The titles in this category are the most complex in the Kids Reads area and are suggested for readers with advanced skills. Many of these books are coming-of-age stories that deal with family difficulties, responsibility, character and the onset of adolescence. Not all of them are serious tomes, however — there’s plenty of fun and great storytelling to be found. Other coming-of-age works with more adult themes and writing can be found in our teen site, The Book Bag on AOL/Teenreads.com.

See if you agree with our selections. See if you don't. Share your opinions with us at: talkback@kidsreads.com. Your very own favorites may just end up on future versions of this list.

CLASSICS

A Kids Reads classic book is one that has been entertaining kids and parents for at least 10 years and is still going strong.

1. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES 
by L.M. Montgomery
Bantam Paperback, 1982
ISBN: 055321313X

Anne Shirley, a feisty 11-year-old orphan with red hair comes to live with elderly Matthew Cuthbert and his sister on their Prince Edward Island farm. Not the arrangement any of them originally imagined, the Cuthberts and Anne soon grow to love each other.

2. BLUBBER 
by Judy Blume
Dell/Yearling Paperback, 1976
ISBN: 0440407079

Fifth grader Jill joins right in when the kids at school taunt Linda, an overweight classmate. But everything changes when Jill begins to experience the same kind of pain that Linda has been enduring.

3. THE HOBBIT 
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin Reprint
ISBN: 0618002219

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, hobbits being a group of tiny peaceful people who live in a land called the Shire. When Bilbo finds himself on an adventure where he meets dwarves.

4. ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND 
by Lewis Carroll
Puffin Paperback, 1994
ISBN: 014036675X

Alice's life is never the same after she tumbles through a rabbit hole to a magical land where she meets the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and all the other characters that have made this fantasy such a favorite.

5. CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 
by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Bantam Paperback 1984
ISBN: 0553272500

The true, often hilarious adventures of the Gilbreth family --- home to 12 kids and an efficiency expert father who always has a plan for doing things faster and better.

6. FIVE CHILDREN AND IT 
by E. Nesbit
Puffin Paperback, 1996
ISBN: 0140367357

The summer becomes more exciting than ever when Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother discover a wish-granting Psammead, or Sand-fairy, near their country house.

7. MARY POPPINS 
by P.L. Travers
Harcourt Paperback 1997
ISBN: 0152017178

Magical nanny Mary Poppins flies in (via umbrella, of course) to the lives of young Londoners Jane and Michael Banks bringing her own brand of discipline and fun with her.

8. LITTLE WOMEN
by Louisa May Alcott
Puffin, 1868
ISBN: 0140366687

The four March sisters face life, death, joy and sorrow growing up in 19th century England.

9. ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET
by Judy Blume
Laureleaf, 1983
ISBN: 0440904196

A heartfelt and often comical tome about a girl approaching puberty. Written in a style that speaks directly to kids.

10. WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS
by Wilson Rawls
Bantam Paperback, 1985
ISBN: 0553274295

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS follows a young Ozark boy through his childhood and the acquisition of two beloved hound dogs. Together, they experience danger, adventure, love, and sorrow.

11. A WRINKLE IN TIME
by Madeleine L'Engle
Dell, 1963
ISBN: 0440227151

Madeleine L'Engle A WRINKLE IN TIME was awarded a Newbery Medal in 1963 and combines theology, fantasy, and science via a story of time travel, the love of a family and the classic battle between good and evil.

12. ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS
by Scott O'Dell
Dell, 1961
ISBN: 0440227186

A young Indian girl abandoned on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, survives 18 years of solitude and discovers her own courage and self-reliance.

13. THE BLACK STALLION
by Walter Farley
Random House, 1944
ISBN: 0679813438

When young Alec is stranded on a tropical island, he finds his best and most loyal friend is a wild, remarkable stallion. Together, they build a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

14. SOUNDER
by William H. Armstrong
HarperCollins, 1969
ISBN: 0064400204

SOUNDER is Armstrong's classic story of a black sharecropper, his family, and their loyal dog.

15. THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
by Sheila Burnford
Laureleaf, 1985
ISBN: 0440226708

The story of three pets who brave the wilderness to find their way home was made into a Disney feature, HOMEWARD BOUND.

16. THE LITTLE PRINCE
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Harcourt Brace, 1943
ISBN: 0156528207

Learning to appreciate what you've got is a tough lesson to learn, regardless of age. That same concept, expertly illustrated in Antoine De Saint-Exupery's THE LITTLE PRINCE, makes this a book for all ages.

17. HARRIET THE SPY
by Louise Fitzhugh
HarperTrophy, 1965
ISBN: 0064403319

The very honest notes that Harriet keeps in her writer's journal get her into trouble with her classmates and friends.

18. THE EGYPT GAME
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Atheneum, 1972, Dell Paperback, 1986
ISBN: 0440422256

When April and Melanie create a game about their favorite topic, ancient Egypt, they never imagine that their fun could lead them into a real-life mystery. A suspenseful read.

19. THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER
by Elizabeth George Speare
Houghton Mifflin, 1983, Dell Paperback, 1997
ISBN: 0440227305

When 12-year-old Matt’s father goes missing, he must fend for himself in the Maine wilderness. An Indian chief and his grandson come to Matt’s aid and the two boys become friends. Matt learns the ways of the tribe and must face a difficult decision about his future.

20. THE HERO AND THE CROWN
by Robin McKinley
Greenwillow, 1984, Ace Paperback, 1987
ISBN: 0441328091

This Newbery Award winner is a must for fantasy lovers. It chronicles the continuing adventures of Aerin, the Damarian king’s daughter and is the sequel to THE BLUE SWORD.

21. DADDY-LONG-LEGS
by Jean Webster
Century, 1912; Puffin Paperback
ISBN: 0140351116

A wealthy benefactor offers to send orphan Judy Abbott to college, under one condition. She must write to him every month but never learn his identity. The epistolary format will especially intrigue girls.

22. THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND
by Elizabeth George Speare
Houghton Mifflin, 1958; Dell Paperback
ISBN: 0440227216

Kit Tyler, an orphan, must leave her home in the Caribbean to live with relatives in cold, Puritan Connecticut. As she tries to adjust to her new life, she befriends a mysterious woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond. The association causes nothing but trouble in this novel which won the Newbery Medal.

23. THE SECRET GARDEN
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Lippincott, 1909; Scholastic Paperback, 1993
ISBN: 0590471724

Spoiled brat Mary Lennox is orphaned and forced to move into a dreary mansion with her uncle. But when she meets her invalid cousin Colin and a friend, Dickon, the three children bring to life the mansion's long-dormant garden as well as the joyous spirit within them all.

24. THE PHANTOM TOLL BOOTH
by Norton Juster
Random House, 1958
ISBN: 0394820371

When Milo drives through the Phantom Toll Booth, the strange adventures begin.

25. FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER
by E.L. Konigsburg
Dell, 1967
ISBN: 044022733X

Claudia and her brother Jamie run away from home-to hide out in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Will they ever go home again? Mrs. Frankweiler's files hold the answer.

26. BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
by Katherine Paterson
HarperCollins, 1977
ISBN: 0064401847

Jess and Leslie, two unlikely friends, form a close bond and develop their own fantasy play world called Terabithia. Their friendship is tragically cut short by Leslie's accidental death. The Newbery Medal winning novel handles the issues of death and loss with great grace.

27. JULIE OF THE WOLVES
by Jean Craighead George
HarperCollins, 1972
ISBN: 0064400581

Jean Craighead George won the Newbery Award for JULIE OF THE WOLVES, the first of a three-book series that follow a young Alaskan girl through being adopted by a wolf pack, then returned to her Eskimo people.

28. TUCK EVERLASTING
by Natalie Babbitt
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975, Paperback 1985
ISBN: 0374480095

The Tuck family drinks from a magical spring of eternal life and now they will never grow older. Ten-year-old Winnie Foster is the first person to discover their secret.

29. ONE-EYED CAT
by Paula Fox
Bradbury, 1984
ISBN: 0440766419

Ned disobeys his father and takes some shots in his backyard with an air rifle. Later, when a one-eyed cat comes around, Ned believe he has maimed the animal. How he deals with guilt and responsibility for his actions makes for compelling reading.

30. ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
by Mildred Taylor
Dial, 1976
ISBN: 014034893X

The troubles and triumphs of Cassie Logan as she grows up as part of a loving and very poor black family in Mississippi during the Depression.

31. MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH
by Robert C. O'Brien
illustrated by Zena Bernstein
Atheneum, 1971
ISBN: 0689710682

Mrs. Frisby, a fieldmouse widow, asks help from the rats under the rose bush and discovers that they are part of an experimental group at the National Institute of Mental Health. To her shock, she learns that the late Mr. Frisby was also one of the test subjects. Together rats and mice work out a plan for a new, safer way of life.

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