Suggestions from Mt. Lebanon Public Library  ~  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
      www.mtlebanonlibrary.org
           
       Classics: Old and New

* Some of these books are considered modern classics– recent publications of such quality that it is felt they deserve a place among the renowned and distinguished works of children’s literature. Please ask the librarian for assistance in choosing a classic that’s right for you. All books can be found in juvenile fiction unless otherwise noted.

Aesop’s Fables
Aesop / j 398.9     (Ages 9+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Short stories that teach a lesson.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Joan Aiken     (Ages 10+)
Adventure with wicked wolves, evil governesses and two brave girls.

Little Women
Louisa May Alcott     (Ages 10+ / Ages 8 and up for reading aloud)
The lives of the four March sisters.

The Prydain Series
Lloyd Alexander     (Ages 10+)
A pig-keeper sets out to save his country.

Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen     (Ages 10+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
“Thumbelina” and other stories by the nineteenth century Danish author.

Sounder
William Armstrong     (Ages 12+)
Poignant story of an African-American sharecropper, his determined son, and their devoted dog.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Richard Atwater     (Ages 7+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A shy painter receives a mysterious package in the mail.

National Velvet
Enid Bagnold     (Ages 10+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
A fourteen year old girl is determined to ride her horse in the Grand National Steeplechase.

Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie     (Ages 10+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
The adventures of a boy who wouldn’t grow up.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A cyclone takes Dorothy and Toto to Oz where she makes new friends on her trip to the Emerald City.

Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt     (Ages 10+)
A girl finds the secret to eternal life.

The Velveteen Rabbit
Margery Williams Bianco     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A toy rabbit longs to be called Real.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Judy Blume     (Ages 9+)
A girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

The Children of Green Knowe
Lucy Marie Boston     (Ages 9+)
A lonely boy meets the children who lived in his home long ago.

Caddie Woodlawn
Carol Ryrie Brink     (Ages 9+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A Wisconsin girl’s frontier adventures.

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte     (Ages 12+)
A governess takes a position in an estate owned by the mysterious Mr. Rochester.

Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte     (Ages 12+)
In nineteenth century Yorkshire, the love of Heathcliff and Catherine haunts both them and those around them.

The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett     (Ages 9+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
Three children work together to make a garden bloom.

The Incredible Journey
Sheila Burnford     (Ages 9+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Three animals travel over 250 miles to return to their family.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll     (Ages 9+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A little girl falls down a rabbit hole to a nonsensical world.

The White Mountains
John Christopher     (Ages 10+)
Will Parker and his companions try to escape from the ruling Tripods.

Ramona The Pest
Beverly Cleary     (Ages 7+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
The funny adventures of a little girl.

Where the Lilies Bloom
Vera Cleaver     (Ages 12+)
Fourteen year old Mary Call tries to keep her family together
after her father’s death.

Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi     (Ages 10+)
Adventures of a talking wooden puppet.

The Dark is Rising Series
Susan Cooper     (Ages 10+)
Will Stanton must keep the world safe from evil.

The Red Badge of Courage
Stephen Crane     (Ages 12 +)
A young Union soldier in the Civil War.

James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Huge friendly insects befriend a lonely boy.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A boy wins a ticket to tour a magical chocolate factory.

The Door in the Wall
Marguerite DeAngeli     (Ages 10+)
In fourteenth century England, a crippled boy proves his courage.

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe     (Ages 12 +)
A shipwreck survivor lives for 30 years on a desert island.

A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens / j XMAS DICKENS     (Ages 9+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
Ebenezer Scrooge learns a lesson about life on Christmas Eve.

Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens     (Ages 12 +)
An orphan boy runs away to nineteenth century London.

A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens     (Ages 12 +)
A young Englishman’s life during the French Revolution.

Hans Brinker; Or the Silver Skates
Mary Mapes Dodge     (Ages 9+)
A Dutch boy tries to win the competition for the silver skates.

Tales of Sherlock Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle / j M DOYLE     (Ages 10+)
Mysteries.

The Count of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas     (Ages 12+)
Swashbuckling French historical adventures.

The Moffats
Eleanor Estes     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
The adventures of four Connecticut children.

The Black Stallion
Walter Farley     (Ages 10+)
A shipwrecked boy and a horse whose lives become intertwined.

Harriet the Spy
Louise Fitzhugh     (Ages 9+)
Funny story of a girl who spies on everyone.

Johnny Tremain
Esther Forbes     (Ages 10+)
A young boy during the Revolutionary War.

Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank / j 92 F FRANK Fra     (Ages 12+)
Diary of a young Jewish girl during World War II.

Old Yeller
Frederick Benjamin Gipson     (Ages 10+)
A fourteen year old boy loves a stray dog.

The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Adventures of four animal friends in the English countryside.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Jakob Grimm / j 398.2 GERMANY Gri     (Ages 10+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and others.

Across Five Aprils
Irene Hunt     (Ages 10+)
A young boy is left to take care of the family farm during the Civil War.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving     (Ages 10+)
A superstitious schoolmaster and a headless horseman cross paths.

Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving     (Ages 10+)
After 20 years asleep, a man awakens to a changed world.

The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster     (Ages 9+)
Milo takes a fantastical journey where he learns the importance of numbers and letters.

Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling     (Ages 10+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
How things came to be, such as the camel’s hump.

The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling     (Ages 10+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
The jungle adventures of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves.

Big Red
Jim Kjelgaard     (Ages 9+)
The friendship between a championship Irish Setter and a trapper’s son.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
E. L. Konigsburg     (Ages 9+)
A brother and sister run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lassie Come Home
Eric Knight     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
A collie takes a 1000 mile journey so she can be reunited with her former owner.

Ben and Me
Robert Lawson     (Ages 7+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Amos the mouse tells how he was responsible for Benjamin Franklin’s inventions and discoveries.

Rabbit Hill
Robert Lawson     (Ages 7+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
The animals of Rabbit Hill are curious about the new owners of the Big House.

The Complete Nonsense Book
Edward Lear / j 821 Lea     (Ages 10+)
Limericks, silly verse, and nonsense alphabets.

A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L’Engle     (Ages 10+)
Three children travel through time to find their scientist father.

The Tales of Uncle Remus
Julius Lester / j 398.2 USA Afro-American Les     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Afro-American folktales about the adventures of Brer Rabbit and his friends and enemies.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
C. S. Lewis     (Ages 8+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
Four English children visit the magical land of Narnia.

Stories from the Arabian Nights
Naomi Lewis / j 398.2 ARABIA Lew     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Tales told by Scheherazade to amuse the Sultan.

Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren     (Ages 9+)
Adventures of a Swedish girl, her monkey, and her horse.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle
Hugh Lofting     (Ages 9+)
A kind doctor understands the language of animals.

The Call of the Wild
Jack London     (Ages 10+)
A tame dog becomes the leader of a wolf pack in the Klondike.

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry     (Ages 9+)
A girl helps a Jewish family escape Nazi-occupied Denmark.

The Giver
Lois Lowry     (Ages 12+)
Jonas learns forbidden truths after becoming the receiver of memories.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
David Macaulay / j 726.6 Mac     (Ages 10+)
The building of a thirteenth century castle and town.

Sarah, Plain and Tall
Patricia MacLachlan     (Ages 9+)
Caleb and Anna want their father’s mail order bride to stay.

Homer Price
Robert McCloskey     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Hilarious adventures of an inventive boy.

At the Back of the North Wind
George MacDonald    (Ages 10+)
A London boy’s adventures with the lady North Wind.

The Princess and the Goblin
George MacDonald     (Ages 10+)
A princess is protected by her friend from the goblins who live beneath the castle.

Moby Dick
Herman Melville     (Ages 12+)
Captain Ahab searches for the great white whale that crippled him.

Now We Are Six
When We Were Very Young
A. A. Milne / j 821 Mil     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
Poetry collections.

Winne the Pooh
A. A. Milne     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
The adventures of Christopher Robin and his animal friends.

Anne of Green Gables Series
L. M. Montgomery     (Ages 9+)
The adventures of a lively, imaginative girl on a Prince Edward Island farm.

The Railway Children
Edith Nesbit     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
After their father is sent to prison, three children move to the
country with their mother where they live near a railway.

The Borrowers
Mary Norton     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Miniature people live in old houses and borrow what they need from the humans who live their too.

Rascal
Sterling North / j 599.7632 Nor     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
The author’s adventures with his pet raccoon in the days after World War I.

Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH
Robert O’Brien     (Ages 9+)
A mother mouse seeks help from the super intelligent lab rats of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell     (Ages 10+)
An Indian girl spends eighteen years alone on an island.

The Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson     (Ages 10+)
The special friendship of two Virginia children is marked by a tragedy.

Hatchet
Gary Paulsen     (Ages 10+)
A boy is lost in the wilderness with only a hatchet to aid him.

Tom’s Midnight Garden
Philippa Pearce / j M PEARCE     (Ages 10+)
A mystery girl visits Tom as the clock strikes thirteen.

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe / j M POE     (Ages 12+)
Stories of mystery and suspense.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle / j 398.27 Pyl     (Ages 12+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
The legendary adventures of a generous outlaw and his friends.

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Howard Pyle / j 398.25 Pyl     (Ages 12 + / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
Medieval adventures of kings and knights, chivalry and magic.

The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings     (Ages 12+)
A young Florida boy raises a fawn as a pet.

Where the Red Fern Grows
Wilson Rawls     (Ages 12+)
A boy in the Ozarks teaches two dogs to be champion hunters.

The Light in the Forest
Conrad Richter     (Ages 12 +)
A white boy raised by a Leni Lenape Indian tribe is forced to return to a white world he doesn’t know or trust.

Harry Potter Series
J. K. Rowling     (Ages 9+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
A young boy destined for greatness attends Hogwart’s School for Wizards and Witches.

The King of the Golden River
John Ruskin     (Ages 10+)
A boy is rewarded for his kindness, while his evil brothers are not.

Missing May
Cynthia Rylant     (Ages 9+)
A girl and her uncle seek solace and strength after the death of her beloved aunt.

Holes
Louis Sachar     (Ages 10+)
Stanley Yelnats finds his past and his future at a correctional camp where he digs holes.

The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery     (Ages 9+ / Ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
A prince from another planet tells a lost aviator about his quest to find what is important in life.

Rootabaga Stories
Carl Sandburg     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Humorous American short stories.

The Cricket in Times Square
George Selden     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A displaced cricket is befriended by a cat and mouse.

Black Beauty
Anna Sewell     (Ages 10+)
A horse remembers his life.

Five Little Peppers
Margaret Sidney     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
The joys and sorrows of a fatherless family.

Heidi
Johanna Spyri     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
A mountain girl is taken from her beloved grandfather to live in the city where she is companion to a sickly child.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George Speare     (Ages 10+)
After Kit befriends an old woman thought to be a witch, the colonial Connecticut villagers label her a witch too.

Kidnapped
Robert Louis Stevenson     (Ages 12+)
A boy escapes from his villainous kidnapping uncle and becomes involved in the Scottish struggle against English rule.

Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson     (Ages 12+)
A treasure map leads an innkeeper’s son to a pirate treasure.

Dracula
Bram Stoker     (Ages 12+)
From his Transylvanian castle to the city of London, a vampire haunts an English couple.

Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift     (Ages 12+)
The fantastic voyages of a kind ship’s surgeon.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred Taylor     (Ages 10+)
Moving story of a southern black family’s struggle against prejudice and discrimination.

Many Moons
James Thurber     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A court jester fulfills Princess Lenore’s wish for the moon.

The Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien     (Ages 10+ / ages 6 and up for reading aloud)
The adventures of a shy, yet brave, hobbit.

The Lord of the Rings Series
J. R. R. Tolkien     (Ages 12+)
Hobbits and elves become involved in a struggle for a powerful ring in a epic battle between good and evil.

Mary Poppins
Pamela L. Travers     (Ages 9+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Jane and Michael have magical adventures with their unusual nanny.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain     (Ages 12 +)
Two books about friends growing up on the Mississippi whose lives are filled with fun and adventure.

The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain     (Ages 12 +)
A young king and a poor boy exchange places.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne     (Ages 12+)
Three people sail above and under the ocean as prisoners aboard Captain Nemo’s submarine.

Homecoming
Cynthia Voigt     (Ages 10+)
Abandoned by their mother, Dicey and her siblings journey to find a home.

The Boxcar Children Series
Gertrude Warner / j M WARNER     (Ages 7+ / Ages 5 and up for reading aloud)
Four orphaned children solve mysteries.

War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells     (Ages 12+)
Martians invade Earth.

Charlotte’s Web
E. B. White     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A pig is befriended by a kind spider.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Kate Douglas Wiggin     (Ages 9+)
Ten year old Rebecca goes to live with her two aunts on Sunnybrook Farm.

The Happy Prince
Oscar Wilde     (Ages 9+)
A beautiful statue and a little swallow help the poor.

Little House on the Prairie Series
Laura Ingalls Wilder     (Ages 8+ / Ages 4 and up for reading aloud)
A family’s life and adventures on the Midwestern prairie in the late 1800s.

The Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss     (Ages 12+)
A shipwrecked family’s life on a deserted island.
 

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Look for these and other great books in
The Children's Library
Mt. Lebanon Public Library
16 Castle Shannon Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
412/531-1913      3.02
www.mtlebanonlibrary.org