Who are the best children's books authors?

The best-known children's books authors here, ranked by how widely they are read and written about, are Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, J. R. R. Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling and Isaac Asimov.

What are the best children's books series?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan and Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan — each listed in reading order.

Can I read children's books books for free?

Yes. 1,710 children's books books by these authors are in the public domain in the US and free to read here.

Children's books authors and series

The best-known children's books authors are Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe and J. R. R. Tolkien. Below are all 641 children's books writers in the directory, their best-known series in reading order, and 1,710 of their books free to read.

Authors: 641
Series: 286
Free to read: 1,710

Best-known children's books authors

Children's books series in reading order

All series

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff Kinney · 22 books
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins · 5 books
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rick Riordan · 5 books
Heroes of Olympus
Rick Riordan · 5 books
The Folk of the Air
Holly Black · 5 books
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han · 3 books
Goosebumps
R. L. Stine · 62 books
Foundation
Isaac Asimov · 10 books
Geronimo Stilton
Elisabetta Dami · 86 books
Divergent
Veronica Roth · 6 books
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Daniel Handler · 15 books
The Giver Quartet
Lois Lowry · 4 books

Free children's books classics

All free classics

Andersen's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen
Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2
Edgar Allan Poe
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1
Edgar Allan Poe
The Phantom 'Rickshaw, and Other Ghost Stories
Rudyard Kipling
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
Aesop's Fables
Aesop
Three hundred Aesop’s fables
Aesop
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1
Michael Faraday
The Chemical History of a Candle
Michael Faraday
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Moods
Louisa May Alcott

Classic children's books authors

All children's books authors

Hans Christian Andersen 33 books
Edgar Allan Poe 22 books
J. R. R. Tolkien 52 books
Rudyard Kipling 103 books
Isaac Asimov 208 books
Lewis Carroll 23 books
Walt Disney 77 books
Aesop 4 books
Michael Faraday 18 books
Louisa May Alcott 30 books
Herodotus 0 books
Selma Lagerlöf 25 books
Kamala Harris 4 books
John Ruskin 77 books
Malala Yousafzai 5 books
J. M. Barrie 46 books
Alfred, Lord Tennyson 43 books
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 32 books
Ambrose Bierce 23 books
Charles Perrault 13 books
Beatrix Potter 42 books
A. A. Milne 87 books
L. Frank Baum 62 books
Enid Blyton 195 books
Roald Dahl 47 books
Pliny the Elder 1 books
Frances Hodgson Burnett 43 books
Lucy Maud Montgomery 30 books
Carlo Collodi 5 books
Astrid Lindgren 75 books
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell 18 books
Carl Sandburg 28 books
Edmund Spenser 6 books
George MacDonald 64 books
Jacob Grimm 77 books
Dr. Seuss 77 books
E. Nesbit 29 books
Kate Chopin 4 books
Kenneth Grahame 12 books
Suzanne Collins 12 books
Rick Riordan 54 books
Philip Pullman 45 books
Andrew Lang 113 books
Tove Jansson 54 books
Anna Sewell 1 books
John Green 10 books
John Amos Comenius 9 books
Patrick Modiano 32 books
Christina Rossetti 14 books
R. L. Stine 306 books
Wilhelm Grimm 76 books
Julie Andrews 10 books
Edmondo De Amicis 11 books
Maria Edgeworth 37 books
Felix Salten 12 books
Eleanor H. Porter 13 books
Jeff Kinney 28 books
Charles Lamb 13 books
M. R. James 30 books
Christopher Paolini 12 books
Edward Lear 10 books
Laura Ingalls Wilder 43 books
Howard Pyle 17 books
Julianne Moore 3 books
Hugh Lofting 24 books
Arthur Ransome 34 books
Hergé 33 books
Alan Arkin 5 books
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen 9 books
Jean-Henri Fabre 14 books
René Goscinny 54 books
Jamie Lee Curtis 13 books
Cassandra Clare 47 books
Erich Kästner 24 books
Horatio Alger 68 books
Diana Wynne Jones 62 books
Veronica Roth 19 books
Eleanor Farjeon 48 books
Albert Uderzo 42 books
Walter Crane 44 books
G. A. Henty 97 books
Maurice Sendak 36 books
Daniel Handler 49 books
Stephen Hillenburg 6 books
Fred Rogers 28 books
Hector Malot 3 books
Philip Reeve 32 books
Jenny Han 12 books
David Walliams 41 books
Eoin Colfer 41 books
Hilary Duff 3 books
Lois Lowry 50 books
Gertrude Chandler Warner 177 books
Chris Colfer 17 books
Charles M. Schulz 163 books
Jacqueline Wilson 98 books
Alex Haley 17 books
Sarah J. Maas 24 books
Shirley Jackson 18 books
Clement Clarke Moore 5 books
Sophie Kinsella 38 books
Cornelia Funke 33 books
Charlotte Mary Yonge 56 books
Walter de la Mare 49 books
Johann David Wyss 2 books
Wilhelm Busch 5 books
Eric Carle 59 books
Madeleine L'Engle 54 books
Holly Black 43 books
Heinrich Hoffmann 2 books
Joseph Jacobs 20 books
James Dashner 33 books
Judy Blume 35 books
Anthony Horowitz 83 books
Sarah Orne Jewett 21 books
Ouida 25 books
Elisabetta Dami 234 books
Isaac Watts 24 books
Kate Greenaway 9 books
P. L. Travers 20 books
Markus Zusak 9 books
Marie Stopes 7 books
Johanna Spyri 0 books
Joel Chandler Harris 27 books
Leigh Bardugo 18 books
Dinah Craik 24 books
Richard Hakluyt 1 books
Sally Ride 3 books
Edward Everett Hale 49 books
Horacio Quiroga 4 books
Meg Cabot 109 books
Jill Biden 4 books
Kate DiCamillo 36 books
Bella Thorne 4 books
Kathleen Norris 52 books
Beverly Cleary 37 books
Mika Waltari 14 books
Hugh Walpole 52 books
Thomas Hughes 11 books
Gary Lineker 6 books
Richmal Crompton 53 books
David Starr Jordan 26 books
William Goldman 29 books
Thomas M. Disch 35 books
Shel Silverstein 21 books
Michael Bond 133 books
Mary Mapes Dodge 8 books
L. J. Smith 33 books
Louis Sachar 31 books
Katherine Paterson 38 books
Jonathan Stroud 15 books
Katherine Applegate 228 books
Gianni Rodari 9 books
Dav Pilkey 64 books
Thomas Bailey Aldrich 18 books
Ricky Gervais 7 books
John Lithgow 11 books
Helen Bannerman 7 books
Holly Jackson 7 books
Helen Hunt Jackson 16 books
Countess of Ségur 11 books
Anna Laetitia Barbauld 6 books
Robert Leckie 22 books
Rachel Renée Russell 47 books
S. E. Hinton 12 books
Lloyd Alexander 45 books
Eden Phillpotts 67 books
Peter Abrahams 45 books
Jean Froissart 1 books
Julia Donaldson 117 books
Roger Hargreaves 102 books
Susanne Langer 6 books
Marissa Meyer 21 books
Alexander McCall Smith 134 books
Michael Morpurgo 107 books
Mary Lamb 2 books
Scott Westerfeld 36 books
Ann M. Martin 293 books
Randolph Caldecott 15 books
Richelle Mead 36 books
Dodie Smith 25 books
Darren O'Shaughnessy 57 books
Sara Shepard 52 books
Jane Yolen 160 books
Gary Paulsen 136 books
William Steig 42 books
Brian Jacques 36 books
Camilla Läckberg 26 books
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić 2 books
Cressida Cowell 29 books
Kiera Cass 16 books
Madame d'Aulnoy 11 books
Sven Hedin 0 books
Paul Du Chaillu 7 books
Laurie Halse Anderson 32 books
Stephanie Garber 9 books
Isla Fisher 6 books
Mo Willems 98 books
M. Night Shyamalan 4 books
John Flanagan 46 books
Mazo de la Roche 29 books
Mary Pope Osborne 135 books
Venus Williams 0 books
Raina Telgemeier 29 books
Victoria Aveyard 11 books
Neal Shusterman 53 books
Joan Aiken 115 books
Maggie Stiefvater 24 books
Vilhjalmur Stefansson 11 books
Christopher Pike 82 books
Garth Nix 48 books
Coretta Scott King 3 books
Judith Kerr 36 books
Jacqueline Woodson 41 books
Kathleen Glasgow 6 books
Elizabeth Goudge 41 books
V. E. Schwab 27 books
Billy Crystal 4 books
Wilbert Awdry 98 books
Karen M. McManus 8 books
Susan Cooper 31 books
Joseph Delaney 43 books
Julia Alvarez 28 books
Tamora Pierce 38 books
Michael Dante DiMartino 13 books
Scott O'Dell 26 books
Cecily von Ziegesar 30 books
Tui T. Sutherland 39 books
Shannon Messenger 18 books
Margaret Wise Brown 69 books
Chris Van Allsburg 18 books
Penelope Lively 42 books
Gordon Korman 111 books
Steve Irwin 0 books
Zachris Topelius 10 books
Dick King-Smith 92 books
Lois Duncan 39 books
Amanda Peet 1 books
Zoe Sugg 3 books
Dick Bruna 42 books
Jimmy Buffett 8 books
Rush Limbaugh 7 books
Kathryn Lasky 110 books
Henry Winkler 22 books
Arnold Lobel 34 books
Gloria Estefan 1 books
Jerry Spinelli 31 books
Christoph von Schmid 4 books
Shaun Tan 14 books
Nicola Yoon 3 books
Scott McCloud 13 books
Paula Fox 34 books
Katharine Lee Bates 7 books
Carol Ann Duffy 20 books
David Almond 36 books
Rosemary Sutcliff 52 books
Norman Bridwell 82 books
Lincoln Peirce 40 books
Jennifer Lynn Barnes 35 books
Becca Fitzpatrick 9 books
Francine Pascal 219 books
Tomi Ungerer 29 books
Ludwig Bemelmans 36 books
E. Lockhart 13 books
Ellen Hopkins 29 books
Lauren Oliver 20 books
Michael Rosen 105 books
Sharon M. Draper 33 books
Ruta Sepetys 6 books
Marie Lu 16 books
Leo Lionni 36 books
Geri Halliwell 6 books
Todd Strasser 112 books
Gregory Maguire 38 books
Waldemar Bonsels 5 books
Linda Sue Park 22 books
Jennifer Rowe 72 books
Barbara Park 50 books
E. Pauline Johnson 4 books
Avi 80 books
Robert Cormier 21 books
Russell Hoban 46 books
Benjamin Zephaniah 19 books
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont 4 books
Robert Muchamore 42 books
Eva Ibbotson 26 books
Joanna Cole 68 books
William Allingham 14 books
Sidney Lanier 6 books
David Levithan 34 books
Liz Pichon 47 books
Soman Chainani 13 books
Rick Yancey 17 books
Morris 18 books
Mercer Mayer 232 books
Jean Craighead George 52 books
Sarah Dessen 16 books
Lauren Kate 15 books
Charles Nodier 2 books
Ishmael Beah 4 books
Tomi Adeyemi 5 books
Brandon Mull 32 books
Marc Brown 121 books
Tomie dePaola 134 books
Robert Munsch 74 books
Malorie Blackman 43 books
Lynne Reid Banks 41 books
Cynthia Rylant 161 books
Tony Ross 148 books
Margaret Peterson Haddix 57 books
Lucy Hawking 10 books
Jane Taylor 6 books
James Herbert Brennan 33 books
Nancy Springer 47 books
Melissa de la Cruz 50 books
Kevin Henkes 49 books
Derek Landy 29 books
Norman Lindsay 7 books
Alyson Noël 29 books
Maureen Johnson 30 books
Gayle Forman 16 books
Noel Streatfeild 70 books
Megan McDonald 83 books
Elsa Beskow 15 books
Laura Nowlin 4 books
Mary Norton 14 books
Pam Muñoz Ryan 21 books
Shannon Hale 58 books
H. A. Rey 52 books
Caroline B. Cooney 96 books
Francesca Simon 92 books
Robin McKinley 20 books
Peggy Parish 45 books
Rosemary Wells 156 books
David Macaulay 31 books
Sid Fleischman 45 books
Walter Dean Myers 66 books
Margret Rey 50 books
William Roscoe 18 books
Diane Hoh 58 books
Kelly Barnhill 13 books
Dougal Dixon 63 books
Jason Reynolds 22 books
Stuart Gibbs 57 books
Sharon Creech 24 books
Kash Patel 2 books
Else Holmelund Minarik 36 books
Chris Riddell 76 books
Robert T. Bakker 6 books
Eve Bunting 117 books
Geraldine McCaughrean 78 books
Martin Waddell 108 books
Brian Selznick 8 books
Michael Scott 26 books
Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede 14 books
Norton Juster 10 books
Eduard Uspensky 4 books
Judith Viorst 42 books
Stan and Jan Berenstain 136 books
Peter Sís 24 books
Claudia Gray 23 books
Alexandra Bracken 15 books
Alesha Dixon 2 books
Wilson Rawls 4 books
Jeanne DuPrau 11 books
Katie Price 20 books
Dan Gutman 157 books
Alan Gratz 17 books
Laura Amy Schlitz 12 books
Jane Marcet 4 books
D. J. MacHale 34 books
Ally Condie 13 books
Jørgen Moe 2 books
James Gurney 9 books
Jay Kristoff 18 books
Robert C. O'Brien 3 books
Korney Chukovsky 7 books
Stan and Jan Berenstain 113 books
Jennifer A. Nielsen 27 books
Jude Watson 46 books
Beatrice Sparks 10 books
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 93 books
Natalie Babbitt 18 books
Bill Martin Jr. 35 books
LeVar Burton 5 books
Valerie Tripp 83 books
Paula Danziger 31 books
Faith Ringgold 13 books
Edward Packard 64 books
Charlie Higson 23 books
Gail Carson Levine 27 books
Christopher Paul Curtis 10 books
Lisi Harrison 43 books
Patricia MacLachlan 51 books
Mary Antin 3 books
Gail Gibbons 95 books
Chris Grabenstein 60 books
Paulette Bourgeois 52 books
Mem Fox 37 books
Laura Numeroff 46 books
Mildred D. Taylor 11 books
Jill Murphy 35 books
Eric Hill 87 books
Thanhha Lai 4 books
Joachim Heinrich Campe 6 books
Robert McCloskey 10 books
Peter Brown 13 books
Danny Kaye 3 books
Ally Carter 25 books
Ridley Pearson 58 books
Patricia Polacco 68 books
Nancy Holder 72 books
Patricia Wrede 33 books
David Shannon 21 books
Betty MacDonald 11 books
Mary Downing Hahn 46 books
Donald J. Sobol 58 books
E. L. Konigsburg 20 books
Morris Gleitzman 47 books
Ulrike Meinhof 1 books
Andrew Clements 41 books
Anna Dewdney 42 books
Bruce Coville 104 books
James Marshall 49 books
Emerald Fennell 3 books
Dorothy Gilman 40 books
Lisa McMann 37 books
Jan Brett 41 books
Jean Fritz 41 books
Tracey West 163 books
Kami Garcia 20 books
Joan Lowery Nixon 99 books
Debbie Dadey 95 books
Joseph Bruchac 85 books
Mary E. Pearson 16 books
Laurence Yep 60 books
Cathy Cassidy 27 books
Betty Ren Wright 45 books
Nick Sharratt 76 books
Gideon Mantell 0 books
Oliver Jeffers 27 books
Ezra Jack Keats 27 books
Janell Cannon 6 books
Amber Smith 4 books
Michael Thomas Ford 48 books
Jocko Willink 17 books
Pat Hutchins 30 books
Gary D. Schmidt 28 books
Fancy Nancy 95 books
P. D. Eastman 19 books
Samuil Marshak 4 books
Eleanor Coerr 11 books
Beverly Lewis 110 books
Vivian French 133 books
Richie Tankersley Cusick 32 books
Tedd Arnold 59 books
Georgette Leblanc 3 books
Betsy Byars 55 books
Sabaa Tahir 5 books
Jean Little 74 books
Aaron Blabey 35 books
James Howe 59 books
Grace Lin 30 books
John Harvey Kellogg 0 books
Robin Stevens 19 books
Richard Peck 46 books
Marcia Jones 90 books
Marjorie W. Sharmat 74 books
Kass Morgan 6 books
Eric Walters 81 books
Sarah Mlynowski 43 books
R. A. Montgomery 63 books
James Dean 39 books
Eric Litwin 7 books
Trenton Lee Stewart 10 books
Lauren Conrad 9 books
Peter Lerangis 56 books
Janet and Allan Ahlberg 84 books
Tiffany D. Jackson 10 books
Kwame Alexander 22 books
Roshani Chokshi 17 books
Cate Tiernan 49 books
P.-J. Stahl 2 books
Roger MacBride 15 books
Jon Scieszka 52 books
Josepha Sherman 48 books
Cynthia Voigt 35 books
Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire 20 books
David A. Adler 148 books
Gary Soto 40 books
Brenda Clark 20 books
Nic Stone 14 books
Karen Hesse 24 books
Alyssa Satin Capucilli 87 books
Don Freeman 33 books
Clyde Robert Bulla 48 books
Lois Lenski 62 books
Axel Scheffler 51 books
Audrey Wood 32 books
Ellery Harding Clark 0 books
Julie Kagawa 40 books
Ron Roy 77 books
Kathleen Duey 68 books
Stephen Cosgrove 110 books
Adam Blade 99 books
Kelly Yang 12 books
Robert Lawson 19 books
Annie Barrows 16 books
Susan Beth Pfeffer 56 books
Svetlana Chmakova 6 books
Seymour Simon 74 books
Kristiana Gregory 37 books
Lauren Tarshis 32 books
Jean Marzollo 88 books
Jacob Abbott 0 books
Max Brallier 30 books
Carolyn Meyer 40 books
Dan Jolley 31 books
Ann Rinaldi 48 books
John Barrowman 6 books
Eleanor Estes 15 books
Julie Campbell Tatham 20 books
Syd Hoff 39 books
William Sleator 29 books
Cyril Palmer 8 books
Steven Kellogg 50 books
Connie Porter 17 books
Janet Beeler Shaw 26 books
Harry Allard 12 books
Stephanie Perkins 8 books
April Henry 28 books
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 16 books
Paul Galdone 51 books
Carol Ryrie Brink 28 books
Gail Herman 99 books
Mike Berenstain 52 books
Tricia Levenseller 9 books
Ellen Schreiber 11 books
Sarah Rees Brennan 24 books
Alex Wiltshire 5 books
Brigid Kemmerer 15 books
Johanna Hurwitz 73 books
Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire 15 books
Lauren Myracle 32 books
Anne E. Schraff 56 books
Jennifer L. Holm 38 books
Walter Wick 35 books
Aliki Brandenberg 48 books
Mark Oshiro 8 books
Mac Barnett 53 books
Susan Campbell Bartoletti 18 books
Sam McBratney 37 books
Robie Harris 18 books
Chris d'Lacey 30 books
Russell Freedman 35 books
Naomi Shihab Nye 36 books
Kasie West 20 books
Margaret Stohl 20 books
Yakov Perelman 7 books
Julie Aigner-Clark 10 books
Julian Lennon 2 books
Bernadette Peters 4 books
Willo Davis Roberts 58 books
Tamara Ireland Stone 6 books
Kendare Blake 19 books
John Stevens Cabot Abbott 0 books
Carol Ellis 29 books
Jose Garibaldi 1 books
Ana Maria Machado 6 books
Grafton Elliot Smith 0 books
Nick Bruel 35 books
Janet and Allan Ahlberg 24 books
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman 0 books
Kate Douglas Wiggin 0 books
William Healy 7 books
Thomas Bewick 0 books
James Whitcomb Riley 0 books
Kate McMullan 59 books
Michael Foreman 45 books
Peg Kehret 47 books
Jenna Evans Welch 4 books
Marlo Thomas 7 books
Wallace Tripp 8 books
Orison Swett Marden 0 books
Susan Warner 0 books
Susan Coolidge 0 books
Juliette Gordon Low 0 books
Henry Mayhew 0 books
Robert Stawell Ball 0 books
George Bird Grinnell 0 books
Dorothy Canfield Fisher 0 books
Flora Annie Steel 0 books
Christy Mathewson 0 books
Hans Aanrud 1 books
Agnes Baden-Powell 0 books
W. W. Denslow 3 books
Gene Autry 1 books
Eugene Field 0 books
Fritz Siebel 3 books
Mary Proctor 0 books
Anita Jeram 16 books
Ethel Turner 0 books
Mary Hunter Austin 0 books
Chespirito 1 books
Jane Loudon 0 books
Isaac Israel Hayes 6 books
Lucy Aikin 0 books
Renée Ahdieh 9 books
Edmund Dulac 0 books
William Allen White 0 books
Mary Martha Sherwood 0 books
Maria, Lady Callcott 0 books
Josephine Diebitsch Peary 0 books
Evelyn Sharp 0 books
Joseph Grinnell 0 books
C. V. Boys 0 books
Brett Helquist 12 books
Basil Hall Chamberlain 0 books
Frances Theodora Parsons 0 books
Alice Cunningham Fletcher 0 books
Bo Carpelan 3 books
Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington 0 books
Mary White Ovington 0 books
Wanda Gág 0 books
Sarah Fielding 0 books
W. Heath Robinson 0 books
Frances Ridley Havergal 0 books
Thomas Day 0 books
Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson 0 books
Nikolay Nosov 4 books
Lenny Henry 11 books
Gene Stratton-Porter 0 books
Louis Slobodkin 15 books
Helen Jacobs 1 books
William S. Hart 4 books
Ion Creangă 2 books
Agniya Barto 0 books
Kir Bulychev 4 books
Joseph Mohr 0 books
Virginia McKenna 1 books
William Kamkwamba 0 books

Children's books FAQ

Who are the best children's books authors?: The best-known children's books authors here, ranked by how widely they are read and written about, are Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, J. R. R. Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling and Isaac Asimov.
What are the best children's books series?: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan and Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan — each listed in reading order.
Can I read children's books books for free?: Yes. 1,710 children's books books by these authors are in the public domain in the US and free to read here.

Best-known children's books authors

J. R. R. Tolkien

Isaac Asimov

Walt Disney

Kamala Harris

Malala Yousafzai

Enid Blyton

Roald Dahl

Astrid Lindgren

Dr. Seuss

Suzanne Collins

Rick Riordan

Philip Pullman

Tove Jansson

John Green

Patrick Modiano

R. L. Stine

Julie Andrews

Jeff Kinney

Children's books series in reading order

Free children's books classics

Classic children's books authors

Hans Christian Andersen

Edgar Allan Poe

Rudyard Kipling

Lewis Carroll

Aesop

Michael Faraday

Louisa May Alcott

Herodotus

Selma Lagerlöf

John Ruskin

J. M. Barrie

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ambrose Bierce

Charles Perrault

Beatrix Potter

A. A. Milne

L. Frank Baum

All children's books authors

Children's books FAQ