This wasn’t a list I was going to make. But then, I found myself with three adorable nephews and an Amazon Prime account for their birthdays. Now, I know some of the books that I have loved reading to my kids–and Lord knows I spent enough time researching the best and most classic books–but I didn’t have any tidy, little list to refer to. So I did my usual research and came up with a great starting point. Thanks to Scholastic, Library Journal, and New York Times, etc.

Best Picture Books

• Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Mo Willems
• Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
• The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
• Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
• Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst
• Bark, George, Jules Feiffer
• The Monster at the End of This Book, Jon Stone
• Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Kevin Henkes
• Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
• Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
• Caps for Sale, Esphyr Slobodkina
• Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel
• The Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Philip Stead
• Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Eric Litwin
• Millions of Cats, Wanda Gag
• Corduroy, Donald Freeman
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin Jr.
• Tuesday, David Weisner
• Kitten’s First Full Moon, Kevin Henkes
• We Are In a Book, Mo Willems
• Bread and Jam for Frances, Russell Hoban
• Go, Dog, Go!, P. D. Eastman
• Miss Nelson Is Missing!, Nelson Ellard
• Owl Moon, Jane Yolan
• Blueberries for Sal, Robert McCloskey
• The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
• The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
• Strega Nona, Tomie de Paola
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka
• The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
• The Lion and the Mouse, Jerry Pinkney
• Click, Clack, Moo, Doreen Cronin
• Good Night, Gorilla, Peggy Rathman
• Curious George, H. A. Rey
• Freight Train, Donald Crews
• Rudie Nudie, Emma Quay
• The Very Cranky Bear, Nick Bland
• Where Is the Green Sheep?, Mem Fox
• Room on the Broom, Julia Donaldson
• Edwina the Emu, Sheena Knowles
• Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
• Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
• Harry the Dirty Dog, Gene Zion
• Who Sank the Boat?, Pamela Allen
• Imagine, Allison Lester
• Wombat Stew, Marsha K. Vaughan
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
• Where the Forest Meets the Sea, Jeannie Baker
• The Jolly Postman, Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• The Little Yellow Digger, Betty and Alan Gilderdale
• Moo, Baa, La La La!, Sandra Boynton
• Sebastian Lives in a Hat, Thelma Catterwell
• Where’s Spot?, Eric Hill
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Eric Carle
• Iggy Peck, Architect, Andrea Baety
• The Gruffalo, Julia Donalson
• Uno’s Garden, Graham Base
• Guess How Much I Love You, Sam McBratney
• Possum Magic, Julie Vivas
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen
• Magic Beach, Alison Lester
• John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Car, Jenny Wagner
• Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell
• The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
• Doctor De Soto, William Steig
• Scaredy Squirrel, Melanie Watt
• Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann
• There is a Bird on Your Head, Mo Willems
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss
• Go Away, Big Green Monster!, Ed Emberley
• The Sneetches and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss
• King Bodgood’s in the Bathtub, Audrey Wood
• The Arrival, Shaun Tan
• Bedtime for Frances, Russell Hoban
• The Three Pigs, David Wiesner
• Rhyming Dust Bunnies, Jan Thomas
• Stellaluna, Janell Cannon
• But Not the Hippopotamus, Sandra Boynton
• May I Bring a Friend?, Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
• I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen
• Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Judi Barrett
• Eloise, Kay Thompson
• Flotsam, David Weisner
• Zoom at Sea, Tim Wynne-Jones
• Pierre, Maurice Sendak
• Madeline’s Rescue, Ludwig Bemelmans
• Fortunately, Remy Charlip
• A Visitor for Bear, Bonny Becker
• Bear Snores On, Karma Wilson
• Not a Box, Antoinette Portis
• The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
• The Paper Bag Princess,  Robert Munsch
• No, David!, David Shannon
• Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel
• Arnie the Doughnut, Laurie Keller
• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stupid Fairy Tales, Jon Scieszka
• The Gardener, Sarah Steward
• Traction Man is Here!, Mini Grey
• The Mitten, Jan Brett
• The Kissing Hand, Audrey Penn
• Ira Sleeps Over, Bernard Waber
• Duck on a Bike, David Shannon
• The Maggie B, Irene Haas
• The Carrot Seed, Ruth Krauss
• The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strwberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, Audrey Wood
• Are You My Mother?, P. D. Eastman
• Grandfather’s Journey, Allen Say
• George and Martha, James Marshall
• Press Here, Herve Tullet
• The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Chris Van Allsburg
• The Library, Sarah Stewart
• Zen Shorts, Jon J. Moth
• Thank You, Mr. Falker, Patricia Polacco
• Olivia, Ian Falconer
•  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, William Steig
• Love You Forever, Robert Munsch
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff
• The Other Side, Jacqueline Woodson
• The Snowman, Raymond Brigg
• SkippyJon Jones, Judy Schachner
• The Keeping Quilt, Patricia Polacco
• The Little Engine That Could, Watty Piper
• My Lucky Day, Keiko Kasza

• The Day the Crayons Quit, Drew Daywalt
• Peek-A-Who, Nina Laden
• Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
• Charlie and Lola (series), Lauren Child
• The Underwear Book, Todd Parr
• A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond
• The Big Book of the Bearenstein Bears, Stan and Jan Bearenstein
• Put Me in the Zoo, Robert Lopshire
• The Ghost Eye Tree, Bill Martin
• Fancy Nancy, Jane O’Connor
• Father Christmas, Raymond Briggs
• Gorilla, Anthony Browne
• The Mick Inkpen Collection, Mick Inkpen
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Pam Adams
• The Babar Collection, Jean de Brunhoff
• Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse and Was Eaten by a Lion, Hilaire Belloc
• Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Eric Carle
• What Do People Do All Day?, Richard Scarry
• The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business, Wener Holzwarth
• Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers
• Adventures of Mrs. Pepperpot, Alf Proysen
• Operation Alpha Monkey and Me, Emily Gravett
• Time for Bed, Mem Fox
• Operation Alphabet, Al MacCuish
• Hippos Go Beserk!, Sandra Boynton
• The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith Kerr
• Funnybones, Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• Elmer, David McKee
• I Love You, Blue Kangaroo, Emma Chichester Clark
• Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, Edward Ardizzone
• The Princess and the Pea, Lauren Child
• The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams

Some Chapter Books to Read Out to Your Children

• Maps, Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinska
• A Little History of the World, E. H. Gombrich
• Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb
• Our Island Story, H. E. Marshall
• The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
• The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, Iona and Julian Opie
• Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Naomi Lewis
• The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear, Faber
• The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Literature, Alison Sage
• Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans, Terry Dreary
• The Way Things Work, David Macaulay
• Carrie’s War, Nina Bawden
• Pinocchio, Michael Morpurgo
• Stig of the Dump, Clive King
• The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken
• The Magician’s Nephew, C. S. Lewis
• Five Children of the Western Front, Kate Saunders
• Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
• How to Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell
• South Sea Adventure, Willard Price
• Goodnight Mr. Tom, Michelle Magorian
• Saffy’s Angel, Hilary McKay
• Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jone
• Dead Man’s Cove, Lauren St. John
• Noble Conflict, Malorie Blackman
• The Abominables, Eva Ibbotson
• Ballet Shoes, Hoel Streatfeild
• The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge
• A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L’Engle
• Skellig, David Almond
• Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling
• His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
• Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
• Kepper, Mal Peet
• Watership Down, Richard Adams
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein
• Emil and the Detectives, Erich Kastner
• James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
• The Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne
• The Doll People, Ann M. Martin
• The Sword in the Stone, T.H. White
• The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Heidi, Johanna Spyri
• Sophie’s Adventures, Dick King-Smith
• Paddington Races Ahead, Michael Bond
• How the Whale Became, Ted Hughes
• A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, Dave Shelton
• Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales, Beatrix Potter
• The Adventures of TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Herge
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
• The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
• The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Winnie-the-Pooh Collection, A. A. Milne
• Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren
• Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
• Five on a Treasure Island, Enid Blyton
• The Story of the Chalet School, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
• The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
• The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
• The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting
• The BFG, Roald Dahl
• Fattypuffs and Thinifers, Andre Maurois
• Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
• The Greengage Summer, Rumer Godden
• The Peacock Spring, Rumer Godden
• The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
• How I Live Now, Meg Rosof
• The Summer Book, Tove Jansson