Timeless Classics
Here are some of our favorite classic books for kids.  These titles can be found in the Juvenile section of the library, unless otherwise noted.  
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
by Beverly Cleary

A reckless young mouse named Ralph makes friends with a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and discovers the joys of motorcycling.
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by C. S. Lewis

Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
The Twenty-One Balloons
by William Pène du Bois

Relates the incredible adventures of Professor William Waterman Sherman who in 1883 sets off in a balloon across the Pacific, survives the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa, and is eventually picked up in the Atlantic
Rosa by Starlight
by Hilary McKay

Abandoned in Venice by her evil aunt and uncle, 11-year-old Rosa, surrounded by cats, a laughing boy in a gondola, and a family making sure she's fed, wonders if, in her darkest hour, the magic she's never lost faith in can save the day. 
Odder
by Katherine Applegate

Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself--and about the humans who hope to save her.
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Frindle
by Andrew Clements

Fifth-grade language arts teacher Mrs. Granger comes to regret her lesson that language is controlled by human beings when Nick Allen begins a wildly successful campaign to rename the ballpoint pen. 
Prairie Lotus
by Linda Sue Park

A young half-Asian girl arriving in 1880s America struggles to adjust to new surroundings while navigating the almost unanimous prejudice of the townspeople in her heartland community.
The Island of Adventure
by Enid Blyton

On the mysterious Island of Gloom, Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann, and Jack find themselves in the middle of a dangerous adventure in an abandoned copper mine.
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt

The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.
The Cricket in Times Square
by George Selden

Chester the cricket arrives at a Times Square newsstand where he makes friends with a boy, a cat, and a mouse.
Bridge To Terabithia
by Katherine Paterson

Jess Aarons gains the strength to cope with unexpected tragedy by going to a secret kingdom in the woods invented by Leslie Burke, a newcomer to his rural Virginia community.
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg

Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.
Julie of the Wolves
by Jean Craighead George

While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.
A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L'Engle

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Stuart Little
by E. B. White

Follows the adventures of the debonair mouse Stuart Little as he sets out in the world to seek out his dearest friend, a little bird who stayed a few days in his family's garden.
Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother.
Matilda
by Roald Dahl

Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.
The Sign of the Beaver
by Elizabeth George Speare

Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Forsyth County Public Library
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