In 2011 librarians from the New York Public Library compiled this list of what they considered to be the very best children's books for toddlers through sixth graders.
A Ball for Daisy
by Chris Raschka
Recommended Age: 2
Category: Picture Books
Also: Caldecott Medal Winners
Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake
by Michael B. Kaplan
Category: Picture Books
Blackout
by John Rocco
Category: Picture Books
Cloudette
by Tom Lichtenheld
Category: Picture Books
Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?
by Susan A. Shea
Category: Picture Books
A Dog Is a Dog
by Stephen Shaskan
Category: Picture Books
Everything Goes on Land
by Brian Biggs
Category: Picture Books
Grandpa Green
by Lane Smith
Category: Picture Books
Hugs from Pearl
by Paul Schmid
Category: Picture Books
I Want My Hat Back
by Jon Klassen
Category: Picture Books
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades K-3
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
Little White Rabbit
by Kevin Henkes
Category: Picture Books
Me . . . Jane
by Patrick McDonnell
Category: Picture Books
Also: Cybils Award Winners
Mine!
by Shutta Crum
Category: Picture Books
Mitchell’s License
by Hallie Durand
Category: Picture Books
My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden’s Childhood Journey
by Jeanne Walker Harvey
Category: Picture Books
A New Year’s Reunion: A Chinese Story
by Li Qiong Yu
Category: Picture Books
Octopus Soup
by Mercer Mayer
Category: Picture Books
Perfect Square
by Michael Hall
Category: Picture Books
Press Here
by Hervé Tullet
Category: Picture Books
Also: Amazon's 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom
by Shane W. Evans
Category: Picture Books
What Animals Really Like
by Fiona Robinson
Category: Picture Books
Where’s Walrus?
by Stephen Savage
Category: Picture Books
Ancient Egypt: Tales of Gods and Pharaohs
by Marcia Williams
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
The Boy from the Dragon Palace
by Margaret Read MacDonald
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred
by Samantha R. Vamos
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Gifts from the Gods: Ancient Words and Wisdom from Greek and Roman Mythology
by Lise Lunge-Larsen
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
How the Leopard Got His Claws
by Chinua Achebe
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades K-3
My Favourite Fairy Tales
retold and illustrated by Tony Ross
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Rapunzel: Based on the Original Story
by the Brothers Grimm retold and illustrated by Sarah Gibb
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Tales from India: Stories of Creation and the Cosmos
by Jamila Gavin
Category: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Category: Poetry
Every Thing On It
by Shel Silverstein
Category: Poetry
Lemonade: and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
by Bob Raczka
Category: Poetry
Never Forgotten
by Patricia C. McKissack
Category: Poetry
Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Category: Poetry
Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
by Lee Wardlaw
Category: Poetry
Clementine: The Family Meeting
by Sara Pennypacker
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
EllRay Jakes Is Not a Chicken
by Sally Warner
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
The Great Hamster Massacre
by Katie Davies
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie
by Julie Sternberg
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
Marty McGuire
by Kate Messner
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
The No. 1 Car Spotter
by Atinuke
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
Spunky Tells All
by Ann Cameron
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic
by Emily Jenkins
Category: Stories for Children Ages 6-8
Around the World
by Matt Phelan
Category: Graphic
Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity
by Dave Roman
Category: Graphic
Bad Island
by Doug TenNapel
Category: Graphic
Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking
by Philippe Coudray
Category: Graphic
Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory
by George O’Connor
Category: Graphic
Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists
by Various authors
Category: Graphic
Sidekicks
by Dan Santat
Category: Graphic
Zita the Spacegirl
by Ben Hatke
Category: Graphic
Also: Cybils Award Winners
An Elephant in the Garden
by Michael Morpurgo
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Breadcrumbs
by Anne Ursu
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales
by Chris Van Allsburg
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
City of Orphans
by Avi
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Floating Islands
by Rachel Neumeier
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Fly Trap
by Frances Hardinge
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Fourth Stall
by Chris Rylander
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Ghetto Cowboy
by G. Neri
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
by Catherynne M. Valente
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Hound Dog True
by Linda Urban
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Icefall
by Matthew J. Kirby
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Inside Out and Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Also: National Book Award Young People's Literature Winners
Jefferson’s Sons
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Junonia
by Kevin Henkes
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Luck of the Buttons
by Anne Ylvisaker
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Mostly True Story of Jack
by Kelly Barnhill
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Okay for Now
by Gary D. Schmidt
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Six Days
by Philip Webb
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Tall Story
by Candy Gourlay
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Unforgotten Coat
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
The Wickedest Witch
by Martin Howard
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Wonderstruck
by Brian Selznick
Category: Stories for Children Ages 9-12
Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina
by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
Category: Nonfiction
All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel
by Dan Yaccarino
Category: Nonfiction
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
by Candace Fleming
Category: Nonfiction
America Is Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell
by Don Brown
Category: Nonfiction
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade
by Melissa Sweet
Category: Nonfiction
The Boy Who Bit Picasso
by Antony Penrose
Category: Nonfiction
Bugs by the Numbers
by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss
Category: Nonfiction
Can We Save the Tiger?
by Martin Jenkins
Category: Nonfiction
Celebritrees: Historic and Famous Trees of the World
by Margi Preus
Category: Nonfiction
Coral Reefs
by Jason Chin
Category: Nonfiction
Drawing from Memory
by Allen Say
Category: Nonfiction
Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed Their World
by Allan Drummond
Category: Nonfiction
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
by Kadir Nelson
Category: Nonfiction
In Search of Sasquatch: An Exercise in Zoological Evidence
by Kelly Milner Halls
Category: Nonfiction
Into the Unknown: How Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air
by Stewart Ross
Category: Nonfiction
Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story
by Thomas F. Yezerski
Category: Nonfiction
The Mysteries of Angkor Wat
by Richard Sobol
Category: Nonfiction
Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant
by April Pulley Sayre
Category: Nonfiction
Queen of the Falls
by Chris Van Allsburg
Category: Nonfiction
The Quite Contrary Man: A True American Tale
by Patricia Rusch Hyatt
Category: Nonfiction
The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps
by Jeanette Winter
Category: Nonfiction
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)
by Sue Macy
Category: Nonfiction
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
by Rosalyn Schanzer
Category: Nonfiction
Wild Women of the Wild West
by Jonah Winter
Category: Nonfiction
Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story
of an American Feud
by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain
Category: Nonfiction