Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

What the book is about is friendship on earth, affection and protection, adventure and miracle, life and death, trust and treachery, pleasure and pain, and the passing of time. As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done. -- Eudora Welty, the New York Times Book Review These are the words in Charlotte's web, high in the barn. Her spiderweb tells of her... (more)

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring.... In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it's different. At first, things seem marvelous in the... (more)

Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt

Tuck Everlasting is the story of a girl named Winnie and a family who she meets, the Tucks. The Tucks have a secret, they're immortal.They drank water from a spring that was actually a fountain of youth. Till the end of time, they will stay the way they were the moment they took a drink. Winnie falls in love with one of the Tucks, Jesse, a "17" year old boy who shares the same feelings for her.When Mae (Jesse's... (more)

The Giving Tree

by Shel Silverstein

"Once there was a tree ... and she loved a little boy." So begins a story Of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein. Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk ... and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and... (more)

Where the Sidewalk Ends

by Shel Silverstein

Silly, silly Shel Silverstein. For more than 25 years, he has taken children exactly where they want to go with poetry: into the world of nonsense and wordplay. Take "Instructions," for example: If you should ever choose To bathe an armadillo, Use one bar of soap And a whole lot of hope And seventy-two pads of Brillo. Is there a moral? A higher meaning? A lesson? Most certainly not--except... (more)

Maniac Magee

by Jerry Spinelli

After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary as he accomplishes athletic feats and other extraordinary exploits that awe his contemporaries. Paperback.

Green Eggs and Ham

by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel

Illus. in color. Sam-I-Am mounts a determined campaign to convince another Seuss character to eat a plate of green eggs and ham. "Limited vocabulary but unlimited exuberance of illustration."--School Library Journal.

Where the Wild Things Are

by Maurice Sendak

In the forty years since Max first cried "Let the wild rumpus start," Maurice Sendak's classic picture book has become one of the most highly acclaimed and best-loved children's books of all time. Now, in celebration of this special anniversary, introduce a new generation to Max's imaginative journey to where the wild things are. Winner, 1964 Caldecott Medal Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA) 1981... (more)

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book 1

The Bad Beginning

by Lemony Snicket

Dear Reader, I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster... (more)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

by Judi Barrett

If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?

The BFG

by David Wood, Roald Dahl

A Light in the Attic

by Shel Silverstein

Last night while I lay thinking here Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I flunk that test? Whatif green hair grows on my chest? Whatif nobody likes me? Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?... Here in the attic of Shel Silverstein you will find Backward Bill, Sour Face Ann, the Meehoo with an Exactlywatt, and the Polar Bear... (more)

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

by Kate DiCamillo

Time Quintet: Book 1

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

Rediscover one of the most beloved children's books of all time: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. He claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a "tesseract," which, if you didn't know,... (more)

The Witches

by Roald Dahl

Meet a hero, a wise old grandmother, and the most gruesome, grotesque gang of witches imaginable! Roald Dahl is one of the most beloved storytellers of all time, and his books have been children's favorites for generations. Puffin is proud to offer a strong new look for nine of our classic Roald Dahl titles. The distinctive cover treatment, with new art by Quentin Blake, will make these books easily recognizable.... (more)

Roald Dahl's Collection

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl

Complete with stunning new movie art for the cover and an eight-page full-color insert of movie stills, Roald Dahl’s treasured novel appears unabridged and complete in this movie tie-in edition of Dahl’s best-selling beloved classic.

James and the Giant Peach

by Roald Dahl

A young boy escapes from two wicked aunts and embarks on a series of adventures with six giant insects he meets inside a giant peach.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book 2

The Reptile Room

by Lemony Snicket

Dear Reader, If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale. I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant... (more)

Poppy

by Brian Floca, Avi

King of the Night At the very edge of Dimwood Forest stood an old charred oak where, silhouetted by the moon, a great horned owl sat waiting. The owls name was Mr. Ocax, and he looked like death himself. With his piercing gaze, he surveyed the lands he called his own, watching for the creatures he considered his subjects. Not one of them ever dared to cross his path. . .until the terrible night when two little... (more)

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book 6

The Erstaz Elevator

by Lemony Snicket

Dear Reader, If you have just picked up this particular book, then it is not too late to put it back down. Like the previous books in A Series of Unfortunate Events, there is nothing to be found in these pages but misery, despair, and discomfort, and you still have time to choose something else to read. Within the chapters of this story, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire encounter a darkened staircase, a... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: children's lit

by E. B. White

by Neil Gaiman

by Natalie Babbitt

by Shel Silverstein

by Shel Silverstein

by Jerry Spinelli

by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel

by Maurice Sendak

by Lemony Snicket

by Judi Barrett

by David Wood, Roald Dahl

by Shel Silverstein

by Kate DiCamillo

by Madeleine L'Engle

by Roald Dahl

by Roald Dahl

by Roald Dahl

by Lemony Snicket

by Brian Floca, Avi

by Lemony Snicket