Best Children’s books

The 183 highest-rated Children’s books, scored from 56.4K reader ratings.

Not sure where to start? What to read first →

Sort byDecadeMinimum ratingsAdaptation183 results

By year of first publication, 1823–2023. The busiest stretch is 2000–2019, with 67. Select a bar to narrow the list.

1
8.68.6 / 10
Where the Sidewalk EndsShel Silverstein1.1K ratings“Where the Sidewalk Ends” gathers children’s poems made for reading aloud.Our view
2
8.58.5 / 10
A Light in the AtticShel Silverstein368 ratings“A Light in the Attic” is nonsense verse with drawings, the kind of book that can hand a small child a taste for poetry.Our view
3
8.58.5 / 10
MatildaRoald Dahl1.4K ratingsDahl gives a brilliant small girl a set of dreadful adults and lets her get even, first with pranks and then by stranger means.Our view

Why Where the Sidewalk Ends is #1

Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein) scores 8.6/10 from 1.1K ratings — 0.1 points ahead of A Light in the Attic in second place.

The score is a weighted average across 3 independent rating sources. A title with few ratings is pulled toward the category average, so a handful of enthusiastic reviews cannot outrank a book that thousands of readers have judged. To keep the list varied, the top 20 holds at most two books from one series and three by one author; the rest follow further down. Method →

Could you read it twenty times?

Children’s books get reread, often aloud. The list runs from picture books to novels for twelve-year-olds, so start with age.

The adult laughs tooWinnie-the-Pooh amuses parent and child in different ways, but both of them for real.
A rhythm the child repeatsIf your child says the lines with you by the third reading, it was written for reading aloud.
It doesn’t talk downGood books take a child’s fear, sadness and anger seriously, with no moral stuck on the end.

Frequently asked questions

Which title here has the most ratings?

The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan) — 4.1K ratings and 8.2/10, which puts it at #25 on this list.

What is the best book of recent years in Children’s books?

Of the books here published since 2022, The Sun and the Star (2023) ranks highest: #34, 8.2/10.