Classic Books for Kids
It is good to instill the habit of reading in kids, right from their childhood. Of course, it's not easy; however, you can begin with the classic books especially meant for them. Read the following article to find out the best ones for kids.
Geeta Dhavale
Almost all the parents want their children to inculcate good reading habits for obvious reasons. Reading increases general knowledge and exposes children to a variety of aspects of life. In fact, it is known to improve the cognitive and analytical abilities of a person. It helps one to form his or her opinions and views about things happening around. Reading also helps kids to express their feelings in a more constructive manner. Apart from increasing their intelligence and brilliance, books also help children to engage in a pure and creative form of entertainment. They also help them to inculcate some good values and morals in life that help them in becoming a better human being. And who knows, your child might get inspired and become an author, writing some of the world's best-selling works. Well, the classic books help children to develop their creativity, as well as personality in a sound manner.
There are many literary works that everyone should read, but very few of them are especially designed and written for kids. Out of them, very few are a good mix of entertainment and education. But, still we have a lot of options to choose from a wide array to read. Following is the list of classic books that would help your children to indulge in some constructive brain activity:
| Name of the Book | Name of the Author |
| Little Women | Louisa May Alcott |
| Aesop's Fables | William Caxton |
| A Token for Children | James Janeway |
| Pilgrim's Progress | John Bunyan |
| Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe |
| Gulliver's Travels | Johnathan Swift |
| Tales of mother Goose | Charles Perrault |
| Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass | Lewis Carroll |
| Amos and Boris | William Steig |
| Anne of Green Gables | Lucy Maud Montgomery |
| Goodnight Moon | Margaret Wise Brown |
| Harriet the Spy | Louise Fitzhugh |
| Island of the Blue Dolphins | Scott O'Dell |
| The Jungle Book | Rudyard Kipling |
| The Complete Just So Stories | Richard Kipling |
| The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter | Beatrix Potter |
| Little Goody Two Shoes | Oliver Goldsmith |
| The Swiss Family Robinson | Johann Rudolf Wyss |
| Ivanhoe | Walter Scott |
| The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Washington Irving |
| The Three Musketeers | Alexandre Dumas |
| Fairy Tales | Hans Christian Andersen |
| The Water Babies | Charles Kingsley |
| What Katy Did | Susan Coolidge |
| The Princess and the Goblin | George McDonald |
| Black Beauty | Anna Sewell |
| The Adventure of Tom Sawyer | Mark twain |
| Heidi | Johanna Spyri |
| The Happy Price and Other Tales | Oscar Wilde |
| The Adventures of Pinocchio | Carlo Collodi |
| Moonfleet | J. Meade Falkner |
| The Story of the Treasure Seekers | E. Nesbit |
| King Arthur and His Knights | Howard Pyle |
| The Call of the Wild | Jack London |
| Peter Pan | J. M. Barrie |
| A Little Princess | Frances Hodgson Burnett |
| The Railway Children | E. Nesbit |
| White Fang | Jack London |
| The Wind In the Willows | Kenneth Grahame |
| Winnie The Pooch | A. A. Milne |
| Pollyanna | Eleanor H. Porter |
| The Magic Pudding | Norman Lindsay |
| The Lost World | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | Kate Douglas Wiggin |
| The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter |
| Five Children and It | E. Nesbit |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | L. Frank Baum |
| Seven Little Australians | Ethel Turner |
| The Blue Fairy Book | Andrew Lang |
| Little Lord Fauntleroy | Frances Hodgson Burnett |
| Kidnapped | Robert Louise Stevenson |
| King Solomon's Mines | H. Rider Haggard |
| Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain |
| Treasure Island | Robert Louise Stevenson |
| Nights with Uncle Remus | Joel Chandler Harris |
| The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood | Howard Pyle |
| Through The Looking Glass | Lewis Carroll |
| At the Back of the North Wind | George McDonald |
| Twenty Thousand Leagues under the sea | Jules Verne |
| Lorna Doone | R.D. Blackmore |
| Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates | Mary Mapes Dodge |
| Tom Brown's Schooldays | Thomas Hughes |
| The Children of the New Forest | Frederick Marryat |
| A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens |
| Grimm's Fairy Tales | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm |
| Rip Van Winkle | Washington Irving |
| Little Pretty Pocket Book | John Newbery |
| Mr. Popper's Penguins | Richard Atwater |
| The Midnight Fox | Betsy Byars |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl |
| The Four Story Mistake | Elizabeth Enright |
| The Great Brain | John Dennis Fitzgerald |
| The Phantom Tollbooth | Norton Juster |
| Emil and the Detectives | Erich Kastner |
| Homer Price | Robert McCloskey |
| Gentle Ben | Walt Morey |
| The Borrowers | Mary Norton |
| Banner in the Sky | James Ramsay Ullman |
| The Cay | Theodore Taylor |
| Lad: A Dog | Albert Payson Terhune |
You can buy any from the aforementioned list, from your local bookstore. If you want a cheaper option, you can take a membership of a good library, and read many of the best-selling works. Some of the classic books to read are also available online. So, just browse the net and find the right website that allows you to read them for free. Most of these literary works are designed in such a way that they are sure to attract and engage kids for a longer time. Many of them are supported with self-explanatory and relevant pictures and illustrations that interest most of the children and boost their imaginations. You should first start with a short and simple book that has many pictures and few written words. You can introduce the bigger and the better ones, once your kids develop liking for reading.
