Building a Children’s Library

Consider the Literary Giant

There are few things I love more than buying books for babies. Children’s literature is refined, meticulous, poetic, ethereal, fantastical. The classics have stood the test of time for good reason, but the next time you buy a book for a baby, consider moving past Goodnight Moon or The Cat in the Hat. Instead, choose a book written by a Nobel Prize-winning (or equally revered) author. Why not fill their library with Morrison, Faulkner, and Joyce? Imagine gifting Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince. When the baby grows up and a high school English teacher assigns them A Portrait of Dorian Grey, they can confidently say, “I’ve read Wilde before.”

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of children’s books written by authors children will likely reencounter later in their lives. I hope it inspires you. If you come across anything I have not already mentioned, do let me know. For links, click here.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie’s first children’s book, Mama’s Sleeping Scarf (2023), is a story of comfort, adventure, and familial love.

James Baldwin

Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood (1976; reissued 2018) follows a four-year-old boy named TJ through the streets of Harlem.

Leonora Carrington

The Milk of Dreams (originally Il latte dei sogni, 1996), written and illustrated by Carrington, introduces children to the writer and artist’s surreal world.

Junot Diaz

Islandborn (2018), illustrated by Leo Espinosa, is a story of diaspora and memory. Lola, a young New Yorker, embarks on a quest to reconstruct memories of the island she left behind as a baby.

William Faulkner

The Wishing Tree (1927), a fairy tale Faulkner wrote for a friend’s daughter, is a rare, playful departure from the writer’s darker work.

Elena Ferrante

The Beach at Night (2007; English edition 2016) is told from the perspective of a lost doll. The book reflects the themes of abandonment and jealousy found in Ferrante’s other work.

bell hooks

bell hooks wrote numerous children’s books centered on love, identity, and empowerment. These include Homemade Love (2002), Be Boy Buzz (2002), Happy to Be Nappy (1999), Skin Again (2004), and Grump Groan Growl (2008), among others.

James Joyce

The Cat and the Devil (written 1936; published 1964) is based on a letter Joyce wrote to his grandson. The Cats of Copenhagen (written 1936; published 2012) is similarly fable-like and playful.

Clarice Lispector

Almost True (Quase de verdade, 1978; English edition 2022) and The Mystery of the Thinking Rabbit (O mistério do coelho pensante, 1981; English edition 2022) retain Lispector’s signature introspective style.

Patrick Modiano

Catherine Certitude (1988; English edition, 2001), illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé (of the Petit Nicolas series), follows a young Parisian girl as she navigates differing cultural perspectives.

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison co-authored several children's books with her son, Slade Morrison. These include The Big Box (1999), The Book of Mean People (2002), Little Cloud and Lady Wind (2010), and the Who’s Got Game? series (2003–2004).

Sylvia Plath

Plath wrote The Bed Book (written 1959; published posthumously in 1976) for her children, Frieda and Nicholas.

Salman Rushdie

Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) features Rushdie’s signature world-building.

Jose Saramago

José Saramago’s reflective, allegorical children’s books include La flor más grande del mundo (2001), The Lizard (2016), The Silence of Water (2011), The First Boat (2023), and An Unexpected Light (2024).

Zadie Smith

Smith co-authored several children’s books with her husband, poet Nick Laird. Weirdo (2021), The Surprise (2022), and Weirdo Goes Wild (2025) explore the themes of individuality and belonging.

Gertrude Stein

The World Is Round (1939) follows Rose, a young girl who contemplates identity, places, and shapes. I was unsure about gifting it to baby Chloe since the illustrations are plain, but my dad quickly convinced me otherwise. The language is perfect for reading a child to sleep — repetitive, poetic, and rhythmic. To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays (written 1940; published posthumously in 1957) is less narrative than The World Is Round, but equally enchanting.

Oscar Wilde

Layered with moral complexity, Wilde’s The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891) contain fables of faith, morality, and vanity.

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