50 of the best kids books everyone should read before they're 16

published 7 November 2019

A round up of our favourite 50 stores for kids...

In honour of one of our favourite days of the year, World Book Day, Sainsbury's have created a list of the top 50 kids books - and oh, what a wonderful list it turned out to be!

Unsurprisingly, classic children's author Roald Dahl topped the list with Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, whilst Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland came in second.

However, further down the list, there's a perfect mixture of old meets new, with authors like Enid Blyton and Robert Louis Stevenson sitting side by side with J.K Rowling and Philip Pullman. Whatever your favourite childhood tale is, it's probably in the top 50 list of kids books somewhere!

Here's the full list of top 50 stories for kids - how many have you and your children read?

1. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

2. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

4. Winnie The Pooh - A.A.Milne

5. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

6. James and The Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

7. The BFG - Roald Dahl

8. A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond

9. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

10. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

12. Matilda - Roald Dahl

13. The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

14. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

15. Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton

16. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

17. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

18. The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kiplin

19. Charlotte's Web - EB White

20. The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter

21. Watership Down - Richard Adams

22. The Hobbit - J.R.Tolken

23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

24. Lord of the Flies - William Golding

25. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾ - Sue Townsend

26. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

27. The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss

28. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson-Burnett

29. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

30. The Twits - Roald Dahl

31. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

32. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

33. Anne of Green Gables - L.M.Montgomery

34. The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr

35. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss

36. The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

37. Bambi- Felix Selten

38. Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce

39. Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

40. Funny Bones - Janet and Allan Ahlberg

41. Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

42. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden

43. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

44. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

45. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

46. The Story of Doctor Dolittle - Hugh Lofting

47. The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson

48. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

49. Curious George - H.A.Ray

50. Each Peach Pear Plum - Janet and Allan Ahlberg

What is one of your favourite kids books of all time? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page and let us know!

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