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You can sort the list of great children's books, winnow it down by age and genre, or use Advanced Search to see many other ways to explore the Treasury of Great Children's Books.

Half Magic (1954)

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Faced with a dull summer in the city, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha suddenly find themselves involved in a series of extraordinary adventures after Jane discovers an ordinary-looking coin that seems to grant wishes.

Read online at archive.org.

Author(s): Edward Eager
Illustrator(s): N. M. Bodecker

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Tom Slade Boy Scout (1915)

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Tom is a sixteen-year-old street tough, left to fend for himself by his worthless father, Bill Slade, after wealthy landowner John Temple evicts them. Tom scorns the Boy Scout movement, as does Temple and his effeminate son Wilfred. Because of his interest in Temple’s daughter Mary, Tom gets a job and joins the Scouts after seeing that they are as strong and tough as he.

Author(s): Percy Fitzhugh
Illustrator(s): Photographs

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Magic by the Lake (1957)

Magic by the Lake Edward Eager  NM Bodecker book cover

On a vacation with their mother and stepfather, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha find themselves overwhelmed with a lakeful of magical adventures after Mark captures an ancient turtle that seems to have extraordinary powers.

Read online at archive.org

Author(s): Edward Eager
Illustrator(s): N. M. Bodecker

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The Time Garden (1958)

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While spending the summer in a house by the sea, four cousins, Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack, discover a bank of wild thyme whose magic propels them on a series of adventures back and forth through time.

Read online at archive.org. 

Author(s): Edward Eager
Illustrator(s): N. M. Bodecker

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Knight’s Castle (1956)

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Four cousins, Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack, have an extraordinary summer when, after an old toy soldier comes to life, they find themselves transported back to the days of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe.

Read online at archive.org

Author(s): Edward Eager
Illustrator(s): N. M. Bodecker

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A Necklace of Raindrops, and other stories (1968)

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These eight stories, most of which include a bit of magic, include tales of a wishing mat, an enormous cat, and a very strange house.

Author(s): Joan Aiken
Illustrator(s): Jan Pieńkowski

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

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Whirled away on a cyclone, Dorothy is set down in the Land of Oz and must find her way home with the help of the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and a pair of ruby slippers.

Read for free online at the Library of Congress.

For a faster download go to: Hathitrust.

Author(s): Frank Baum
Illustrator(s): W. W. Denslow

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The Gnome King of Oz (1927)

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Unsuspectingly, Peter, a boy from Philadelphia, assists the wicked Gnome King in escaping from the island where he has been banished and who is now determined to reclaim his former kingdom and ravage Oz.

Author(s): Ruth Thompson
Illustrator(s): John Neill

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Speedy in Oz (1934)

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Legendary Umbrella Island flies magically through the air - until it careens smack into the forehead of an extremely unpleasant giant. Meanwhile, Speed - the New York lad - is making a soaring trip skyward himself, propelled by an erupting geyser and encased in Terrybubble, the jolly, living skeleton of a huge dinosaur. It’s soon up to Speedy to save the Princess of Umbrella Island from bothe the demands of Loxo the Giant and the warring countries of Roaraway and Norroway.

Author(s): Ruth Thompson
Illustrator(s): John Neill

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Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1957)

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A woman with a magic way of curing children’s bad habits tries her hand with a bully, a whisperer, and a slowpoke and formulates cures for a show-off and a crybaby.

Read online at archive.org

Author(s): Betty MacDonald
Illustrator(s): Hilary Knight

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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937)

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The adventures of the well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived happily in his comfortable home until a wandering wizard granted his wish.

Author(s): J. R. R. Tolkien
Illustrator(s): J. R. R. Tolkien

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The Tough Winter (1954)

tough winter lawson dj book cover

The hard winter that Uncle Analdas, the old rabbit, prophesies comes to pass in more ways than one for Little Georgie and the other animals of Rabbit Hill when the Folks go away and leave a neglectful caretaker with a mean dog in charge. This is the story of how they ‘fought the winter through.’

The Junior Literary Guild edition is in a library binding.

Read online at Internet Archive.

1954

Author(s): Robert Lawson
Illustrator(s): Robert Lawson

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The Fabulous Flight (1949)

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Peter Peabody Pepperell, who has shrunk to a tiny size, takes off on an adventure on the back of his seagull friend Gus.

Author(s): Robert Lawson
Illustrator(s): Robert Lawson

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The Great Wheel (1957)

great wheel lawson dj book cover

Eighteen-year-old Conn leaves Ireland and sails to America, where he helps build the first Ferris Wheel for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

The Junior Literary Guild edition has a library binding. A prepublication binding in yellow cloth without stamping on the spine has also been seen.

Read online at archive.org.

1958

Author(s): Robert Lawson
Illustrator(s): Robert Lawson

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Mr. Wilmer (1945)

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When William Wilmer learns, on his 29th birthday, that he can understand animals and talk to them, his dreary life gets a change for the better -- and wilder.

Author(s): Robert Lawson
Illustrator(s): Robert Lawson

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Copycats (1992)

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An omnilbus containing Parrot Cat, Elephant Cat, Polar Bear Cat, Crab Cat and Spider Cat. First published individually in Great Britain in 1984 by Walker Books Ltd., London

Author(s): Nicola Bayley
Illustrator(s): Nicola Bayley

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The Necessary Cat (1998)

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A collection of poems, stories, facts, and illustrations about all kinds of cats.

Read online at archive.org.

Author(s): Nicola Bayley
Illustrator(s): Nicola Bayley

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Beyond the Pawpaw Trees: The Story of Anna Lavinia (1954)

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On a lavender blue day Anna Lavinia learns she is to visit her Aunt Sophia Maria, so she sets off next day with an umbrella, a gardenia bush, a carpetbag full of pawpaw jelly and her cat Strawberry.

Author(s): Palmer Brown
Illustrator(s): Palmer Brown

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The Silver Nutmeg: The Story of Anna Lavinia and Toby (1956)

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On another lavender blue day Anna Lavinia explores dew pond hill and travels through the dew pond to meet her cousin Toby.

Author(s): Palmer Brown
Illustrator(s): Palmer Brown

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The Cricket in Times Square (1960)

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The adventures of a country cricket who unintentionally arrives in New York and is befriended by Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat.

Read online at archive.org. 

1961

Author(s): George Selden
Illustrator(s): Garth Williams

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