Essential Girl’s Book List
- House that Jack Built, by J.P. Miller
- Mr. Pine’s Purple House, by Leonard P. Kessler
- A is for Annabelle, by Tasha Tudor
- Little Red Hen, by Diane Muldrow
- The Gingerbread Boy, Paul Galdone
- Little Drummer Boy (all song books), by Ezra Jack Keats
- The Mitten, by Jan Brett
- Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney
- Officer Buckle and Gloria, by Peggy Rathmann
- The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
- The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
- Home for Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
- First Prayers and First Graces, by Tasha Tudor
- Corduroy, written and illustrated by Don Freeman,
- Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey
- Baby Dear, by Esther and Eloise Wilkin
- The Sunflower Garden, by Janice May Udry
- The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton
- Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
- Maybelle the Cable Car, by Virginia Lee Burton
- Katy and the Big Snow, by Virginia Lee Burton
- The Quilt Story, by Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola
- The Story of Old Befana, by Tomie dePaola
- Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola
- The Seven Silly Eaters, by Mary Ann Hoberman
- Madeline books, by Ludwig Bemelmans
- Peter and Lotta’s Adventures, by Elsa Beskow
- A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Cautionary Tales and Other Verses (includes Bad Child’s Book of Beasts and More Beasts for Worse Children), by Hilaire Belloc
- The Owl and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear
- Just Plain Fancy, by Patricia Polacco
- Flicka, Ricka and Dicka series, by Maj Lindemann
- Chester’s Way, by Kevin Henkes
- How to make an Apple Pie and See the World, by Marjorie Priceman
- Pancakes, Pancakes!, by Eric Carle
- Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban
- Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen
- Roxaboxen, by Alice McLerran
- Hubert’s Hair Raising Adventure, by Bill Peet
- House is a House for Me, by Mary Ann Hoberman
- Sarah Somebody, by Florence Slobodkin
- Nurse Matilda, by Christianna Brand
- A New Coat for Anna, by Harriet Ziefert
- The Wounded Duck, by Peter Barnhart
- Marguerite Makes a Book, by Bruce Robertson and Kathryn Hewitt
- Christina Katerina and the Box, by Patricia Lee Gauch
- Amelia Bedeila books, by Peggy Parish
- Raggedy Anne and Andy books, by Johnny Gruelle
- Marcella: A Raggedy Anne Story, by Johnny Gruelle
- Mrs. Twiggly’s Tree, by Dorothea Warren Fox
- Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, by Bernard Waber
- Katy. No Pocket, by Emmy Payne
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss
- Pickle Chiffon Pie, by Jolly Roger Bradfield
- Doctor DeSoto, by William Steig
- Monkey and the Crocodile, by Paul Galdone
- Ant and the Elephant, by Bill Peet
- One Morning in Maine, by Robert McCloskey
- Cinderella (Galdone), by Paul Galdone
- Frances books, by Russell Hoban
- Rumplestiltskin (Galdone), by Paul Galdone
- Mother Goose, by Tomie DePaolo
- Chanticleer and the Fox, by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Prairie School, by Avi
- Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan
- Nutcracker, by E. T. A. Hoffman
- Rapunzel, by Paul O. Zelinsky
- The Wheel on the School, by Meindert DeJong
- King Midas and the Golden Touch, by Charlotte Craft and Kinuko Y. Craft
- Christmas Oranges, by Linda Bethers and Ben Sowards
- Little House series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink
- The Children of Noisy Village, by Astrid Lindgren
- A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes
- The Cabin Faced West, by Jean Fritz
- Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild
- Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
- Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald
- A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
- Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
- Dog Diaries series, by Kate Klimo
- Happy Hollisters series, by Jerry West
- Boxcar Children series (originals), by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- The Wizard of Oz, by Frank L. Baum
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis
- Mary Frances books, by Jane Fryer
- The Green Ember, by S. D. Smith
- Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White
- The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen
- Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
- The Blue Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang
- Beezus and Ramona, by Beverly Cleary and Jacqueline Rogers
- The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Andersen and Vladyslav Yerko
- The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit
- The Story of the Treasure Seekers, by Edith Nesbit
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
- The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright
- Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt
- Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, by T.S. Eliot
- The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie, by George MacDonald
- The Mitchell series and The Bantry Bay series, by Hilda van Stockum
- Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Gone Away series, by Elisabeth Enright
- Stuart Little, by E. B. White
- Lady Grace Mysteries, by Patricia Finney and Jan Burchett
- Elsie Dinsmore series, by Martha Finley
- Cherry Ames series, by Helen Wells and Julie Campbell Tatham
- Nancy Drew Mysteries (originals), by Carolyn Keene
- The Light Princess, by George MacDonald
- Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry
- Mary Poppins, by Robert Stevenson
- Good Queen Bess, by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
- Strawberry Hill, by Mary Ann Hoberman
- The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie Andrews Edwards
- Because of Winn Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo
- Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
- Lad (and all his other collie stories), by A Terhune
- When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, The House at Pooh Corner, and Winnie-the-Pooh, by AA Milne
- Treasury for Children, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Allan Dwan
- The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo
- Betsy Tacy series, by Maud Hart Lovelace
- Daughter of the Mountains, by Louise S. Rankin
- Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
- Milly-Molly-Mandy, by Joyce Lankester Brisley
- Texas Tomboy, by Lois Lenski
- The Search for Delicious, by Natalie Babbitt
- Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien and Zena Bernstein
- Rare Treasure, by Don Brown
- Little Mommy, by Sharon Kane
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
- Young Pioneers, by Rose Wilder Lane
- Mother, by Kathleen Norris
- Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
- Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare
- The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by Maria von Trapp
- Silas Marner, by George Eliot
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- Middlemarch, by George Eliot
- Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
- My Antonia, by Willa Cather
- The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom
- Great Expectations, Hard Times, by Charles Dickens
- Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens
To find titles geared towards the boy, Martin’s Essential Boys books list will do the trick!