Books
You can sort the list of great children's books, winnow it down by age and genre, or use Advanced Search to see many other ways to explore the Treasury of Great Children's Books.
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1895)
A two-volume collection of stories and essays, including Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Read for free online at Internet Archive: Volume 1, and Volume 2.
Author(s):
Washington Irving
Illustrator(s):
Arthur Rackham, Et al
The Little Trapper (1950)
The little trapper gets trapped.
Author(s):
Byron Jackson, Kathryn Jackson
Illustrator(s):
Gustaf Tenggren
The Saggy Baggy Elephant (1947)
Twitted by a parrot about his looks, the baby elephant is unhappy until he meets some beautiful creatures just like himself. As with most of the early Little Golden Books, the later editions were much shortened.
Read online at archive.org. This is a later abridged version.
Author(s):
Byron Jackson, Kathryn Jackson
Illustrator(s):
Gustaf Tenggren
Julie’s Secret Sloth (1953)
Julie’s father says no pets, but Julie goes ahead and buys a two-toed sloth named Sampson and soon discovers she can’t keep him a secret.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Jacqueline Jackson
Illustrator(s):
Robert Henneberger
Smoky the Cow Horse (1929)
The story of a cow horse and his various masters.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Will James
Illustrator(s):
Will James
Finn Family Moomintroll (1950)
Moomintroll, Sniff and Snufkin discover a (magician’s) hat and amazing adventures follow.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Tove Jansson
Illustrator(s):
Tove Jansson
Bevis (1932)
Two English boys camp out on an island in a pond.
An abridged version is available at archive.org.
Author(s):
Richard Jefferies
Illustrator(s):
Ernest Shepard
Wood Magic: A Fable (1881)
In this woodland fantasy young Bevis can talk to the wild creatures. Read online at archive.org: Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Author(s):
Richard Jefferies
Illustrator(s):
None
The Terrible Twins (1913)
A pair of twins, brother and sister, terrorize the community of Little Deeping, to say nothing of the cats. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Edgar Jepson
Illustrator(s):
Hanson Booth
The Lawrenceville Stories (1967)
An omnibus of boys boarding school stories containing The Prodigious Hickey, The Varmint, and The Tennessee Shad.
Author(s):
Owen Johnson
Illustrator(s):
Frederic Steele, F. R. Gruger
The Prodigious Hickey (1909)
The first of the boarding school stories set at Lawrenceville in the era after the end of caning, when “between masters and students there was an armed and exceedingly wary neutrality.” Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Owen Johnson
Illustrator(s):
May Preston, Frederic Steele, Henry Raleigh
The Tennessee Shad (1911)
The Prodigious Hickey has moved on but life continues at The Lawrenceville School. Read online at Hathitrust.
Author(s):
Owen Johnson
Illustrator(s):
F. R. Gruger
The Varmint (1910)
Adventures at a boys’ boarding school - more football than baseball. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Owen Johnson
Illustrator(s):
F. R. Gruger
Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
When Harold decides to go for a walk in the moonlight, there isn’t any moon, nor anywhere to walk, but his purple crayon soon fixes that.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Crockett Johnson
Illustrator(s):
Crockett Johnson
Harold at the North Pole (1958)
Harold goes looking for a Christmas tree, but first he has to lend Santa Claus a helping crayon.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Crockett Johnson
Illustrator(s):
Crockett Johnson
Emil and the Detectives (1930)
While on the train to Berlin to visit his grandmother Emil has his money stolen. He gathers a team of children to track down the thief. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Erich Kästner
Illustrator(s):
Walter Trier
Lisa and Lottie (1951)
When Lottie arrives at summer camp, Lisa discovers she has a double and it soon becomes apparent -- a twin! This book was the basis for the movie The Parent Trap.
Author(s):
Erich Kästner
Illustrator(s):
Walter Trier
The Gammage Cup (1959)
A light on the mountain brings conflict to the Land Between the Mountains, and the only Minnipins who stand in the breach are a band of outcasts.
Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Carol Kendall
Illustrator(s):
Erik Blegvad
The Whisper of Glocken (1965)
The Watercress River has been dammed. Five intrepid Minnipins set out to find the cause and save the people of the Land Between the Mountains.
Author(s):
Carol Kendall
Illustrator(s):
Imero Gobbato
Walt and Skeezix 1921 & 1922 (2005)
Frank O. King’s newspaper strip Gasoline Alley, starring Walt Wallet, first appeared November 24, 1918. In the strip for February 14, 1921, a baby, whom Walt names Skeezix is left on Walt’s doorstep. This is the first volume in the collected strips.
Author(s):
Frank King
Illustrator(s):
Frank King