A few months ago I dropped a gargantuan list of the 200 greatest children's picture books onto this site. It stimulated healthy and informed debate, reawakened childhood memories and obsessed its compiler to an alarming degree. This list, then, is the irascible elder sibling to that placid, beatific infant.
There is the same struggle to adequately define parameters. What, exactly, is a children's chapter book? Well, for one thing it's not necessarily a novel as the numerous short story collections included herein testify to - fairy tales and fables, however, have been avoided as they feel like their own very distinct genre. It is also not just any book that a child is capable of reading, as every child's literacy levels are different and there is, no doubt, a precocious 13 year old somewhere who has just greedily devoured 'Infinite Jest' - and claims to understand it. I have tried to limit the selection criteria to books that were intentionally written for a juvenile audience, which is why classic authors (Dickens, Verne, Swift, Dumas) whose works are routinely re-jacketed and abridged for a younger readership are absent from this chronological run-down. I may still be on shaky ground with a number of the Victorian choices but it seems like a fairly safe bet that at least part of the intention behind 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' or 'The Coral Island' was to produce resourceful sons of Empire of outstanding moral rectitude and the stiffest of upper lips, so they make it in.
There is a similar problem concerning intended readership with more modern works as well and, in particular, the prevalence of two undoubted masterpieces boasting juvenile protagonists on British school curricula - Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye' and 'The Lord of the Flies' by William Golding. However, as neither was originally penned as set-text torture for recalcitrant GCSE students they do not feature here. The 'child-adult crossover' phenomenon of recent years - whereby millennials caught on to the fact that Rowling and Pullman were far more entertaining reads than literary worthies like McEwan or Barnes - also presents the occasional poser. For example, is Mark Haddon's Aspergers-centric mystery 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' a Young Adult novel or a 'literary' triumph co-opted by teens? I have found it a place in this list but it remains a grey area.
To conclude with the usual caveats about these ludicrous enterprises: greatness here is synonymous with influence and cultural significance as well as literary or structural merit (it may be difficult to claim 'Twilight' or 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' as transcendent works of art but they kick-started significant sub-genres and spawned a legion of imitators) and the standard rule of one title per author applies as ever - which is particularly unfair on Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl but you have to make room for 'The Wind on the Moon' and 'The Sterkarm Handshake' somehow.
So, if matron has called 'lights out' in the dorm and you are reading this underneath the bedclothes with the aid of a trusty torch, we shall begin.
The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Wyss (1812)
The Children of the New Forest - Frederick Marrayat (1847)
Tom Brown's Schooldays - Thomas Hughes (1857)
The Coral Island - RM Ballantyne (1858)
The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley (1863)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (1865)
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (1868)
What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge (1872)
The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald (1872)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain (1876)
The Cuckoo Clock - Mrs Molesworth (1877)
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell (1877)
Heidi - Johanna Spyri (1881)
Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi (1883)
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
The Happy Prince and Other Stories - Oscar Wilde (1888)
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling (1894)
Moonfleet - J Meade Falkner (1898)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum (1900)
The Call of the Wild - Jack London (1903)
The Fortunes of Philippa - Angela Brazil (1906)
The Railway Children - E Nesbit (1906)
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils - Selma Lagerlof (1907)
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (1908)
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy M Montgomery (1908)
Peter Pan - JM Barrie (1911)
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)
Pollyanna - Eleanor H Porter (1913)
The Magic Pudding - Norman Lindsay (1918)
The Story of Doctor Dolittle - Hugh Lofting (1920)
Just William - Richmal Crompton (1922)
King Matt the First - Janusz Korczak (1922)
The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams (1922)
Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (1926)
The Midnight Folk - John Masefield (1927)
Tarka the Otter - Henry Williamson (1927)
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories - Joyce Lankester Brisley (1928)
Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kastner (1929)
Fattypuffs and Thinifers - Andre Maurois (1930)
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome (1930)
The Secret of the Old Clock - Carolyn Keene (1930/ revised 1959)
The Camels are Coming - Captain WE Johns (1932)
Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932)
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm - Norman Hunter (1933)
Mary Poppins - PL Travers (1934)
National Velvet - Enid Bagnold (1935)
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (1936)
Worzel Gummidge - Barbara Euphan Todd (1936)
Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep - Eleanor Farjeon (1937)
The Family from One End Street - Eve Garnett (1937)
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (1937)
The Sword in the Stone - TH White (1938)
A Traveller in Time - Alison Uttley (1939)
Cue for Treason - Geoffrey Trease (1940)
The Little Grey Men - BB (1942)
Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton (1942)
Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat - Ursula Moray Williams (1942)
Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes (1943)
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943)
The Wind on the Moon - Eric Linklater (1944)
Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren (1945)
The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge (1946)
Comet in Moominland - Tove Jansson (1946)
Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School - Frank Richards (1947)
Autumn Term - Antonia Forest (1948)
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith (1948)
Amazon Adventure - Willard Price (1949)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis (1950)
Jennings and Darbishire - Anthony Buckeridge (1952)
My Naughty Little Sister - Dorothy Edwards (1952)
The Borrowers - Mary Norton (1952)
Charlotte's Web - EB White (1952)
The Children of Green Knowe - Lucy M Boston (1954)
Half Magic - Edward Eager (1954)
The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff (1954)
A Swarm in May - William Mayne (1955)
Little Old Mrs Pepperpot - Alf Proysen (1956)
The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier (1956)
A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond (1958)
The Story of Holly and Ivy - Rumer Godden (1958)
Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce (1958)
Marianne Dreams - Catherine Storr (1958)
Walkabout - James Vance Marshall (1959)
The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnford (1960)
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (1961)
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (1962)
The Letter for the King - Tonke Dragt (1962)
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
I Am David - Anne Holm (1963)
Stig of the Dump - Clive King (1963)
The Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander (1964)
Flat Stanley - Jeff Brown (1964)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (1964)
Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (1964)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Ian Fleming (1964)
Smith - Leon Garfield (1967)
The Owl Service - Alan Garner (1967)
The Outsiders - SE Hinton (1967)
The Mouse and His Child - Russell Hoban (1967)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler - EL Konigsburg (1967)
Flambards - KM Peyton (1967)
Ramona the Pest - Beverly Cleary (1968)
The Iron Man - Ted Hughes (1968)
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin (1968)
The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark - Jill Tomlinson (1968)
Charlotte Sometimes - Penelope Farmer (1969)
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume (1970)
A Long Way From Verona - Jane Gardam (1971)
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr (1971)
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert C O'Brien (1971)
Watership Down - Richard Adams (1972)
Carrie's War - Nina Bawden (1973)
The Eighteenth Emergency - Betsy Byars (1973)
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper (1973)
Grinny - Nicholas Fisk (1973)
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - Penelope Lively (1973)
Fly Away Home - Christine Nostlinger (1973)
The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier (1974)
The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy (1974)
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt (1975)
The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall (1975)
Thunder and Lightnings - Jan Mark (1976)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D Taylor (1976)
Ordinary Jack - Helen Cresswell (1977)
Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones (1977)
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler - Gene Kemp (1977)
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson (1977)
The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin (1978)
The Animals of Farthing Wood - Colin Dann (1979)
The Neverending Story - Michael Ende (1979)
The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks (1980)
Goodnight Mister Tom - Michelle Magorian (1981)
The Demon Headmaster - Gillian Cross (1982)
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone (1982)
War Horse - Michael Morpurgo (1982)
The Sheep-Pig - Dick King-Smith (1983)
A Parcel of Patterns - Jill Paton Walsh (1983)
Mr Majeika - Humphrey Carpenter (1984)
Storm - Kevin Crossley-Holland (1985)
Journey to Jo'burg - Beverley Naidoo (1985)
Henry's Leg - Ann Pilling (1985)
Redwall - Brian Jacques (1986)
Kristy's Great Idea - Ann M Martin (1986)
The Snow Spider - Jenny Nimmo (1986)
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen (1987)
Pongwiffy - Kaye Umansky (1987)
A Pack of Lies - Geraldine McCaughrean (1988)
Goggle-Eyes - Anne Fine (1989)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie (1990)
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli (1990)
Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty (1991)
The Whitby Witches - Robin Jarvis (1991)
Krindlekrax - Philip Ridley (1991)
The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson (1991)
Welcome to Dead House - RL Stine (1992)
The Giver - Lois Lowry (1993)
Stone Cold - Robert Swindells (1993)
Whispers in the Graveyard - Theresa Breslin (1994)
Horrid Henry - Francesca Simon (1994)
Northern Lights - Philip Pullman (1995)
Junk - Melvin Burgess (1996)
Pig Heart Boy - Malorie Blackman (1997)
The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey (1997)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling (1997)
Skellig - David Almond (1998)
The Sterkarm Handshake - Susan Price (1998)
Holes - Louis Sachar (1998)
The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket (1999)
Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo (2000)
Stormbreaker - Anthony Horowitz (2000)
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer (2001)
Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson (2001)
Saffy's Angel - Hilary McKay (2001)
Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve (2001)
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean - Lauren Child (2002)
Eragon - Christopher Paolini (2002)
How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell (2003)
A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly (2003)
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke (2003)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon (2003)
Keeper - Mal Peet (2003)
Millions - Frank Cottrell Boyce (2004)
How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff (2004)
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer (2005)
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (2005)
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (2005)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne (2006)
You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! - Andy Stanton (2006)
The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd (2007)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney (2007)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick (2007)
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (2008)
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (2008)
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (2011)
Gangsta Granny - David Walliams (2011)
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (2012)
Wonder - RJ Palacio (2012)
Rooftoppers - Katherine Rundell (2013)
Five Children on the Western Front - Kate Saunders (2014)
The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge (2015)
