What are the best children's book series of all time?

[XemaSab]

[crim son]

1. C.S. Lewis' books, obviously.

Even for somebody who despises the implicit Christian content, the books are all pretty amazing. My favorite: "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Wow.

Otherwise, I vote for the Fairie Tales of Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson though in their original form they are not politically correct and probably offensive to many a modern youngster.

I was a reading freak as a youngster/young girl/young woman and nothing surpassed either Lewis or the faerie tales. I've read the kids' stuff - the Tree House series, Goosebumps and other crap, but it doesn't begin to compare. I also loved Nancy Drew and even Trixie Beldon... not to mention Nurse Cherry (god, I remember that) but none were nearly so good as "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and the rest of Clive Staples Lewis' books.

[joeybee12]

33. Of course...they've stood the test of time...

...they're classics...most of the others are fads.

[targetpractice]

2. My favorite, personally, was... "A Wrinkle in Time"

"A Wind in the Door" and "A Swiftly Tilting Planet",

[Jade Fox]

48. Wrinkle in Time barely got published.....

L'Engle kept getting told by publishers that children didn't like science fiction, but she knew they were wrong because she read the book to her own kids as she was writing the book, and her kids adored it. The book was finally published by the husband of a friend of L'Engle who was in the business, and was an instant hit.

[slay]

59. My favorite as well

The whole series - So much wild stuff in those books that really made me think as a kid. Many books tell a good story, but these would actually make me think about things I always took as fact and reality and allowed me to see the world in a totally different way. Good stuff.

[wickerwoman]

3. John Christopher

"The City of Gold and Lead" and the other two tripod books

Robin McKinley "The Blue Sword" and sequels

Lloyd Alexander "The Kestrel" and the other books in that series

Michael Ende "Momo"

Ursula K Leguin's Earthsea trilogy

[Broken_Hero]

56. Ditto on John Christopher, and Lloyd Alexander

those were the first two series I ever read.

[proteus_lives]

4. It's not a series....

But I gotta go with Where The Wild Things Are as the catch-all best children's book of all time.

[Heidi]

6. I love "Where The Wild Things Are."

"In The Night Kitchen," too.

A video of "In The Night Kitchen": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyNa198Ri8c

[proteus_lives]

7. Oh, god I remember that.

I used to love "In The Night Kitchen," too!



Thanks for the link.

[Heidi]

8. I'm a sucker for great illustration.

I see by your profile that you're a comics fan. Here's one of my favorite artists, Barron Storey:

http://barronstorey.blogspot.com /

http://www.barronstorey.com /

http://www.geocities.com/negsleep/main/links/barron/bar...

[proteus_lives]

37. Thanks for the links!

Storey's art is awesome!

[AllenVanAllen]

38. It was one of my childhood favorites too.

I'm looking forward to this as well :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NOkQ4dYVaM

[proteus_lives]

43. I'm looking forward to it too.

The film looks amazing.

[Brother Buzz]

39. Did you say Wild Things?

[Heidi]

5. The Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Huggins

[hippywife]

9. Those were my absolute

number one favorites of all time!!

[XemaSab]

10. I was reading that book two days ago

[mitchum]

30. Absolutely!

Fantastic series

[LeftishBrit]

67. I have always loved the Ramona series

[Heidi]

70. Oh, me, too!!

Because my little sister was both Ramona and Beezus.

[Bertha Venation]

11. Maybe not the best, but The Great Brain series

was very entertaining. I liked it.

[fishwax]

60. That was definitely one of my favorite series when I was younger

As a kid I read them all (as well as the three adult books that Fitzgerald wrote). Fun stuff.

http://a7.vox.com/6a00b8ea0675d6dece00cdf7ec2927094f-50...

[Bertha Venation]

62. I didn't know he wrote any adult books.

I'll have to look them up.

[fishwax]

74. the settings and characters are the same, so if you liked the GB books

you'll probably enjoy the novels. The kids don't feature as prominently, but the adults do. The best of the bunch (imo) and the most likely to be available is "Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse." The other two are "Papa Married a Mormon" and "Mama's Boarding House."

IIRC, Fitzgerald actually started the GB books because his publisher rejected Papa Married a Mormon, but said if he could rework the material to appeal to children it could sell.

[Forkboy]

12. My faves were all the Richard Scarry books.

[tigereye]

22. I loved reading those to my son when he was small - so funny!

[Forkboy]

55. Something about the art grabbed me right away.

It wasn't like other books I had read to that point (all the Big Little books). Every picture had so much detail that I could imagine myself in that world. Great stuff. I'd read them today if I had them.

[tigereye]

76. he's like Breughel for kids!

[lost-in-nj]

34. my kids 31 and 26

STILL ask for the Richard Scarry books..

we spent hours and hours

finding Goldbug.....

just met a new mother who's child is obsessed with RS

lost

[Forkboy]

54. It fascinated me.

Every panel seemed to have so much going on. I didn't even need words. Just the art grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I have no doubt he influenced my own art later on.

[charlie and algernon]

13. Goosebumps was pretty huge during it's time

I think I owned or have read every single one of those books. Some of the stories were geniunely scary.

[Dr. Strange]

14. My kid loves those.

He can't wait 'til next month. He's hoping they'll start showing them again on Cartoon Network or somewhere.

[charlie and algernon]

15. are they still making new ones?

I remember reading them in the 90s, they're still around?

[Dr. Strange]

16. I think so.

For the past year or two, Stine's been doing the Goosebumps: Horrorland Series.
http://www.amazon.com/Goosebumps-HorrorLand-Revenge-Liv...
And apparently, he'll be doing a webcast on October 28th: http://www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/webcast/

[elleng]

17. Winnie the Pooh

[EndersDame]

18. ,Amelia Bedelia, Winnie the Pooh,Chronicles of Narnia,

And Dr. Seuss is totally my homie not to mention the most popular Harry Potter

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Piers Anthony's Xanth series..."A Spell for Chameleon"... I still LOVE

them. Such an imagination.

[NMDemDist2]

51. those were very fun books too n/t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

72. those were fun. I did not know they were marketed as a children's

series.

[likesmountains 52]

20. My son loved TinTin most of all...

[tigereye]

21. Wrinkle in TIme and other books by L'Engle

and Chronicles of Narnia. The smartest and most challenging set is probably The Golden Compass, etc.

[woo me with science]

23. The Little House on the Prairie books

brought pioneer life alive for generations of kids. They have to be somewhere on the list.

[Arkansas Granny]

68. I loved those books when I was young and bought them for my own children.

I also bought them for my older grandchildren (now grown), but they've been lost or given away over the years. Now I'll have to start looking around to get a set for the youngest ones. It will be a few years before they are ready for them, but I've never met a child who didn't enjoy them.

[Kingofalldems]

24. The Hardy Boys--

by the great Franklin W. Dixon

[Rosie1223]

25. Harry Potter

[graywarrior]

44. +1000

[Pendrench]

26. Growing up I was a fan of Encyclopedia Brown n/t

[mitchum]

31. I was another fan as a child...

however, when I got older, I started making up parodies where Encyclopedia solved the cases due to his extensive knowledge of drug use and kinky sex practices. I'm a bad man

[proteus_lives]

36. Me too!

I loved those books.

[begin_within]

90. I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books.

Thanks for reminding me... I'm going to have to get some and read them again.

[Captain Hilts]

27. Go, Dog, Go!

[pokerfan]

28. The Hardly Boys

But seriously, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys. Mysteries are great.

Did Mark Twain write children's books? I read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer when I was quite young. Amazing that the latter is often banned on charges of racism when its quite scathing in its rebuke of racism.

[applegrove]

52. I liked Nancy Drew.

[RebelOne]

71. My favorite. I had every single one of the series when I was a kid. n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

Pippi Longstocking!

[LisaM]

29. Betsy-Tacy, Anne of Green Gables

Also, the "shoe" books.

[LeftishBrit]

79. Me too...

Betsy-Tacy was not available in the UK, but I discovered them when I spent some months in Canada.

I have always loved 'Anne of Green Gables'; the later books not as much, but I love the same author's 'Emily' books.

And the Noel Streatfield books are excellent!

[mitchum]

32. The Brains Benton mysteries were particular favorites when I was a kid

[eissa]

35. Not a series, but it has got to be

the Dr. Seuss books.. My daughter had memorized "Are You My Mother?" by the age of 3, it was so cute. Other favorites were "Stellaluna," "The Lady With the Alligator Purse," and "The Real Story of the 3 Little Pigs" (that last one is quite humorous.) Now that they're pre-teens, my daughter really enjoys the Judy Moody books, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series, and the "Ramona" books. My son really enjoyed the "Toad Heaven" series by Morris Gleitzman, and though it may make some parents cringe, the books by Andy Griffiths -- The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Zombie Butts from Uranus....you get the picture.

[XemaSab]

40. No Zilpha Keatley Snyder?

[Skittles]

41. Enid Blyton's Famous Five

http://www.enidblyton.net/famous-five/

[BuddhaGirl]

42. Lois Lenski's American Regional Series

okay - I'm dating myself LOL

I really loved these books...my favorites were "Strawberry Girl" and "Texas Tomboy."

[surrealAmerican]

45. The Wizard of Oz, and it's sequels by L. Frank Baum, ...

... and, from about the same time, E. Nesbit's The Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and The Amulet.

[NMDemDist2]

50. i loved that series, talk about escapist literature

[InvisibleTouch]

46. For young kids, Dr. Seuss.

For older kids, I have to go with the "Black Stallion" series.

[Pharlo]

57. The Black Stallion series

by Walter Farley was always my favorite series.

[mzteris]

47. Warriors

by Erin Hunter . . .

it's about CATS! and it's absolutely wonderful.

[Jade Fox]

49. The "Little House on the Prairie" series.....

Nothing like the TV show (the little that I've seen it), and wonderful stories of a real life pioneer family of girls.

[gbate]

73. I read all of these again as an adult and they are definitely my favorite.

[johnnie]

53. Three I remember

The Five Chinese Brothers
The Thing at the Foot of the Bed
The Man who didn't wash his dishes.

I would like to get me copies of those. I loved them when I was a kid.

[Flaxbee]

58. Another author who didn't do series, but Roald Dahl of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame,

James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, etc.

Another great children's book author is Judy Blume.

[TZ]

66. Judy Blume is great.

I think every pre teen girl should read "Are You There God? Its Me Margaret"....

[The Midway Rebel]

61. When I was a kid, I REALLY looked forward to when...

Once a month for just over year, while shopping at the local Kroger's, my parents bought me the next volume of a set of Funk & Wagnall's encyclopedia. Seeing here at DU what other kids read, I now wonder what my parents must have thought of me back then. I still do not read much fiction...except the occasional rant and hyperbole here at DU.

[Esra Star]

82. Hey, it was encyclopedias all the way for me too.

I always thought the fiction was just that. Anybody can make shit up....who cares.

BTW welcome to DU

[Mudoria]

63. "The Dark is Rising" series by Susan Cooper

[Lyric]

64. YES YES YES! This one!

Finally, someone else who knows about those.

[Matilda]

65. Add me to the list.

I bought the first one to read to my daughter, and became a fan myself

[Pryderi]

69. The Happy Hollisters

[Jeep789]

75. I was going to say that

Didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about. I think I must have read the entire series.

[Pryderi]

78. I didn't think anyone would know who they were either. Glad to meet another fan.

[XemaSab]

77. by Jerry West

[Jeep789]

80. I still have quite a number of them. nt

[LeftishBrit]

81. As a little kid, I used to love 'My Naughty Little Sister' and 'Milly Molly Mandy'...

are these available in the USA?

At a somewhat older age, Antonia Forest's books about the Marlows beginning with 'Autumn Term'. Susan Coolidge's 'Katy' books; and many books by L.M. Montgomery. Among more recent books, Gene Kemp's series beginning with 'The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler'.

[deoxyribonuclease]

83. I loved the Redwall series when I was in middle school

[susanr516]

84. My favorite was the Cherry Ames series

I also liked Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins. My older daughter loved the Little House books and my younger daughter loved the Magic Tree House books. My sons were crazy about Harry Potter--hell, I loved the Harry Potter series. Now, I have a grandson who loves Harry Potter. I honestly believe that J K Rowling will be long remembered as the best writer of chidren's literature.

[hippywife]

91. I only read one Cherry Ames book

as it was given to me by someone. Can't remember who. It was Cherry Ames at Spencer. I loved it. Never ran into anyone else who had even heard of Cherry Ames.

[WinkyDink]

85. Some series ca. '57 that incl. "Swiss Family Robinson", "Treasure Island", "Black Beauty", "Heidi".

[Pied Piper]

86. The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norman Juster.

One of my favorite childhood classics!

[JeanGrey]

87. The Wilder books (Or Ingalls)

[AwakeAtLast]

88. "The Giving Tree"

Well, anything by Shell Silverstein really.

Other favorites:

I'll Love You Forever
The Napping House
Charlotte's Web

The last one will probably not be on anyone's list, but I loved it and read it many times - Bugs In Your Ears.

[MilesColtrane]

89. A Wrinkle In Time

The Black Stallion

...and The Mad Scientist's Club.