Searching for the top five best children’s authors. We’ll start with number five and go down to number one!
Number Five: Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss is an author of many books: Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, Horton Hears a Who!, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Having sold over 600 million copies worldwide, he has created a book for nearly every age level. His stories are typically characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of fantastical creatures like dinosaurs or other animals. Not only were his characters lovable, but their names were as well. Who could forget the classic Yertle the Turtle or Sam-I-Am?
Number Four: William Steig
William Steig has published over 100 books and won 3 Caldecott Medals, awarded to a children’s book illustrator for outstanding illustrations in a U.S. picture book. His most popular works include Shrek!, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Doctor De Soto, Brave Irene, Amos & Boris, and more! Random House even published an extensive biography of his life titled William Steig A Story Of America. In addition to being a children’s author William Steig was also a commercial artist who did many sketches of New York Citycapes and landmarks that can be found today in the New-York Historical Society.
Number Three: Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan is an extremely popular children’s author who released his first novel, The Lightning Thief, in 2005. He has since released five more books about mythology, with plans for two more coming out in 2014. These books include The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, and the upcoming House of Hades. His books have been so successful they have also been developed into graphic novels and audiobooks! With 10 million copies sold, he deserves a spot on this list but did you know that he didn’t stop there? He wrote another series inspired by big-time authors Robert Louis Stevenson called the Kane Chronicles. This series includes The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire, and the upcoming The Serpent’s Shadow!
Number Two: Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl has created some fantastic children’s books that have transcended into movie adaptations, winning multiple awards in addition to being bestsellers. Books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the basis for “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” by Gene Wilder), James and the Giant Peach (the basis for “James and the Giant Peach” by Tim Burton), Matilda (the basis for “Matilda”), Fantastic Mr. Fox (the basis for Wes Anderson’s film), The Witches (the basis for “The Witches”) which was written after his daughter read an early draft of The BFG. He also had two other children’s series based on Danny Champion of the World and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, both inventions he told his kids before bedtime while they went on to be published.
Number One: Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers is another children’s author with over 100 books under his belt due to his large contribution to contemporary realistic fiction for young adults. His most popular works include Monster, Scorpions, Slam!, Bad Boys, Motown and Didi, Fallen Angels (which was even made into a film), Hoops, the African-American history book called Harlem, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary!, The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner, and the upcoming Dead End in Norvelt. Walter Dean Myers’ book One Fat Summer also became a made-for-TV movie that aired on ABC Family!
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