We are often asked to recommend books that are popular with children and have a good literary content. Here are some suggestions but we would welcome your views and any others that you think should be added to the list.
| Aesop | Fables |
| Allan Ahlberg | * The Giant Baby * Woof! |
| Allan & Janet Ahlberg | The Clothes Horse and Other Stories |
| Joan Aiken | * A Necklace of Raindrops * Fog Hounds, Wind Cat, Sea Mice |
| Nicholas Allan | Stories from Hilltop Hospital |
| Jonathan Allen | Fowl Play |
| Laurence Anholt | * Daft Jack and the Bean Stack * Shampoozel * The Emperor’s Underwear |
| Phyllis Arkle | The Railway Cat |
| Chris Ashley | Wasim in the Deep End |
| Richard & Florence Atwater | Mr Popper’s Penguins |
| Jeannie Baker | Where the Forest Meets the Sea |
| Nina Bawden | Keeping Henry |
| Terence Blacker | Ms Wiz Series |
| Malorie Blackman | Whizziwig |
| Quentin Blake | Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave |
| Judy Blume | * Freckle Juice * Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing |
| Enid Blyton | * Island of Adventure * Malory Towers * St Clare’s Series * The Famous Five * The Magic Faraway Tree |
| Michael Bond | A Bear called Paddington |
| Tony Bradman | Sam the Girl Detective |
| Henrietta Branford | * Dimarche Diller Series * Spacebaby |
| Jeff Brown | Flat Stanley |
| Marc Brown | Arthur Baby-Sits |
| Anthony Browne | * Changes * Zoo * Gorilla |
| Melvin Burgess | The Earth Giant |
| Betsy Byars | The Midnight Fox |
| Ann Cameron | The Julian Stories |
| Humphrey Carpenter | Mr Majeika |
| Ann & Reg Cartwright | The Winter Hedgehog |
| Lauren Child | * Clarice Bean That’s Me * Utterly Me, Clarice Bean |
| Beverley Cleary | Ramona Series |
| Sharon Creech | Love that Dog |
| Helen Cresswell | The Sea Piper |
| Kevin Crossley-Holland | Storm |
| Jennifer Curry | Hands Off Our Hens |
| Roald Dahl | * Charlie and the Chocolate Factory * Fantastic Mr Fox * George’s Marvellous Medicine * The BFG * The Magic Finger |
| Niki Daly | Jamela’s Dress |
| Colin Dann | Animals of Farthing Wood series |
| Paula Danziger | The Cat Ate My Gymsuit |
| Meindert De Jong | Hurry Home Candy |
| Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | The Little Prince |
| Berlie Doherty | Willa and Old Miss Annie |
| Helen Dunmore | Amina’s Blanket |
| Dorothy Edwards | My Naughty Little Sister Stories |
| Jan Fearnley | Mr Wolf’s Pancakes |
| Anne Fine | How to Write Really Badly |
| Louise Fitzhugh | Harriet the Spy |
| Michael Foreman | * Grandfather’s Pencil and the Room of Stories * Jack’s Fantastic Voyage |
| Sarah Garland | Tex the Cowboy |
| Paul Geraghty | Solo |
| Adele Geras | My Grandmother’s Stories |
| Mike Gibbie | Small Brown Dog’s Bad Remembering Day |
| Rumer Godden | The Story of Holly and Ivy |
| Nigel Gray | Running Away From Home |
| Mairi Hedderwick | Katie Morag and the Wedding |
| Stuart Henson | Who Can Tell? (with Wayne Anderson) |
| Nigel Hinton | Beaver Towers |
| Mary Hooper | * Spook Summer * The Great Twin Trick |
| Anthony Horowitz | The Falcon’s Malteser |
| Harry Horse | The Last Cowboys |
| Ted Hughes | * How the Whale Became * The Iron Man |
| Norman Hunter | * Incrediblania stories * Professor Branestawm |
| Tove Jansson | The Moomins |
| Paul Jennings | The Cabbage Patch Fib |
| Terry Jones | Fantastic Stories |
| Ann Jungman | Vlad the Drac |
| Gene Kemp | Dog’s Journey |
| Dick King-Smith | * Dragon Boy * The Golden Goose * The Hodgeheg * The Sheep-Pig |
| Jenny Koralek | The Boy and the Cloth of Dreams |
| Roger Lancelyn Green | * Myths of the Norsemen * King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table |
| Joyce Lankster | Milly Molly Mandy series |
| Michael Lawrence | Jiggy McCue series |
| Robert Leeson | The Dog who changed the World |
| Rob Lewis | Lazy Daisy |
| Astrid Lindgren | Pippi Longstocking |
| Jonathan Long | * The Cat that Scratched (with Korky Paul) * The Wonky Donkey |
| Margaret Mahy | * The Great Piratical Rumbustification and the Librarian and the Robbers * Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and Telephones |
| Jan Mark | Long Lost |
| André Maurois | Fattypuffs and Thinifers |
| Kara May | Cat’s Witch |
| William Mayne | Lady Muck |
| Sam McBratney | Jimmy Zest |
| Alexander McCall Smith | The Perfect Hamburger |
| Roger McGough | The Great Smile Robbery |
| Hilary McKay | The Treasure in the Garden! |
| David McKee | Charlotte’s Piggy Bank |
| Colin McNaughton | Have You Seen Who’s Just Moved in Next Door to Us? |
| Ursula Moray Williams | The Adventure of the Little Wooden Horse |
| Michael Morpurgo | * Black Queen * Farm Boy * Muck and Magic Stories from the Countryside * The Butterfly Lion * The Dancing Bear * The Marble Crusher * Toro! Toro! |
| Jill Murphy | The Worst Witch |
| Magdalen Nabb | The Enchanted Horse |
| Linda Newberry | * Whistling Jack * Ice Cat |
| Jenny Nimmo | The Owl Tree |
| Robert O’Brien | Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh |
| Hiawyn Oram | Little Brother and the Cough |
| Florence Parry Heide | The Shrinking of Treehorn |
| Phillippa Pearce | * A Dog So Small * The Battle of Bubble and Squeak |
| K M Peyon | The Pony that Went to Sea |
| Ann Pilling | Henry’s Leg |
| Alf Proysen | Mrs Pepperpot |
| Gwynedd Rae | Mary Plain series |
| Mary Rayner | The Small Good Wolf |
| Shoo Rayner | Dark Claw Series |
| Lynne Reid Banks | * Harry the Poisonous Centipede * I Houdini |
| Thomas Rockwell | How to Eat Fried Worms |
| Mary Rodgers | Freaky Friday |
| J K Rowling | Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone |
Jon Scieszka | The Stinky Cheeseman and other Fairly Stupid Tales |
Martina Selway | Wish You Were Here |
Catherine Storr | Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf |
Jeremy Strong | * Krazy Kow Saves the World – Well Almost |
Rosemart Sutcliffe | The High Deeds of Finn McCool |
Robert Swindells | * Dracula’s Castle |
Ruth Thomas | The Class That Went Wild |
Colin Thompson | Attila the Bluebottle |
Jill Tomlinson | The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark |
Jean Ure | * Becky Bananas |
Alison Uttley | Sam Pig |
Nina Warner Hooke | The Snow Kitten |
Robert Westall | * Blitz |
E.B. White | Charlotte’s Web |
Ian Whybrow | Little Wolf series |
Marcia Williams | No Worries! |
Sophy Williams | Nana’s Garden |
Bob Wilson | Bing, Bang, Boogie, It’s a Boy Scent |
Jacqueline Wilson |
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