Best children and teen books with a moral - one that wouldn't bore an adult - a la Silverstein, The Little Prince and Pooh. Thanks.

I was gonna say The Little Prince, damn.

The Once and Future King series, about King Arthur from boyhood to the bitter end, by T.H. White.http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/author_bibliographies/li-robb-jd.asp

It is extremely well-written, imaginative, even funny.

The first book, The Sword in the Stone is reviewed here in Wikipedia.

“The book begins as a quite light-hearted account of the young Arthur’s adventures, Merlin’s incompetence at magic, and King Pellinore’s interminable search for the Questing Beast.

Parts of The Sword in the Stone read almost as a parody of the traditional Arthurian legend by virtue of White’s prose style, which relies heavily on anachronisms. However, the tale gradually changes tone until Ill-Made Knight becomes more meditative and The Candle in the Wind finds Arthur brooding over death and his legacy.”

The Judy Blume books for both young teen-aged boys and girls. My daughter loved them.

I like the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I am also a big Harry Potter fan, although they are mostly a story of good verses evil, Harry always does the right thing and that right there is a moral. The Dragons of Blueland is a good series as well. A fabulous read for kids and adults is Summerland by Michael Chabon, it is like Potter in that it is also a story of good verses evil. Also, you can almost never go wrong with anything by Jerry Spinelli, Loser and Maniac Magee are standouts for me.

For kids, there is a great series of picture books by Graeme Base They are beautifully written with amazing illustrations and they have pretty cool messages as well.

Thanks. More more.

Books about horses, such as National Velvet and Sea Biscuit.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda…I loved all of Roald Dahl’s books.

@Zen Again, here a fabulous resource for finding fabulous reading material!

Madeline L’Engle

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Outsiders by Susan E. Hinton

Charlotte’s Web is one of my faves.

One of my favorite picture books to read aloud when my daughter was little was The Mountains of Tibet by Mordicai Gerstein. It’s based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, believe it or not, deals with the “cirle of life” and reincarnation in a totally age appropriate way and it is just lovely.

A hodge podge list of books for various ages, in no particular order other than the first one, which is by far one of the most memorable books I ever read as a kid:

Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
It’s Like This, Cat – Emily Neville
The Chronicles of Narnia (7 books) – C.S. Lewis
Watership Down – Richard Adams
The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O’Brien
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E.L. Konigsburg
The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
A Week in the Woods – Andrew Clements

And the list goes on…

@janbb I LOVED The Outsiders, and the sequel (also by S.E. Hinton) “That Was Then, This Is Now” is also very powerful.

@nope Great list!

Great list – I also love Mordechai Richler’s Jacob Two-two and other books.

A wonderful short book is The Velveteen Rabbit.
Of course, I love the Harry Potter books.
But, in general, I love childrens books, and don’t understand how adults can be bored with them.

@nope Yes, Watership Down definitely!

So many beloved books have been mentioned.

Also worth mentioning, the photographic books by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio. The first was Material World showing the worldly possessions of a variety of families from a variety of cultures around the world. Their most recent book is Hungry Planet which does the same thing except with a week’s worth of food.

Just remembered one more I read and sang aloud dozens of times without minding – Love You Forever. That’s one that still can make me cry.

The Giving Tree is short, but still very powerful.

When I was in that age group, my favorite novel was (and still ranks right up there) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. No matter how many times I read it I always ended up crying at the funeral!

The Box Car Children series is pretty good

For a more modern take, try Maximum Ride by James Patterson. Though Pooh is still my favorite. :)

I absolutely loved this book when I was in middle school. I loved that much of it was presented as the narrator’s seventh grade English assignment. I thought that was groundbreaking and edgy.

It isn’t girly per se, but I doubt boys would be interested in it. You know, in case that’s important.

I also read alot of the redwall books back then. I was always sort of impressed with how the author paired obscure rodents up with obscure weaponry. I’m pretty sure that the shrews favored the rapier while the voles preferred the dirk.

Lurve for Silverstein—

“Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out!”

Holes Louis Sachar
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Sideway Stories from Wayside School Louis Sachar
The Giver Lois Lowry

I’m sure I will think of more. Enjoy!

Ooh thought of another one The Lottery Rose Irene Hunt. I stayed up in a tree and read that when I was little and then cried for hours after I finished it.

@PandoraBoxx Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time series was one of my all time favorite things to read as a kid. The books are so vivid and imaginative.

The Hobbit is definitely also good for both kids and adults.

@Yetanotheruser “She’d scour the pots and scrap the pans candy the yams and spice the hams; and though her father would scream and shout she simply would not take the garbage out!”
I love the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
and the Polk Street series by Patricia Riley Giff,

Most anything by Gary Paulsen

The Hunger Games is listed under teen fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great read!

The chocolate touch tells about how too much of a good thing can ruin your life. in a way, a slightly comical version of the tale of king midas.

oh, I forgot to say: Greetings and bon venue.

Always nice to welcome newcomers (bienvenue).

“The Thirteen Clocks” by James Thurber;
“Treasure Island” by R L Stephenson;
“Pat the Bunny” for the teenies;

@TheArbiter lurve and welcome to Fluther! I am going to buy a copy of The Chocolate Touch for my boys, it looks fabulous!

Many of the books I adore have already been mentioned (Particularly “The Phantom Tollbooth”)

One that hasn’t is Maniac Magee