Top 100 Children's Books on Goodreads

Like Charlie finding his golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, a child finding the right book to read opens the door to hours of joy and wonderment...and sometimes Everlasting Gobstoppers! We all have our favorites—the books we read over and over again until the pages were falling out—but which books should be on every kid's shelves? We ran the numbers on millions of titles to find the top 100 children's books according to Goodreads members!

We looked for the best reviewed books, all with average ratings above a 4.0 (a high bar that cuts out giants like Ramona and Huck Finn). This time we also decided to focus our search on chapter books and middle grade books for that magical time when a child has graduated from picture books and is reading alone, but isn't ready for YA favorites such as The Hunger Games. (For teen readers, check out our Top 100 Young Adult Books!) Of course, every child is different and no list is ever complete. What beloved book did you read to tatters when you were a kid?

How many of the 100 have you read? Tell us in the comments!
List Challenge
The average Goodreads member has read 15 out of 100 books on this list — how many have you read?
1

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4.05 avg rating — 125,957 ratings
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2

by
4.06 avg rating — 567,470 ratings
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3

by
4.17 avg rating — 101,574 ratings
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4

by
4.31 avg rating — 989,114 ratings
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5

by
4.03 avg rating — 77,491 ratings
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6

by
4.30 avg rating — 32,152 ratings
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7

by
4.18 avg rating — 48,957 ratings
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8

by
4.23 avg rating — 82,995 ratings
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9

by
4.19 avg rating — 73,780 ratings
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10

by
4.19 avg rating — 88,707 ratings
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11

by
3.98 avg rating — 79,414 ratings
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12

by
4.03 avg rating — 97,764 ratings
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13

by
4.13 avg rating — 134,152 ratings
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14

by
4.15 avg rating — 88,029 ratings
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15

by
4.61 avg rating — 147,404 ratings
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16

by
4.10 avg rating — 56,284 ratings
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17

by
4.16 avg rating — 857,153 ratings
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18

by
4.20 avg rating — 1,853,737 ratings
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19

by
4.12 avg rating — 700,347 ratings
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20

by
4.24 avg rating — 60,850 ratings
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21

by
4.16 avg rating — 91,090 ratings
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22

by
4.03 avg rating — 59,927 ratings
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23

by
4.19 avg rating — 3,766,656 ratings
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24

by
4.19 avg rating — 146,912 ratings
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25

by
4.36 avg rating — 43,846 ratings
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26

by
4.20 avg rating — 85,010 ratings
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27

by
4.13 avg rating — 166,313 ratings
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28

by
4.23 avg rating — 97,474 ratings
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29

by
4.16 avg rating — 211,562 ratings
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30

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,505,373 ratings
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31

by
4.11 avg rating — 7,244 ratings
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32

by
4.16 avg rating — 542,272 ratings
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33

by
4.28 avg rating — 165,130 ratings
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34

by
4.15 avg rating — 5,748 ratings
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35

by
4.29 avg rating — 107,168 ratings
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36

by
3.99 avg rating — 35,407 ratings
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37

by
4.47 avg rating — 10,155,250 ratings
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38

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,018,043 ratings
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39

by
4.29 avg rating — 363,883 ratings
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40

by
4.16 avg rating — 51,635 ratings
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41

by
4.12 avg rating — 62,021 ratings
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42

by
4.31 avg rating — 106,043 ratings
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43

by
4.22 avg rating — 183,778 ratings
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44

by
4.06 avg rating — 48,249 ratings
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45

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,051,436 ratings
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46

by
4.24 avg rating — 2,823,064 ratings
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47

by
4.26 avg rating — 20,122 ratings
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48

by
4.21 avg rating — 291,773 ratings
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49

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,133,250 ratings
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50

by
4.22 avg rating — 307,637 ratings
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51

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,252,159 ratings
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52

by
4.26 avg rating — 89,456 ratings
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53

by
4.01 avg rating — 134,127 ratings
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54

by
4.34 avg rating — 963,556 ratings
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55

by
4.13 avg rating — 15,783 ratings
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56

by
4.38 avg rating — 110,539 ratings
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57

by
4.20 avg rating — 34,648 ratings
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58

by
4.16 avg rating — 179,261 ratings
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59

by
4.16 avg rating — 54,212 ratings
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60

by
4.09 avg rating — 78,141 ratings
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61

by
4.39 avg rating — 68,971 ratings
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62

by
4.20 avg rating — 162,512 ratings
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63

by
4.07 avg rating — 55,482 ratings
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64

by
4.18 avg rating — 202,916 ratings
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65

by
4.19 avg rating — 572,476 ratings
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66

by
4.10 avg rating — 98,614 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 189,425 ratings
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68

by
4.35 avg rating — 162,233 ratings
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69

by
4.04 avg rating — 76,702 ratings
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70

by
4.04 avg rating — 349,902 ratings
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71

by
4.20 avg rating — 288,483 ratings
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72

by
4.15 avg rating — 200,604 ratings
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73

by
4.03 avg rating — 117,161 ratings
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74

by
4.10 avg rating — 398,644 ratings
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75

by
4.06 avg rating — 4,508 ratings
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76

by
4.14 avg rating — 120,200 ratings
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77

by
4.25 avg rating — 160,622 ratings
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78

by
4.13 avg rating — 26,947 ratings
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79

by
4.06 avg rating — 68,039 ratings
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80

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,182,075 ratings
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81

by
4.13 avg rating — 13,595 ratings
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82

by
4.16 avg rating — 97,940 ratings
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83

by
4.16 avg rating — 16,544 ratings
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84

by
4.24 avg rating — 278,945 ratings
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85

by
4.12 avg rating — 34,993 ratings
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86

by
4.10 avg rating — 14,604 ratings
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87

by
4.22 avg rating — 27,872 ratings
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88

by
4.11 avg rating — 139,477 ratings
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89

by
4.06 avg rating — 72,578 ratings
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90

by
4.08 avg rating — 482,803 ratings
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91

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 214,749 ratings
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92

by
4.08 avg rating — 110,970 ratings
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93

by
4.31 avg rating — 49,978 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 409,489 ratings
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95

by
4.34 avg rating — 1,413,126 ratings
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96

by
4.36 avg rating — 329,391 ratings
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97

by
4.25 avg rating — 143,111 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 27,364 ratings
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99

by
4.37 avg rating — 1,095,604 ratings
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100

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,209,306 ratings
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Get Results & Compare With Friends »




People Who Voted On This List (1)

Jessica 1381 books
354 friends



Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Rachael (new)

Rachael I've read 25 of these so far. I need to get reading!


message 2: by Jazs (new)

Jazs 20/100

My favorites and most re-read as a child were definitely the Black Stallion books, Redwall books (especially Martin The Warrior, Mossflower, Luke the Warrior), Little House on the Prairie series, Julie of the Wolves series, anything by Tamora Pierce, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, Half Moon Ranch series by Jenny Oldfield, The Secret Garden. Also adored Berenstain Bears when I was a bit younger then I was when I was reading those other books I listed.


message 3: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman a pretty good idea for a list. But having a static list is annoying. What would be awesome would be the ability to create a list with criteria, like a minimum average rating.

In any case, people interested in the concept might want to take a look at
Average Rating of 4.0 and above with at least 1000 ratings
and some other existing lists.
Average Rating of 4.5 and above
Average Rating of 4.3 and above with at least 1000 ratings
Average Rating of 4.2 and above with at least 1000 ratings

These lists have been hand-created and librarian trimmed. That first list has 305 books, because that's how many the goodreads readership has been able to find. Presumably this list of 100 will be checked to see if they are already on the other list.


message 4: by Celia (new)

Celia The get results link/button does not work.


message 5: by Carolyn (last edited Aug 23, 2016 06:57PM) (new)

Carolyn 29.5


message 7: by Mj (new)

Mj My husband thinks the Hardy Boys Series should be on this list


message 8: by Sandra (new)

Sandra A good list, but certainly not complete. I have read approx. 25-26, but, of course, the Anne of Green Gables series are many, many books, including all the Emily of New Moon books too, and the Little House on the Prairies is also a full box of books. Hardy Boys should also be here.


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