The BBC’s 100 Greatest Children's Books of All Time
Well here’s a thing - not one but two of Tomi’s books made it onto this prestigious BBC list. The Three Robbers and No Kiss for Mother can be found here in the BBC’s all time top 100 children’s books.
BBC Culture polled 177 books experts from 56 countries to find the greatest children’s books ever. The poll aimed to give children’s literature its due and consider what makes great children’s writing. The experts listed their 10 favourite children’s books, which were scored and ranked to produce the top 100. The list reflects the vast scope and diversity of children’s literature, from ancient Indian stories to modern British novels. However, it also has its limitations and biases, such as the predominance of English-language books and books from the mid-20th century.
The list is not definitive, but it is a tribute to the imagination, storytelling, and themes of children’s literature. It also invites readers to revisit the books they loved in their youth and discover new ones that they may have missed or that were published later. The list hopes to spark a conversation and appreciation for children’s books, which are often undervalued or censored in today’s world. Here is the full 100:
Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak, 1963)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren, 1945)
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943)
The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien, 1937)
Northern Lights (Philip Pullman, 1995)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis, 1950)
Winnie-the-Pooh (AA Milne and EH Shepard, 1926)
Charlotte's Web (EB White and Garth Williams, 1952)
Matilda (Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, 1988)
Anne of Green Gables (LM Montgomery, 1908)
Fairy Tales (Hans Christian Andersen, 1827)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (JK Rowling, 1997)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle, 1969)
The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper, 1973)
The Arrival (Shaun Tan, 2006)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott, 1868)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl, 1964)
Heidi (Johanna Spyri, 1880)
Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, 1947)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi, 1883)
A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K Le Guin, 1968)
Moominland Midwinter (Tove Jansson, 1957)
I Want My Hat Back (Jon Klassen, 2011)
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911)
Duck, Death and the Tulip (Wolf Erlbruch, 2007)
The Brothers Lionheart (Astrid Lindgren, 1973)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (JK Rowling, 1999)
Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson, 2014)
The Three Robbers (Tomi Ungerer, 1961)
The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats, 1962)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (Judith Kerr, 1968)
Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones, 1986)
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle, 1962)
Watership Down (Richard Adams, 1972)
Tom's Midnight Garden (Philippa Pearce, 1958)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (Brothers Grimm, 1812)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter, 1902)
The Railway Children (Edith Nesbit, 1906)
Noughts and Crosses (Malorie Blackman, 2001)
The BFG (Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, 1982)
Rules of Summer (Shaun Tan, 2013)
Momo (Michael Ende, 1973)
The Story of Ferdinand (Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, 1936)
The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien, 1954)
The Owl Service (Alan Garner, 1967)
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (Astrid Lindgren, 1981)
The Neverending Story (Michael Ende, 1979)
The Panchatantra (Anonymous / folk, -200)
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)
Mary Poppins (PL Travers, 1934)
Ballet Shoes (Noel Streafield, 1936)
So Much! (Trish Cooke and Helen Oxenbury, 1994)
We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, 1989)
The Adventures of Cipollino (Gianni Rodari, 1951)
The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein, 1964)
The Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, 1999)
Julián Is a Mermaid (Jessica Love, 2018)
Comet in Moominland (Tove Jansson, 1946)
Finn Family Moomintroll (Tove Jansson, 1948)
The Witches (Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, 1983)
A Bear Called Paddington (Michael Bond, 1958)
The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame, 1908)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D Taylor, 1977)
Karlsson-on-the-Roof (Astrid Lindgren, 1955)
The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer, 1961)
The Cat in the Hat (Dr Seuss, 1957)
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Kate DiCamillo and Bagram Ibatoulline, 2006)
Peter and Wendy (JM Barrie, 1911)
One Thousand and One Nights (Anonymous / folk)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler (EL Konigsburg, 1967)
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Judith Kerr, 1971)
Shum bola (G'afur G'ulоm, 1936)
Ernest and Celestine (Gabrielle Vincent, 1981)
A Kind of Spark (Elle McNicoll, 2020)
Little Nicholas (René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé, 1959)
Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877)
Daddy-Long-Legs (Jean Webster, 1912)
No Kiss for Mother (Tomi Ungerer, 1973)
My Family and Other Animals (Gerald Durrell, 1956)
Jacob Have I Loved (Katherine Paterson, 1980)
The Lorax (Dr Seuss, 1971)
Fairy Tales / The Tales of Mother Goose (Charles Perrault, 1697)
The Moomins and the Great Flood (Tove Jansson, 1945)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L Frank Baum, 1900)
Just William (Richmal Crompton, 1922)
The Twits (Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, 1980)
The Mouse and His Child (Russell Hoban, 1967)
Out of My Mind (Sharon M Draper, 2010)
Moominvalley in November (Tove Jansson, 1970)
Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1932)
Danny the Champion of the World (Roald Dahl, 1975)
The Snowman (Raymond Briggs, 1978)
Wave (Suzy Lee, 2008)
The Black Brothers (Lisa Tetzner, 1940)
The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams, 1921)
The Bad Beginning (Lemony Snicket, 1999)
The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman, 2008)
American Born Chinese (Gene Luen Yang and Lark Pien, 2006)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Salman Rushdie, 1990)
