And now the results of the Top 100 Chapter Books Poll. Like what you see? Don’t like what you see? Now’s the time to say it. If you would like this list in a lovely PDF, suitable for handing out to patrons, friends, teachers, parents, etc. you can sign up for it here. Et voila!
#1 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952)
#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997)
#4 The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
#5 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950)
#6 Holes by Louis Sachar (1998)
#7 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1967)
#8 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (1908)
#9 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1978)
#10 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977)
#11 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2009)
#12 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (1999)
#13 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (1997)
#14 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1938)
#15 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)
#16 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (1975)
#17 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (1964)
#18 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (1964)
#19 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932)
#20 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (2000)
#21 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961)
#22 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973)
#23 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (1989)
#24 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (1968)
#25 The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (1995)
#26 Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926)
#27 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1935)
#28 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1995)
#29 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (2005)
#30 Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988)
#31 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
#32 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (1976)
#33 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien (1971)
#34 Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (1961)
#35 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (1972)
#36 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1958)
#37 The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (2007)
#38 Frindle by Andrew Clements (1996)
#39 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2007)
#40 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (1990)
#41 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)
#42 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (1957)
#43 Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (1980)
#44 Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (2011)
#45 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (1960)
#46 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (1990)
#47 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)
#48 The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (1999)
#49 My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (1948)
#50 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1989)
#51 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, A Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (2003)
#52 Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (1940)
#53 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2008)
#54 Half Magic by Edward Eager (1954)
#55 All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (1951)
#56 A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)
#57 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1962)
#58 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930)
#59 The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (2006)
#60 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (1999)
#61 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964)
#62 Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (2006)
#63 The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (1978)
#64 The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois (1947)
#65 Wonder by R.J. Palacio (2012)
#66 The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (2009)
#67 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (1998)
#68 The High King by Lloyd Alexander (1968)
#69 The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan (2006)
#70 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (1994)
#71 Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles (2005)
#72 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (2009)
#73 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (1972)
#74 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970)
#75 The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (1941)
#76 Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (2007)
#77 My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (1959)
#78 Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1936)
#79 The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1967)
#80 The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (1942)
#81 The Witches by Roald Dahl (1983)
#82 The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (1960)
#83 Ozma of Oz by Frank L. Baum (1907)
#84 The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1940)
#85 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (1997)
#86 Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1911)
#87 The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (2010)
#88 The BFG by Roald Dahl (1982)
#89 The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary (1967)
#90 The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston (1954)
#91 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1950)
#92 Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen (2001)
#93 Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (2001)
#94 Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary (1977)
#95 The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943)
#96 The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (1954)
#97 The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton (1962)
#98 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (2000)
#99 The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (1942)
#100 Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (2001)
None of this could have been possible without the help of Eric Carpenter. He single-handedly created the algorithm that allowed us to tally the votes easily. Then he and Sondra Eklund did double duty to get the final votes tallied and ready in the time to announce. Thanks too to the survey monkeys Sam Bloom, Katie DeKoster, Joy Wright, Kate Conklin, and Dick Holmes who all did the initial tallying.
Bibliography of Sources Used
Clark, Beverly Lyon Clark. Kiddie Lit: The Cultural Construction of Children’s Literature in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Galda, Lee and Bernice E. Cullinan. Literature and the Child, 5th Edition. Stamford: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2002.
Marcus, Leonard, ed. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom. New York: Harper Collins, 1998.
Marcus, Leonard, ed. Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy. Boston: Candlewick, 2009.
Marcus, Leonard. Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008.
Pearl, Nancy. Book Crush: For Kids and Teens Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2007.
Silvey, Anita. 100 Best Books for Children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Silvey, Anita. Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2009.
Snow, Jack. Who’s Who In Oz. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1988.
Sutton, Roger and Martha Parravano, ed. A Family of Readers: The Book Lover’s Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Boston: Candlewick, 2010.
Zipes, Jack, ed. The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature: The Traditions in English. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004.
About Elizabeth Bird
Not to give you MORE stuff to do, but… will you be posting a simple list of the runners-up again? I enjoyed that almost as much as the actual top list w/ details last time.
Yes, please please please. I found some treasures in the runners-up list last time.
Yep. Runners-up are in the cards. I just need to take a quick vacation to Canada first . . .
Thank you! I’m going to put this list to good use.
Thanks Betsy; this has been a good time!