we do? In this article, I will talk about some of the Best-selling Children’s Books of All Time.
I have young nephews, nieces, and even a brother who is merely nine years old. I know what a pain it is to make a kid sit back quietly and read something. They won’t listen. How do I deal with them? Well, I start reading out a storybook to them, and after reading some pages and simultaneously making sure they’re interested, I ask them to read it themselves if they want to know what happened. Works well for me sometimes as well.
Everything about children’s literature books is likeable, from Alice’s adventure in the wonderland to Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends singing and playing together. From walking on the yellow bricked road to reaching the wonderful Wizard of Oz to going on a jungle safari with Mowgli, everything in there is likeable to only kids but also teens, young adults, and even grown adults. It gives new experiences to the young ones and a sense of nostalgia to the older ones.
Now, since you’re reading this article, I’m assuming you’re not a young child of 5 to 12. So, I’ll be sharing the children’s literature books with you, which you probably have read or heard about, as they’re fabulous and famous. So, without waiting any further, let’s go down memory lane and look at these children’s books.
25 Amazing Best-Selling Children’s Books of All Time
Here’s a list of some nostalgic children’s books that are the best-sellers of all time.
1. The Velveteen Rabbit
Full Title: The Velveteen Rabbit
Author: Margery Williams
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1922
Description:
Who likes soft toys? We all do! Especially the young ones in our homes, they love stuffed toys.
Have you ever wondered if the stuffed rabbit you have in your home might want to jump around and play with you like a living creature? That’s what this book is all about. It narrates the desire of a stuffed rabbit to become real. But what’s the secret? Well, he believes that he can become real from the love of his owner! Are you willing to give him your love so that he can come alive and play with you?
2. The Secret Garden
Full Title: The Secret Garden
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1911
Description:
“The Secret Garden” is one of the most beautifully written and narrated children’s books. Mary Lennox comes to live in Yorkshire Moors with her uncle upon being orphaned. She is as rude and impolite as she can be.
The house where Mary Lennox lives now seems to be full of secrets as there are as many as a hundred rooms in there, her uncle barely comes out of his room, and the worst, she hears screaming and crying noises at night. As an escape, she discovers a secret garden within the house, locked, and the key is missing. But Mary finds a way in with some external help, and that garden impacts her.
It’s changing her for good. What’s the secret of the garden and the house?
3. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Full Title: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Author: Mo Willems
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2003
Description:
What would you do if your bus driver took a break? Who will volunteer? In this book, a pigeon has come to the rescue by volunteering to drive the bus. But we can’t let a pigeon drive the bus now, can we? But the pigeon is also stubborn as he pleads and begs the young readers to let him get at least one ride.
The poor young readers keep telling him “NO”, but he doesn’t understand and continues to plead. Our young (or maybe old) readers decide his fate and see whether to allow him or not.
4. The Jungle Book
Full Title: The Jungle Book
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1894
Description:
Do I even need to talk about it? Who hasn’t read the jungle book or at least watched the movie? Everyone has. Most people have watched movies only but what’s in the book is even more enjoyable.
It contains several stories taking place in a jungle in the life of a man-cub or a boy named Mowgli, raised by a pack of wolves and loved by the animals of the jungle, especially the bear, Baloo, who even became his teacher. He had only one threat, Sher Khan, the tiger who plots to kill Mowgli throughout.
5. The Wonky Donkey
Full Title: Wonky Donkey
Author: Craig Smith
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2009
Description:
Do you like donkeys? Well, after reading this book, you’re going to love them! This book is inspired by a song that the author wrote around 2005, further inspired by a joke he heard that goes, ” What do you call a donkey with three legs? ” “A Wonky Donkey. ” Later, it turned into a book, just as hilarious as the joke I just stated. It’s a challenge from my side that all the readers, young and grownup, will crack up while reading this book for the first time.
It is an enjoyable book, loved by people worldwide..
6. The Parent Agency
Full Title: The Parent Agency
Author: David Baddiel
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2014
Description:
You don’t get to choose who you’re born to or who your parents are. But Barry Bennett did get a choice. He was sick of his strict and boring parents, more because they named him Barry. Barry Bennett wished for a new set of parents, and guess what, his prayers got answered! He got transported to the parent agency where he could choose his parents. But is it that easy? Or is it the right thing to do? It gives a vital lesson of always loving your parents.
7. Goodnight Mister Tom
Full Title: Goodnight Mister Tom
Author: Michelle Magorian
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1981
Description:
This book is sad and heartwarming, but it’s a beautiful storybook. It’s about Willie Beech, a timid young boy who is an abused child raised by a single mother.
The story is set in World War II. Willie gets evacuated to the countryside and takes shelter with Mr. Tom, a gruff older man. Willie, coming from a background of being physically and mentally abused, is scared of everything, even Mr. Tom. Still, slowly and gradually, he forgets his painful past and lives nicely with the old man until one day.
He needs to go back to his mother for some reason, and when he does not return for quite some time, Mr. Tom travels to London to find him as he loves him as his son now.
8. The Lorax
Full Title: The Lorax
Author: Dr. Seuss
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1971
Description:
This little book is sure to be fun and value-adding to young minds. Through this book and its characters, the author voices environmental concerns and how reckless exploitation of nature by humans will pose a danger one day, and it’s indeed true.
The fantastic thing is that when this book was written, concern for the environment wasn’t a global concern as the world had a lot to deal with at that time, but he proved to be a visionary to be pointing out the matter, even before it became such a worldwide issue.
9. Pinocchio
Full Title: Pinocchio
Author: Carlo Collodi
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1883
Description:
Children, do you listen to your parents? Or if I ask the parents, do your children listen to you? If not, this book can help you somehow, as Pinocchio was himself such a boy.
A wooden boy, to be exact, carved out of an enchanted wood by Geppetto, the puppet maker. Upon being alive, he cusses his father, lies, and tricks others, making him a bad character, as a result of which he falls into others’ fatal tricks. A fairy saves him, but he lies to her, so his nose grows considerably long, hence the famous tale.
In the end, he realizes his mistake and goes back to taking care of his father. The fairy then turns him into a real boy, something he always wanted.
10. Pippi Longstocking
Full Title: Pippi Longstockings
Author: Astrid Lindgren
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1945
Description:
This book is all about humour and friendship. Remember when you were in school? The funniest moments and memories were those spent with our friends. That’s the essence of it. It’s about a pigtailed redhead girl named Pippi Longstocking, who moved to a new mansion next to Tommy and Annika. They all quickly become friends. Pippi has no parents to teach her about the world. She only has a monkey and a horse but is gifted with superhuman abilities.
Knowing nothing about how everyday city life works, you’ll crack up reading what stunts she pulls just to fit into the normal life.
11. The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Full Title: The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Author: Emily Winfield Martin
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2015
Description:
This book can give parents and children something to bond over. It’s so beautiful that it’ll satisfy both the parent and the child. It’s not a story or a lesson, or a value-based text. It’s just a simple rhythmic poem about all the excellent and unique opportunities that lie ahead in the future for the child as they are just starting their life.
It also includes messages and gestures of love and acceptance regardless of what might happen in the future or whatever choices are made. It’s simply beautiful.
12. Curious George
Full Title: Curious George
Author: H.A. Rey
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1941
Description:
I’m sure all the young readers can relate well to this as the monkey, Curious George, always gets himself into trouble, even though he always means well.
Being a monkey, he has lived in the jungle all his life, but one day, he was caught by “the man in the yellow heart” and brought into the city. Here, he cannot control his curiosity and urge to know about all the new things he just saw. And this curiosity of his always causes trouble, even though he didn’t mean to do it.
13. Winnie-the-Pooh
Full Title: Winnie-the-Pooh
Author: A.A. Milne
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1926
Description:
Mine, yours, everyone’s favourite Winnie-the-Pooh, is on the list! Of course, it is. I mean, what kind of children’s literature list doesn’t include our Pooh bear? For those who don’t know about him (which I don’t think are many), Winnie is a very much alive teddy bear.
This book contains various adventures of his along with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. Overall, it is extremely fun to read. There are even animation series based on this book.
14. Guess How Much I Love You
Full Title: Guess How Much I Love You
Author: Sam McBratney
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1994
Description:
This book is about the purest form of love, the type that exists between a parent and a child. This can be another book for parents and children to bond over. In this book, the little nutbrown rabbit tells his father that he loves him as high as he can hop and as far wide as he can reach. The father rabbit, who can reach even wide and hop even higher, reciprocates his son’s love.
This is one of the best books to read out to your “little rabbits” and express your love to them.
15. Harold and the Purple Crayon
Full Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon
Author: Crockett Johnson
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1955
Description:
Don’t you ever feel like you should have the power to create your world in your manner? Well, we can’t have that reality, but nothing is impossible in books, as our four-year-old little Harold is literally living this dream of ours in this book.
He has a purple crayon, enabling him to draw his creative world. He wants to go out for a walk on a beautiful moonlight night, but the moon isn’t there, so he draws himself one, followed by a path, a house, a bed, and more!
16. The Little Prince
Full Title: The Little Prince
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1943
Description:
This book talks about several emotional topics in a very subtle way. It’s about a little boy from an asteroid planet who travels to several planets, meeting different individuals with different mindsets and habits. When he visits Earth, he meets a pilot who has crash-landed in a desert. The pilot, also the book’s narrator, calls that little boy the little price.
The boy asks the pilot to draw him a picture of a sheep, which the narrator does. Over the course of eight days that they both spent together, the little boy tells the pilot about his life and his visits to different planets. Also, the little boy tells him that he’s leaving that night for which he needs to be bitten by a snake. It gives a precious lesson that friendships happen regardless of age.
17. Anne of Green Gables
Full Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L. M. Montgomery
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1908
Description:
This book is about Anne Shirley, an eleven-year-old orphan girl of the Green Gables—an old fashioned farm, who has arrived in the verdant corner of Prince Edward Island. She discovers that Matthew Cuthbert and his stern sister, Marilla Cuthbert, wanted to adopt a boy and not a girl.
Still, before they could send her back, Anne had already managed to win over them. It’s a beautiful, sober, and well-loved story about time, place, home, family, and familial love.
18. Charlotte’s Web
Full Title: Charlotte’s Web
Author: E.B. White
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1952
Description:
This book is purely based on friendship and the importance of a friend in life. It’s about a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider Charlotte.
In this book, Wilbur is to be slaughtered, but Charlotte promises to come up with a plan to save them, and so she portrays Wilbur as a miraculous pig that the owner wouldn’t want to slaughter. Unfortunately, in the end, Charlotte dies due to natural reasons but hands over her sac of eggs to Wilbur to take care of her children after they hatch out of the eggs. It’s a heart-warming story about friendship.
19. The Wind in the Willows
Full Title: The Wind in the Willows
Author: Kenneth Grahame
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1908
Description:
This book is one of the most dearly loved books by children to adolescence. It includes various tales of adventure experienced by some animal friends of the English countryside. The main characters include a Mole, Rat, Toad, and a Badger. While they retain their original characteristics as animals, they behave like full humans, thinking, feeling, and behaving like them. It’s one of the favourite bedtime stories parents love reading out to their kids.
20. Beautiful Oops!
Full Title: Beautiful Oops!
Author: Barney Saltzberg
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2010
Description:
Along with young kids, a lesson that people of all ages need to learn: it’s okay to make mistakes until you need to learn how to fix them. Entertainingly and interactively, this book teaches young children to learn by making mistakes through the medium of art.
This book shows our young readers how to convert blunders into wonders by showing them that making a mistake doesn’t mean you ruined everything. It means you have an opportunity to create something new and better from this.
21. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Full Title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Author: John Boyne
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 2006
Description:
This book contains a heart-breaking story set in world war II in Nazi Germany. It is the story of the time when the genocide of Jews happened in Germany.
It’s about the friendship between two 9-year old boys, Bruno, a so-called pure-blooded German, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy. By the time the story reaches Shmuel, he’s already in the ghetto, separated from the out-withs by a fence. Shmuel and Bruno started meeting from either side of the fence, with Bruno completely unaware of what was happening.
One day, Bruno dresses as the ghetto people and moves to Shmuel’s side of the fence through a small hole to help Shmuel look for his father, who had gone missing. Bruno even tells Shmuel that he is his best friend, and after that day, Bruno is never heard from again.
22. The Paper Bag Princess
Full Title: The Paper Bag Princess
Author: Robert Munsch
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1980
Description:
It is like a fairytale where the heroine gets abducted, and the hero comes to rescue, the only difference being that here, the prince is the one getting kidnapped, and the princess comes to rescue.
Princess Elizabeth is criticized for marrying Prince Ronald, but a dragon invades and abducts Prince Ronald. In order to save him, the princess does everything and brings him back safely. But the prince seems unpleased by Elizabeth’s appearance, which he finds to be un-princess-like.
This book is about breaking the gender barriers and loving yourself as you are.
23. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Full Title: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Author: Dr. Seuss
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1960
Description:
This book is basically a learning book for young kids where they learn to count, the names of colours, and many tiny things with fun to read rhythmic text.
The plot is that two kids, a girl, and a boy, own some fun creatures who will help our young readers learn new and different things. This book is one of the best beginners’ books that parents, teachers, and guardians can opt for the young children around them to enable them to begin learning, and that too, with fun!
24. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Full Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Author: Lewis Caroll
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1865
Description:
Every parent or young adult reading this, whether an avid reader or not, there’s no way you aren’t aware of this book. It’s one of the most famous works in children’s literature. Alice, our protagonist, enters a rabbit hole that transports her far away from her home into a fantasy world of wonders in this book.
This book is purely based on miracles and magic. Readers, young and old, are sure to find this book amusing and exciting to read.
25. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Full Title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Genre: Children’s Literature
Publishing Date: 1900
Description:
I was wondering what I wanted from the wizard of Oz. Should I ask for a tender heart like the tinman? Or should I ask for a wise brain like the scarecrow? What about some bravery like the cowardly lion? Whatever I want, all I have to do is follow the yellow bricked road that leads me to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
This book is my absolute and all-time favourite book, and that’s why I was saving it for the last. It is a story where Dorothy, our protagonist, along with a few companions, including the cowardly lion, the tinman, and a scarecrow, set to look for the Wizard of Oz on the yellow bricked road to ask for things that they lack in their lives and want them badly.
Final Words
What an amazing trip down memory lane, wasn’t it? I felt so nostalgic that I want to hurry and read these books all over again! These books are totally adorable and could be read over and over again by any aged person and it’ll be just as entertaining as the first time.
Do read these books once if you haven’t read them before and if you have, read them again! Also try to make your younger ones read them. I’m pretty confident they’ll like it.
If you liked these books above, do look at other recommendations too:
