This is a list of some of my favorite books for children. I'm always reading and always discovering new favorites, so this list is a work in progress. Happy reading!
Books for Babies and Young Children
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Jan Brett
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Traveling Ball of String by Mary Calhoun
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Moon Jumpers by Janice May Urdry, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow
When the Wind Stops by Charlotte Zolotow
The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter
Books for Middle-Grade Readers
Homecoming and Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (and the other books in this series: The Game of Silence and The Porcupine Year)
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (and the other books in The Prydain Chronicles series)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (and all of the books in this series)
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost
Catharine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Books for Young Adult Readers
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin (and all the other books in this series)
Jackaroo, On Fortune's Wheel, and Elske by Cynthia Voight (books in The Kingdom series)
The Wee Free Men, A Hatful of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett (and other books in the Discworld series)
Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Dalemark Quartet: Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats, and The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Braid by Helen Frost
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Poetry for Children, Young and Old
Season Songs by Ted Hughes
Collected Poems for Children by Ted Hughes
A Fire in my Hands by Gary Soto
Canto Familiar by Gary Soto
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth
Black Swan / White Crow by J. Patrick Lewis
The Desert is My Mother by Pat Mora
Something Permanent by Cynthia Rylant
Poems for Young People by Carl Sandburg
Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems by Kristine O'Connell George
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman
