This is a list of classic children's books published no later than 2008 that are still available in the English language.
Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century. Before that, books were written mainly for adults, although some later became popular with children. In Europe, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press around 1440 made possible mass production of books, though the first printed books were quite expensive and remained so for a long time. Gradually, however, improvements in printing technology lowered the costs of publishing and made books more affordable to the working classes, who were also likely to buy smaller and cheaper broadsides, chapbooks, pamphlets, tracts, and early newspapers, all of which were widely available before 1800. In the 19th century, improvements in paper production, as well as the invention of cast-iron and steam-powered printing presses enabled book publishing on a very large scale. and made books of all kinds more affordable.
Scholarships on children's literature includes professional organizations, dedicated publications, and university courses.
Before the 18th century Title Author Year published References and Brief Introduction Panchatantra Vishnu Sharma Ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. Similar stories are found in later works including Aesop's Fables and the Sindbad tales in Arabian Nights. Aesop's Fables Aesop Kathasaritsagara Somadeva 11th Century AD Collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales as retold by a Saivite Brahmin named Somadeva. Generally believed to derive from Gunadhya's Brhat-katha, written in Paisachi dialect from the south of India. Arabian Nights Unknown before 8th century AD The Facetious Nights of Straparola Giovanni Francesco Straparola 1550–1555 Often cited as the first European storybook to contain fairy-tales See page 20. The claim for earliest fairy-tale is still debated, see for example Jan M. Ziolkowski, Fairy tales from before fairy tales: the medieval Latin past of wonderful lies, University of Michigan Press, 2007. Ziolkowski examines Egbert of Liège's Latin beast poem Fecunda Ratis (The Richly Laden Ship, c. 1022/24), the earliest known version of "Little Red Riding Hood". Further info: Little Red Pentecostal , Peter J. Leithart, July 9, 2007. though not published for children. Orbis Pictus John Amos Comenius 1658 Earliest picture book specifically for children. A Token for Children. Being An Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths of several Young Children James Janeway1672 One of the first books specifically written for children which shaped much eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century writing for children.
18th century Title Author Year published References Tales of Mother Goose Charles Perrault 1729 (English) Little Pretty Pocket-book John Newbery 1744 Little Goody Two Shoes Oliver Goldsmith 1765 Lessons for Children Anna Laetitia Barbauld1778-9 The first series of age-adapted reading primers for children printed with large text and wide margins; in print for over a century.Pickering, Samuel F., Jr. John Locke and Children's Books in Eighteenth-Century England. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1981. . The History of Sandford and Merton Thomas Day 1783-9 A bestseller for over a century, it embodied Rousseau's educational ideals.Darton, F. J. Harvey. Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. 3rd ed. Rev. Brian Alderson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1982), 146.
19th century Title Author Year published References The Swiss Family Robinson Johann David Wyss 1812-3 Grimm's Fairy Tales Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 1823 (English) A Visit From St. Nicholas Clement Clarke Moore 1823 Tales of Peter Parley About America Peter Parley (pseudonym) 1827 Fairy Tales Hans Christian Andersen 1846 (English) The Children of the New Forest Frederick Marryat 1847 Slovenly Peter Heinrich Hoffmann 1848 (English) The Wide, Wide World Elizabeth Wetherell (pseudonym) 1850 The King of the Golden River John Ruskin 1851 The Coral Island R. M. Ballantyne 1857 Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes 1857 The Water Babies Charles Kingsley 1863 A Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 Little PrudyRebecca Sophia Clarke1864 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 Max and Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865 Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates Mary Mapes Dodge 1865 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 Ragged Dick Horatio Alger, Jr. 1868 Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances Juliana Horatia Ewing 1869 Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature by Humphrey Carpenter, 1985, Part II, Chapter 1: "It seemed to open the door to a new way of writing for, and about, children" Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas Jules Verne 1870 At the Back of the North Wind George MacDonald 1871 The Brownies and other Tales Juliana Horatia Ewing 1871 The Princess and the Goblin George MacDonald 1871 Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 A Dog of Flanders Ouida 1872 What Katy Did Susan Coolidge 1873 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Margaret Sidney 1881 The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain 1881 The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 Nights with Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1883 Heidi Johanna Spyri 1884 (English) King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1885 Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886 The Happy Prince and Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain 1889 The Blue Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1889 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 Tom Sawyer Abroad Mark Twain 1894 The Second Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1895 Moonfleet J. Meade Falkner 1898 The Black Corsair Emilio Salgari 1898 The Reluctant Dragon Kenneth Grahame 1898 The Story of the Treasure Seekers E. Nesbit 1899 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 The Tigers of Mompracem Emilio Salgari 1900
20th century