top of page

Top 100 Children's Books
Compiled by Lorraine Orman

Top 100 New Zealand Children's Books of the 20th Century as compiled by Lorraine Orman, children's literature expert & writer in 2000. If I have reviewed a book, there will be a link to the review. (Original Source)

  1. The cradle ship by Edith Howes

  2. Six Little New Zealanders by Esther Glen

  3. Quicksilver by Isabel M. Peacocke

  4. Rifle and tomahawk by Mona Tracy

  5. Silver Island by Edith Howes

  6. Hilda at School by Phillis Garrard

  7. The Book of Wiremu by Stella Morice

  8. Myths and Legends of Maoriland by A. W. Reed

  9. Drovers Road by Joyce West

  10. Falter Tom and the Water Boy by Maurice Duggan

  11. The Year of the Shining Cuckoo by Joyce West

  12. Turi: The Story of a Little Boy by Lesley Cameron Powell

  13. The Runaway Settlers by Elsie Locke

  14. The boy and the taniwha by Ronald Leonard Bacon

  15. A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy

  16. The Duck in the Gun by Joy Cowley

  17. The First Margaret Mahy Story Book by Margaret Mahy

  18. The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy

  19. Again the bugles blow by Ron Bacon

  20. My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton

  21. Crayfishing with Grandmother by Jillian Mary Mayer Bagnall

  22. The Witch in the Cherry Tree by Margaret Mahy

  23. The house on the cliffs by Ruth Dallas

  24. The House of the People by Ronald Leonard Bacon

  25. The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch by Ronda Armitage

  26. Traveller by Anne De Roo

  27. Take the Long Path by Joan De Hamel

  28. The Great Piratical Rumbustification / The Librarian and the Robbers by Margaret Mahy

  29. Under the Mountain by Maurice Gee

  30. The Silent One by Joy Cowley

  31. The Kuia and the Spider by Patricia Grace

  32. Bidibidi by Gavin Bishop

  33. Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen

  34. The Haunting by Margaret Mahy

  35. Mr Fox by Gavin Bishop

  36. The Halfmen of O by Maurice Gee

  37. Night Race to Kawau by Tessa Duder

  38. Bertie And The Bear by Pamela Allen

  39. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd

  40. The Tree Witches by Gwenda Turner

  41. Jacky Nobody by Anne De Roo

  42. The Poetry Girl by Beverley Dunlop

  43. The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

  44. Visitors by Caroline Macdonald

  45. The fish of our fathers by Ronald Leonard Bacon

  46. Hemi's Pet by Joan De Hamel

  47. New Zealand ABC (Picture Puffin Books) by Gwenda Turner

  48. A Lion in the Night by Pamela Allen

  49. The guardian of the land by Joanna Orwin

  50. Jellybean by Tessa Duder

  51. Taniwha by Robyn Kahukiwa

  52. The Keeper by Barry Faville

  53. The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy

  54. Just an Ordinary Kid by Lisa Vasil

  55. Memory by Margaret Mahy

  56. Alex by Tessa Duder

  57. Paradise Lane by William Taylor

  58. My Brown Bear Barney by Dorothy Butler

  59. Annie & Moon by Miriam Smith

  60. The Mangrove Summer by Jack Lasenby

  61. Biddy Alone by Wanda Cowley

  62. Grandpa's Slippers by Joy Watson

  63. Chen Li and the River Spirit by Anthony Holcroft

  64. Tangaroa's Gift: Te Koha ā Tangaroa by Mere Whaanga

  65. Grandma McGarvey by Jenny Hessell

  66. Agnes the Sheep by William Taylor

  67. Rocco by Sherryl Jordan

  68. The Wednesday Wizard by Sherryl Jordan

  69. Prudence M. Muggeridge, Damp Rat by Gaelyn Gordon

  70. Bow Down Shadrach by Joy Cowley

  71. Duckat by Gaelyn Gordon

  72. The Little Yellow Digger by Betty Gilderdale

  73. Deepwater Black by Ken Catran

  74. Underrunners by Margaret Mahy

  75. The Juniper Game by Sherryl Jordan

  76. See Ya, Simon by David Hill

  77. Slide the Corner by Fleur Beale

  78. Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan

  79. A Dolphin in the Bay by Diana Noonan

  80. Sasscat by Paula Boock

  81. The Best-loved Bear by Diana Noonan

  82. The Fat Man by Maurice Gee

  83. The Blue Lawn by William Taylor

  84. Take It Easy by David Hill

  85. The Waterfall by Jack Lasenby

  86. Crossroads by Janice Marriott

  87. Mechanical Harry by Bob Kerr

  88. The Bantam and the Soldier by Jennifer Beck

  89. Sanctuary by Kate De Goldi

  90. The Shearwater Bell by Margaret Beames

  91. Dare Truth or Promise by Paula Boock

  92. Alphabet apartments by Lesley Moyes

  93. Fat, Four-Eyed and Useless by David Hill

  94. Because We Were the Travellers (The Travellers) by Jack Lasenby

  95. I Am Not Esther by Fleur Beale

  96. A Summery Saturday Morning by Margaret Mahy

  97. The Tiggie Tompson Show by Tessa Duder

  98. The House That Jack Built by Gavin Bishop

  99. The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan

  100. 2MUCH4U by Vince Ford

bottom of page