Children’s books are not just simple stories; they are powerful tools that can shape young minds, encourage imagination, and create a foundation for a lifelong love of reading and empathy. These books are crucial for emotional development, cultural understanding, and cognitive growth. Children’s books are not just an introduction to reading but an essential piece in forming personal values.
Iconic children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak are cute stories, but they are also vital for teaching concepts like growth, resilience, and creativity. A book like The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein reminds kids not to be selfish jerks.
I asked my teacher followers what books impacted them as kids, and the responses were quite diverse! Here are teachers’ most loved children’s books.
Elementary/Middle Aged Books:
- Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- Amelia Bedelia books by Peggy Parish
- Roald Dahl books
- Old Yeller by Fred Gibson
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls- “I felt seen and understood in that story.”
- Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume- “I went to Catholic school, and we were specifically forbidden to read that book. Our mothers were told they should take it away if they saw it. So, one copy got passed around to all the girls in 6th grade. By the time it came to me, the cover had fallen off. My mom found it and taped it back on for the next reader.”
- Blubber by Judy Blume
- Nobody’s Fault by Patricia Hermes
- The Trouble with Tuck by Theodore Taylor
- On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer- “This was a huge game changer for me in elementary school.”
- The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein- “This book always made me sad that it is reality. Sometimes, one gives everything and the other only receives, and for some reason, it’s okay.”
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell- “This is the book that made me love reading.”
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- A Child Called It by Dave Peltzer
- Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- Dreamland Lake by Richard Peck
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson- “This book taught me that death isn’t fair or pretty.”
- Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
- Sounder by William H. Armstrong- “It’s such a crushing story all around. When I read it in 7th grade, I was mostly devastated when they shot the dog. But there are so many great themes in that book.”
- Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks
- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
- One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte- “I think this is where I learned about empathy.”
- Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
- Chrysanthemum by Robert Henkes- “This book helped me understand how to deal with bullies.”
- The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
- Junie B. Jones Series
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Matilda by Roald Dahl
- The Percy Jackson Books by Rick Riordan- “These books finally got me to want to read on my own.”
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
- Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry- “Very profound for such a tiny little book.”
High School-aged Books
- Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block – “This book changed my life in 10th grade. The author is the finest magical realism author of our time.”
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- 1984 by George Orwell
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck- “I learned how you can be your own person and your parents or your past does not define you.”
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Our Town by Thornton Wilder
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Night by Elie Wiesel- “This book is life-changing.”
- Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther
- Sula by Toni Morrison
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison- “This book rips your heart right out of your chest.”
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- “It inspired me to become a librarian.”
- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
- The Stranger by Albert Camus
- No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Album- “This is the first book that made me cry.”
- Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennesee Williams
- Tess of d’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- A People’s History of the United States by Noam Chomsky
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- The Chosen by Chaim Potok
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair- “This made me a vegetarian!”
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou- “It made me feel less alone after experiencing trauma in my own childhood home.”
- The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
- Glass Castle by Jeannette Winterson
- The Canterbury Tales by Jeffrey Chaucer
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison