Children's Books: What Are Your All-Time Favourites?

[babyboy520]

I’ve been on a bit of a children’s book binge lately (as if my bookshelf wasn’t already overflowing!), and I’m curious to know: what are your all-time favourite kids' books? The ones that never get old, the ones that hold up after countless readings, or the ones that you can actually tolerate reading over and over again (because, let’s face it, some books are just torture by the 30th read!).
I’ve got a few classics in mind, but I’m always looking for fresh recommendations – especially ones that might get my little one really into reading (and not just chewing on the pages). Anyone else got those hidden gems you can’t stop reading with your kids? Or maybe a story that never fails to make you giggle?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Bonus points if you can recommend books that have beautiful illustrations because let’s be honest, those are almost as important as the story itself!

The Children of Green Knowe
The Little White Horse
Tom's Midnight Garden

The Magic Faraway Tree
Danny the Champion of the World
Woof

Anything by Noel Streatfield or Diana Wynne Jones.

Children of Greene Knowe
The Red Towers of Grenada (anything by Geoffrey Trease really)
Chalet School

For reading aloud The Bed Book by Sylvia Plath illustrated by Quentin Blake. Think it's out of print but available second hand.

Also like Richard Scarry a lot as author & illustrator.

Picture books:
Anything by Allan and Janet Alhberg
What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scary
Brambley Hedge by Jill Barkham
Topsy and Tim (the original illustrations are my favourites)

The Secret Garden
Danny, the Champion of the World
The Wind in the Willows
The Hobbit/LOTR
His Dark Materials
HP and the Philosopher’s Stone/Prisoner of Azkaban/Goblet of Fire

Topsy&Tim
Mr Men
Tom's Midnight Garden
Mallory Towers & St Claire's
The Faraway Tree
The Wishing Chair

Picture books:
The various (thin, large format) Pirate books by Jonny Duddle - not only funny, but DS and I would almost always spot a new detail in the illustrations each time we read!
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, illustrated by Errol le Cain - I had this growing up and found a copy for DS, it’s stunning.
The Comet (Stanton)
And everything by Oliver Jeffers, ‘This Moose…’ is my favourite.

Goodnight Gorilla
Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlets
Cockatoos
You Choose
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner
Stig Of The Dump

Where the Wild Things Are
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
Yy to Richard Scarry

Worst Witch
Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
A Little Princess

Board books: I Love You More by Sebastian Braun; We're Going on a Bear Hunt; The Jolly Postman/Jolly Christmas Postman.

Picture books: Elmer; The Hungry Caterpillar; The Gruffalo, and tbh most of Julia Donaldson's; The Tiger Who Came to Tea; the Mog series

Younger chapter books: Anything by Roald Dahl; The Faraway Tree series

Older chapter books: the Harry Potter series; Howl's Moving Castle; Stig of the Dump; anything by Michael Morpurgo or Katharine Rundell

Winnie the Witch - similar to the poster above, there’s always something new to spot in the illustrations with every read.

All the Arthur Ransome books (user name is a clue).

Charlotte's web. Always

Sorry but you sound like a journalist getting mumsnet to do the work for you.

Dodge Smith books, notably, I Capture the Castle and 101 Dalmations
The Carbonel books by Barbara Sleigh
if they are part of collection of significant books that changed children’s literature, the two volumes of The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnet. She won the Carnegie Award for children’s books. They are books about a very ordinary working class family, Dad a dustman and Mum a laundress. It was published in 1937 and showed that children’s books didn’t have to be about middle class or posh kids. I always think of this book when I read Mumsnet posts from women wailing that it is unfair that women have to have jobs when women in the olden days didn’t work. The Family From. One End Street shows that of course working class women have always worked.
Any books by E Nesbit ( The Railway Children and lots more)
Wind in the Willows
The Secret Garden, the first 2/3 of the book are just wonderful.
The Ahlberg books. Love them
Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat pubd 1847
The Box of Delights, John Masefield. A wonderful Christmas read.
The Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis.
I could recommend many many more books. I love children’s books

Anything and everything by these authors
Shirley Hughes
Judith Kerr
Jill Murphy
Dick King-Smith

We have far too many books including children’s books and at some point will have to have a serious cull. However anything by Diana Wynne Jones , Susan Cooper, Antonia Forest and Rosemary Sutcliff leaves this house only over my lifeless body.

Love your list (but there are three One End Street books not two; Family at One End Street, Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street, and Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn).

The Amazing Mr Whisper. And I will forever be grateful to the wonderful wonderful MN person who sent me her copies (I could NOT find any to buy). I treasure them and will pass them down to my daughters.

And Henrietta's House, inherited from my mum, who loved it too.

I love many amongst those already mentioned and would add to my list the following wonderful children's books:

Satchkin Patchkin (Helen Morgan)
Teddy Robinson books (Joan G Robinson)
Charley (also Joan G Robinson)
The Greatest Gresham (Gillian Avery. As a bookish child, I loved this story about another bookish child!)
Henrietta's House (Elizabeth Goudge).
Three Girls and a Secret (Rene Guillot).

The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

The Magic Faraway Tree

With the original illustrations.

The mother in the Faraway Tree books worked, she took in washing as I recall. The children worked too, around the house and garden.

Some of the middle class mothers worked - the mother in The Railway Children, Mrs Mannering in the Adventure series. And guardians - Madge Bettany, Sylvia in Ballet Shoes.

Ooh! Too many:

Lone Pine Series (Malcolm Saville) - favourite Wings over Witchend, I think.
The White Riders - Monica Edwards
Castle of Adventure - Enid Blyton
Either The Marlows and the Traitor or the historical pair by Antonia Forest
The House of the Paladin - Violet Needham
Power of Three - Diane Wynne Jones
Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome
Demon Island - Cecil Baldock
Curtain Up - Noel Streatfield
Horse and His Boy - C S Lewis
Island Magic - Elizabeth Goudge
Cue for Treason - Geoffrey Trease
Three Jays lend a hand - Pat Smythe
Go Saddle the Sea - Joan Aiken

and then ones like The Young Detectives, Cornish Adventure, Monday Adventure, The Kestrals Plot Adventure, The Children who lived in a Barn, Three girls and a Secret, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn, The Saturday Sixpence, Elephant Adventure, The Princess of the Chalet School, Three Investigators (Screaming Clock), Brat Farrar, The Princess and the Goblin, The Back of the North Wind, Tom's Midnight Garden, The Children of Green Knowe, The Bullerby Children... etc all feature highly too.

Are ones I can think of offhand.