The Best Children's Books: A List of My Favorites

My favorite books listed below are divided by the author's name since most of my favorite books were written by the same person. I credit my love of reading as a child to the fine work of these authors.

Margery Williams

Margery Williams wrote the best children's book - The Velveteen Rabbit. It's a touching story about a little boy who becomes ill and all of his toys must be burned because they could be harboring germs. Since he loved his little stuffed rabbit so much, the rabbit becomes real. It is the most heartfelt story ever written. If you only ever read one book, this is the one to read.

Note: There are some versions of this story intended for a younger audience. If you buy this book, make sure that you're buying the original story and not a watered down version.

R. A. Montgomery

R. A. Montgomery wrote the incredible series of books called Choose Your Own Adventure. These books give the reader a level of control over the story unlike any other book. In the Choose Your Own Adventure books, at critical points in the story the reader gets to choose an option that affects the path the story will take. It's almost like a maze trying to choose the best path.

Beverly Cleary

My favorite Beverly Cleary book when I was a child was Socks. My second grade teacher read it to the class. It's about the adventures of a cat that is the center of attention until his owners have a baby.

Beverly Cleary also wrote a series of books about a little girl named Ramona Quimby. One of my favorites in this series is Ramona and her Father. Trying to get her father to stop smoking by switching his cigarettes with fake ones is just one of the funny moments in this story.

Beverly Cleary also wrote several books about a character named Henry Huggins. One of my favorites was Henry and Ribsy. (Ribsy is his dog.) Another good story is Henry and Beezus. The books about Ramona and the books about Henry aren't independent of each other. The characters do appear in each other's books.

Beverly Cleary wrote many other books that I also read as a child (such as The Mouse and the Motorcycle), but I couldn't possibly list them all here. Even though it has been about twenty years now since I read these books by Beverly Cleary, I still remember what they were about. Considering that they made that much of an impression, it shows that her books really are something special.

Judy Blume

My favorite book by Judy Blume was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I'll never forget when Peter's little brother swallowed Peter's turtle and they took him to the hospital. This book made me thankful that I didn't have younger siblings. There are a few sequels to this book, but I only read Superfudge. Well, I didn't actually read it - my third grade teacher read Superfudge to the class. It was a good book, but Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is the best in the series.