The Top 100 Children’s Books Redux

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a-list blogger Betsy Bird was conducting a massive poll to determine the top 100 children’s novels of all time.

My husband, the statistics fanatic, noticed how books published in the last ten years were getting a disproportionate amount of attention.  So he created an algorithm that would weight the books’ poll scores according to age.

The older a book was, the more value its votes would have.

In addition to fiddling with the winners of the official poll, Brian went so far as to recalculate the scores of every book that anybody voted for. That’s dedication, baby.  Ergo, books like Swiss Family Robinson — even though it only got nine votes — ends up in the top 30 because it was published in 1812.

Below is the list of the top books — expanded to include 120.  If you want to see the explanation of the math, read the previous post.

It’s interesting that the #1 choice didn’t change.  Note, too, the big jump in scores between the top four books, and the following four.  It’s also fun to see which books had the biggest increases in scores (like Heidi or Call of the Wild) and which had the biggest drops (Inkheart, The Bad Beginning).  And some books from the official list disappeared altogether (such as The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane).  I was personally happy to see one of my kinda-obscure childhood favorites, What Katy Did, make the list this way.

Just interesting stuff, if you’re a fan of the math.  And as a certified children’s librarian, I can say with confidence that if you were to read all of these books, you’d get a very strong foundation in becoming a children’s literature expert.  (*sound of official Seal of Approval ramming down on computer monitor*)

Book	year.	score	rank	Adjusted score	Adjusted Rank	Change in rank
Charlotte’s Web	1952	751	1	67.320	1	0
Anne of Green Gables	1908	365	9	65.861	2	7
The Secret Garden	1911	371	8	63.826	3	5
Little Women	1868	136	25	46.354	4	21
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland	1865	129	27	46.116	5	22
A Wrinkle in Time	1962	593	2	45.343	6	-4
Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe	1950	456	4	42.197	7	-3
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. BEF	1967	409	5	28.883	8	-3
A Little Princess	1905	124	28	23.468	9	19
Harrry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone	1997	533	3	23.361	10	-7
The Hobbit	1938	207	12	23.182	11	1
The Phantom Tollbooth	1961	291	10	22.607	12	-2
The wonderful wizard of OZ	1900	107	40	21.926	13	27
The Giver	1993	373	7	17.422	14	-7
Holes	1998	392	6	16.910	15	-9
Little House in the Big Woods	1932	137	23	16.878	16	7
Winnie-the-Pooh	1926	121	30	16.399	17	13
The Westing game	1978	248	11	14.703	18	-7
Wind in the Willows	1908	77	53	13.894	19	34
Harriet the Spy	1964	177	16	13.110	20	-4
Bridge to Terabithia	1977	201	13	12.108	21	-8
Little House on the Prarie	1935	96	42	11.276	22	20
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	1964	152	19	11.259	23	-4
Half Magic	1954	121	31	10.507	24	7
Treasure Island	1883	38	103	10.204	25	78
Swiss Family Robinson	1812	11	121	9.134	26	95+
James and the Giant Peach	1961	115	33	8.934	27	6
Tuck Everlasting	1975	143	20	8.892	28	-8
The Saturdays	1941	82	51	8.755	29	22
The Witch of Blackbird Pond	1958	103	41	8.393	30	11
Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban	1999	197	14	8.364	31	-17
The Dark is Rising	1973	123	29	7.896	32	-3
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH	1971	119	32	7.886	33	-1
Matilda	1988	154	18	7.788	34	-16
Maniac Magee	1990	158	17	7.740	35	-18
Because of Winn-Dixie	2000	185	15	7.731	36	-21
Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret	1970	111	36	7.474	37	-1
Where the Red Fern Grows	1961	90	46	6.992	38	8
Five Children and It	1902	34	112	6.749	39	73
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	1976	109	37	6.671	40	-3
Ballet Shoes	1936	57	65	6.590	41	24
Island of the Blue Dolphins	1960	83	50	6.552	42	8
Ramona the Pest	1968	94	43	6.534	43	0
Hatchet	1989	129	26	6.421	44	-18
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing	1972	92	44	6.001	45	-1
Heidi	1880	21	121	5.914	46	75+
Betsy-Tacy	1940	54	70	5.858	47	23
The tale of Despereaux	2003	141	22	5.618	48	-26
Percy Jackson and the Olympians	2005	142	21	5.480	49	-28
Swallows and Amazons	1930	43	94	5.469	50	44
On the Banks of Plum Creek	1937	47	85	5.348	51	34
The Watsons Go to Birmingham	1995	115	34	5.203	52	-18
Henry Huggins	1950	56	66	5.182	53	13
Johnny Tremain	1943	50	78	5.172	54	24
Caddie Woodlawn	1935	44	93	5.168	55	38
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	2007	137	24	5.122	56	-32
My Father’s Dragon	1948	53	72	5.063	57	15
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase	1962	65	58	4.970	58	0
Gone-Away Lake	1957	59	63	4.885	59	4
The Secret of the Old Clock	1959	60	62	4.812	60	2
Call of the Wild	1903	24	121	4.689	61	60+
Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire	2000	112	35	4.680	62	-27
The Little White Horse	1946	47	84	4.635	63	21
The Borrowers	1953	52	74	4.588	64	10
All-of-a-Kind Family	1951	49	79	4.463	65	14
Understood Betsy	1916	28	121	4.449	66	55+
The Great Gilly Hopkins	1978	74	55	4.387	67	-12
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix	2003	109	38	4.343	68	-30
The Boxcar Children	1924	31	117	4.337	69	48
My Side of the Mountain	1959	53	73	4.251	70	3
The BFG	1982	75	54	4.173	71	-17
The Golden Compass	1995	92	45	4.163	72	-27
Pippi Longstocking	1950	42	95	3.887	73	22
When you Reach Me	2009	107	39	3.875	74	-35
Frindle	1996	84	49	3.741	75	-26
Bud, Not Buddy	1999	87	47	3.694	76	-29
Ramona Quimby, Age 8	1981	65	57	3.674	77	-20
The Book of Three	1964	47	82	3.481	78	4
Children of Green Knowe	1954	40	98	3.473	79	19
The Moffats	1941	31	120	3.310	80	40
The Penderwicks: A summer tale	2005	85	48	3.281	82	-34
The Magician’s Nephew	1955	38	102	3.248	83	19
Number the Stars	1989	65	56	3.235	84	-28
Tom’s Midnight Garden	1958	39	101	3.178	85	16
The High King	1968	45	88	3.128	86	2
Harry Potter: 1/2 bood prince	2005	81	52	3.126	87	-35
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle	1947	32	113	3.106	88	25
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle	1990	61	60	2.988	89	-29
The Invention of Hugo Cabret	2007	77	52	2.879	90	-38
What Katy Did	1872	9	121	2.879	91	30+
The Thirteen  Clocks	1950	31	119	2.869	92	27
Voyage of the Dawn Treader	1952	31	121	2.779	93	28+
A Cricket in Times Square	1960	35	108	2.763	94	14
The Egypt Game	1967	39	100	2.754	95	5+
Peter Pan	1911	16	121	2.753	96	25+
Ramona and her Father	1977	45	89	2.711	97	-8
Betsy, Tacy and Tib	1941	25	121	2.669	98	23+
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher	1991	55	67	2.652	99	-32
Sideways Stories from Wayside School	1978	44	91	2.609	100	-9
Stargirl	2000	61	61	2.54907	101	-40
Knight’s Castle	1956	30	121	2.523513	102	19+
Twenty-One Balloons	1947	26	121	2.523511	103	18+
A Long Way from Chicago	1998	58	64	2.502018	104	-40
The Long Winter	1940	23	121	2.49515	105	16+
Walk Two Moons	1994	54	68	2.482432	106	-38
Inkheart	2003	62	59	2.470175	107	-48
Farmer Boy	1933	20	121	2.425135	108	13+
Sarah, Plain and Tall	1985	44	90	2.333909	109	-19
The Witches	1983	42	96	2.299805	110	-14
The Indian in the Cupboard	1980	40	99	2.297299	111	-12
The Frog Princess	2002	56	66	2.266885	112	-46
Jennifer Hecate…	1967	32	116	2.259832	113	3
A Series of Unfortunate Events: #1	1999	53	71	2.250262	114	-43
House with a Clock in its Walls	1973	35	111	2.246791	115	-4
Homer Price	1942	21	121	2.206874	116	5+
Out of the Dust	1997	50	76	2.191481	117	-41
Danny Champion of the World	1975	35	110	2.176467	118	-8
Betsy and Tacy go Downtown	1943	21	121	2.172063	119	2+
Wizard of Earthsea	1968	31	118	2.154679	120	-2