Beth Anderson, Children's Writer

How do we as parents, teachers, librarians, and authors decide which books are important for kids? With the range of possibilities delightfully wide, deep, and ever-growing, it’s hard to know where to start, and impossible to finish. But lucky for us, Bianca Schulze took on the task! Here she shares her thoughtful and insightful process of updating 101 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU GROW UP.

GIVEAWAY! 🥳📕 To get in on Bianca’s BOOK BUNDLE GIVEAWAY click the link at the end of the post.

Congrats to Buffy Silverman, the winner of the giveaway from Lindsay Moretti at KidLit Grove!

The Unexpected Lessons from Building a Children’s Reading Roadmap

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Creating 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) 

by Bianca Schulze

When I set out to revise 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. After all, I’d been immersed in children’s literature for years through The Children’s Book Review. I had the original edition as a foundation. How hard could updating it be?

The original list was something I’m still proud of. It introduced families to wonderful books and helped countless children discover the joy of reading. But as I watched the children’s literature landscape evolve, I realized the revision couldn’t just be a refresh—it needed to be a rethinking.

The most significant shift wasn’t about swapping out old titles for new ones. It was about asking myself a harder question: whose stories have we been missing?

This led me down a rabbit hole of discovery and I found myself reading more and more voices that weren’t prioritized by publishers when I wrote the first edition. I read more graphic novels than I previously did and confronted my own blind spots about what “essential” reading looks like for today’s children.

The Books That Taught Me

Ironically, the process of curating this list became its own education. Books like Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming and Vashti Harrison’s Big didn’t just earn spots on the list—they fundamentally changed how I thought about children’s literature’s role in shaping identity and empathy.

I started noticing patterns in which books I gravitated toward and which I had to seek out consciously. This self-awareness became crucial. The best reading list isn’t just about personal favorites; it’s about creating entry points for every kind of reader.

The Interactive Element

This book also doubles as a reading journal. But do children actually use it? Would parents find it gimmicky?

But here’s what I realized: we teach children that reading is important, but we rarely teach them that their opinions about reading matter just as much. The rating system and note-taking space aren’t just interactive features—they’re permission slips for young readers to trust their own literary judgment.

The Heartbreak of Cutting

Here’s something nobody tells you about creating a definitive list: you’ll fall in love with books you can’t include.

I should have started a running document titled “Books That Break My Heart to Cut.” It would be longer than the actual list. Every deletion felt personal. Was I doing a disservice to readers by leaving out some of the most well-known classics, such as Harold and the Purple Crayon or Little Women? What about all those incredible new releases that came out just as we were going to print?

Eventually, I made peace with incompleteness. This list isn’t meant to be comprehensive—it’s meant to be catalytic. If a child reads even ten of these books and they spark a lifelong love of reading, I’ve succeeded.

What the Process Revealed

Creating this revised edition taught me that children’s literature isn’t static, and neither should our recommendations be. The conversation about what children should read needs to be ongoing, flexible, and inclusive.

It also reinforced something I’ve always believed but now understand more deeply: the best children’s books don’t just entertain—they equip. They give young readers tools for understanding themselves, others, and the complex world they’re growing up in.

The Real Purpose

At the end of the day, 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) is my love letter to the possibility of reading. It’s built on the belief that somewhere in these 101 stories, every child will find at least one book that makes them think, “This was written for me.”

And if I’ve learned anything from this process, it’s that the magic isn’t in creating the perfect list—it’s in opening doors and then getting out of the way while young readers discover which rooms they want to explore.

Click here to enter the fabulous BOOK BUNDLE GIVEAWAY! Better hurry!

Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review and author of the DON’T WAKE THE DRAGON series. Her latest book, 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition), is available from Walter Foster Jr.

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