Children's classics recommendations?

[chongjasmine]

Recommend me some children's classics. I mean classics like Peter Pan, Black Beauty, Secret Garden etc.
Literary classics.

 

[Harpo]

L. Frank Baum’s Oz books

 

[AllanR]

The Adventure Series by Enid Blyton

 

[farntfar]

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
for younger children.

 

[hitmouse]

Tom’s Midnight Garden
Any novel by E Nesbit
Any novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Emil and the Detectives by Eric Kastner
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen & sequels by Alan Garner
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
The Doctor Doolittle books by Hugh Lofting
Brendon Chase, Little Grey Men by BB
Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Chrestomanci novels by Diana Wynn Jones
Any of Roald Dahl’s childrens novels.
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K le Guin

 

[farntfar]

Some terrific choices there Hitmouse.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Alice in Wonderland
The Phantom Toll Booth
Green Eggs and Ham

And I agree with hitmouse, any Roald Dahl book is a classic.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
for younger children.

And adults! I only found them a few years ago and they are glorious.

I would add The Uncle Books by J P Martin

J. P. Martin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And The Changes Trilogy by Peter Dickinson. The Weathermonger (1968) and its sequels, Heartsease (1969) and The Devil’s Children (1970) which I remember reading back to back almost in one sitting on a particularly wet summer holiday back in the 70s.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon for younger children although I lovingly reread it often.
Lad a Dog and others in series by Albert Payson Terhune
The Black Stallion and series Walter Farley
Every book by Zane Grey
Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Some Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
All of Philip Pullman
Redwall and all the rest Brian Jacques
The Wee Free Men Pratchett
The Halloween Tree and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Red Planet Heinlein
Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein
The Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf
Winnie the Pooh Milne
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Numeroff

Those are the ones on my shelf but I could go on .............

Plus The Pokey Puppy and The Shy Little Kitten

 

[BAYLOR]

The Chronicles of Prydain Lloyd Alexander
The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster
The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
Puck of Pooks Hill by Rudyard Kippling
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
A Wrinkle in Time by Madam L Engle

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

A lot of books I would have recommended have already been mentioned. But also:

Half Magic and Knight's Castle, by Edward Eager (His other books are good, but I think these two were the best.)
Most all of Leon Garfield's children's books (he wrote a few for adults), particularly Smith and Black Jack
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and a long list of sequels, by Joan Aitken
Midnight is a Place, also Joan Aitken but not part of that series
The Little White Horse and Linnets and Valerians, by Elizabeth Goudge
Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, and also her Dalemark series
The Sword in the Stone, by T. H. White
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Dark Frigate, by Charles Boardman Hawes
The Wicked Enchantment, by Margot Benary-Isbert

 

[AE35Unit]

Mr Galliano's Circus by Enid Blyton. Was bought for me when I was 10 and I still have it. Read it to my kids when they were little

 

[hitmouse]

And adults! I only found them a few years ago and they are glorious.

I would add The Uncle Books by J P Martin

J. P. Martin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And The Changes Trilogy by Peter Dickinson. The Weathermonger (1968) and its sequels, Heartsease (1969) and The Devil’s Children (1970) which I remember reading back to back almost in one sitting on a particularly wet summer holiday back in the 70s.

A few years ago I took part in a crowd funding to publish the Complete Uncle . They are a wonderful secret that almost no-one has heard of. Out of print for decades. Now fortunately available on Kindle.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

After some further thought and cudgeling my aging memory (most of the following were on my bookshelf as a child and often re-read):

The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss
Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild
The Children of Green Knowe, and others in the series, by Lucy M. Boston
The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Suess
The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes
Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb
Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by Asbjørnsen and Moe
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, by Eleanor Cameron
The Little House in the Big Woods, and sequels, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Saturdays, and sequels, by Elizabeth Enright

 

[paranoid marvin]

A lot of books I would have recommended have already been mentioned. But also:

Half Magic and Knight's Castle, by Edward Eager (His other books are good, but I think these two were the best.)
Most all of Leon Garfield's children's books (he wrote a few for adults), particularly Smith and Black Jack
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and a long list of sequels, by Joan Aitken
Midnight is a Place, also Joan Aitken but not part of that series
The Little White Horse and Linnets and Valerians, by Elizabeth Goudge
Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, and also her Dalemark series
The Sword in the Stone, by T. H. White
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Dark Frigate, by Charles Boardman Hawes
The Wicked Enchantment, by Margot Benary-Isbert

MIdnight is a Place was a brilliant 1970s tv series featuring the enigmatic Ron Moody as a (very) eccentric tosher. It also has memorable opening and closing credits (available to view on Youtube). A series well worth watching for Ron's performance alone.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

MIdnight is a Place was a brilliant 1970s tv series featuring the enigmatic Ron Moody as a (very) eccentric tosher.

I didn't know that. Thanks for mentioning it! I really adored the book.

 

[JunkMonkey]

A few years ago I took part in a crowd funding to publish the Complete Uncle . They are a wonderful secret that almost no-one has heard of. Out of print for decades. Now fortunately available on Kindle.

Me too. My name and that of my eldest daughter - to whom I had read all the ones I had at the time - is in the list of Kickstarter backers; we have two copies. - I think I am right in saying the whole thing was funded in 4 hours.

In my 'special books' shelves, alongside my signed van Vogt Weapon Shops of Isher 1st and other minor treasures I have a couple of very battered 1st editions of Uncle and the Treacle Trouble and Uncle and His Detective. Mine... My preciouses....

 

[Le Panda du Mal]

The King of Ireland's Son and The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum

 

[hitmouse]

Me too. My name and that of my eldest daughter - to whom I had read all the ones I had at the time - is in the list of Kickstarter backers; we have two copies. - I think I am right in saying the whole thing was funded in 4 hours.

In my 'special books' shelves, alongside my signed van Vogt Weapon Shops of Isher 1st and other minor treasures I have a couple of very battered 1st editions of Uncle and the Treacle Trouble and Uncle and His Detective. Mine... My preciouses....

Around the Millennium I discovered a Yahoo group called Liontower, dedicated to the Uncle books. Quite surprised and delighted to find anything. One of the members had made samizdat copies of all of the books, which he shared on request, the justification being the books were oop and there was no intention of republishing. I think those files were used for The Complete Uncle.

 

[Boaz]

I definitely second the books of Kipling, Wilder, Alexander and L'Engle. Wilder's tales of life on the Great Plains is very well done. In addition to her, I'd add L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. These books give a view into the mindsets of our great- and great-great-grandparents. Kipling and Brian Jaques have unique takes on story telling and beliefs through animals. They may not be for everyone, but I found them enjoyable. And then in addition to Alexander's Prydain series and L'Engle's fantastic A Wrinkle in Time, I'd add C.S. Lewis' Narnia series to round out fantasy tales of the value of human life.

I feel these authors do children the service of elevating high cultural ideals by inspiring the readers.... without preaching.