100 Perfect Books

NPR’s Backseat Book Club, which is a series dedicated to young readers, has put together this straight Murderer’s Row of must-reads and it’s just the best thing we’re going to see all week (runner-up goes to this Tumblr). Ostensibly the list is for kids age 9–14, but really, the limpid writing and sharp plot of a good children’s book is for all of us! The expected Greats are all in here (Bridge to Terabithia, From the Mixed-Up Files), but there are some sleeper hits (Half Magic, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, The Twenty-One Balloons) as well as a few picks from the last decade that most of us probably missed unless we have children or, in my case, younger siblings who know what’s up (Rebecca Stead’s incredible When You Reach Me, Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion).