Puffin's 70 best books for children

Best Mischief & Mayhem:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
The Twits by Roald Dahl
The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
Photograph: Penguin Books

Best Weepies:
Charlotte's Web by EB White
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Truth about Leo by David Yelland
Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Swashbucklers and Derring-Do:
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae & Russell Ayto
Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford
Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green
Photograph: Penguin Books

Best Blood & Guts:
The Enemy by Charlie Higson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Being by Kevin Brooks
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Photograph: Penguin Books

Best to Cuddle Up With:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis & Gwen Millward
Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Phizzwhizzers:
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
The BFG
Matilda
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fantastic Mr Fox - all by Roald Dahl
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Alternatives to Twilight:
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Photograph: PR

The Best Animals:
Spy Dog by Andrew Cope
The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Lionboy by Zizou Corder
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best BEST BEST BEST!
Stig of the Dump by Clive King
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Junk by Melvin Burgess
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Character:
Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs
Charlie and Lola: Excuse Me But That is My Book by Lauren Child
Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll & Jan Pienkowski
Angelina Ballerina by Katharine Holabird & Helen Craig
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Fantasy & Adventure:
TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow
Dot Robot by Jason Bradbury
Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Friends and Family:
The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett
Dizzy by Cathy Cassidy
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Heroes:
Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Young Bond: SilverFin by Charlie Higson
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best Rhymes and Verse:
Michael Rosen’s A-Z: The best children’s poetry from Agard to Zephaniah
Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah
Bad Bad Cats by Roger McGough
Photograph: PR

The Best Sugar & Spice:
The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories by Joyce Lankester
Brisley, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child & Polly Borland
Photograph: Penguin Books

The Best War and Conflict:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Once by Morris Gleitzman
Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden
Photograph: PR

The Best Weird and Wonderful:
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Five Children and It by E Nesbitt
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum
Peter Pan by JM Barrie
Photograph: PR