Ah, the classics.  What this boils down to is individual taste.  There are so many lists for children’s classics and I have to say that I don’t necessarily agree with all of them.  This is a list that I’ve compiled and it’s a good start.   I’m sure I’ve forgotten many of them so if you see that I’ve missed something very important please feel free to let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

As you can imagine prices and age ranges in this category vary quite a bit.  Prices on most classics range from $50 and $2.99.  And since everyone should read the classics most of them now come in abridged editions for younger readers.

Picture Books

The ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty

Angelina Ballerina by Katharine Holabird

Animalia by Graeme Base

Are You My Mother? by P D Eastman

Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban

The Berenstain Bears by Stan and jan Berenstain

The Best Nest by P.D Eastman

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney

Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Curious George by H.A. Rey

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Eloise by Kay Thompson

George and Martha by James Marshall

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Harry, the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

The House that Jack Built by Unknown

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christina Bjork

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Thomas the Tank Engine by Reverend W Awdry

The Travels of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne

Beginning Readers

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Go, Dog, Go! by P D Eastman

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

Stories (present day)

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The BFG by Roadl Dahl

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

The Cricket in Times Square by Goerge Selden

Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J Sobol

The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

Inkheart by Cornelia  Funke

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupery

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O’Brien

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

The River by Gary Paulsen

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachan

Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

Stuart Little by E.B. White

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

The Time Machine by H G Wells

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

The Twenty One Balloons by William Pene Du Bois

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth G Speare

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursual LeGuin

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Stories from Ancient Days through the Eighteenth Century

The Boy’s King Arthur edited by Sidney Lanier

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Stories from the Nineteenth Century through 1920

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Heidi by Joanna Spyri

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Little Princess by Frances H Burnett

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Peter Pan by James M Barrie

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson

The Story of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

The Sword in the Stone by E B White

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

White Fang by Jack London

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Story Collections

Aesop’s Fables by Aesop

Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen

The Arabian Nights by Anonymous

The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris

D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire

Grimms Fairy Tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

Lavender’s Blue by Kathleen Lines

Tales from Grimm translated and illustrated by Wanda Gag

Uncle Remus Stories by  Joel Chandler Harris

Series

The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis

Hardy Boys series by Franklin W Dixon

Harry Potter series by J K Rowling

Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Redwall series by Brian Jacques

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony Di Terlizzi