| Title | Author | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson Burnett | |
| 2 | Sarah, Plain and Tall | Patricia MacLachlan | |
| 3 | Island of the Blue Dolphins | Scott O'Dell | |
| 4 | The Enchanted Castle | E. Nesbit | |
| 5 | The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman | partial credit for "The Golden Compass" or "The Amber Spyglass," slightly larger partial credit for "His Dark Materials" |
| 6 | Le Petit Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupery | also accept "The Little Prince," obviously |
| 7 | The Westing Game | Ellen Raskin | |
| 8 | The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| 9 | The Children of Green Knowe | L.M. Boston* | partial credit for anything including the phrase "Green Knowe" or "Green Noah" |
| 10 | The Phantom Tollbooth | Norton Juster | |
| 11 | Half Magic | Edward Eager* | |
| 12 | The Dark Is Rising | Susan Cooper | minimal partial credit for "Greenwitch," "The Grey King," or "Silver on the Tree" |
| 13 | A Wrinkle In Time | Madeleine L'Engle | |
| 14 | Cheaper by the Dozen | Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey* | |
| 15 | Maniac Magee | Jerry Spinelli | |
| 16 | Through the Looking Glass | Lewis Carroll | partial credit for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" |
| 17 | Johnny Tremain | Esther Forbes | |
| 18 | Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle | Betty MacDonald* | |
| 19 | From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | E.L. Konigsburg | |
| 20 | Julie of the Wolves | Jean Craighead George* | |
| 21 | The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm | Nancy Farmer* | |
| 22 | Anne of the Island | L.M. Montgomery | partial credit for anything beginning with "Anne of ..." |
| 23 | Homer Price | Robert McCloskey | |
| 24 | The Giver | Lois Lowry | |
| 25 | The Black Stallion | Walter Farley* | |
| 26 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | |
| 27 | Sideways Stories from Wayside School | Louis Sachar | partial credit for anything including the phrase "Wayside School" |
| 28 | The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle | Avi | |
| 29 | Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing | Judy Blume | |
| 30 | Catherine, Called Birdy | Karen Cushman* | |
| 31 | Little House on the Prairie | Laura Ingalls Wilder | partial credit for anything including the phrase "Little House" |
| 32 | The Book of Three | Lloyd Alexander | partial credit for "The Black Cauldron," "The Castle of Llyr," "Taran Wanderer," "The High King," or "The Chronicles of Prydain" |
| 33 | Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang | Ian Fleming | |
| 34 | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | |
| 35 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J.K. Rowling | minimal partial credit for "Harry Potter" |
| 36 | Heidi | Johanna Spyri | |
| 37 | Charlotte's Web | E.B. White | |
| 38 | Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson | |
| 39 | The BFG | Roald Dahl | |
| 40 | A Bear Called Paddington | Michael Bond |
An asterisk by an author's name means "don't really count off as much as you would otherwise if they don't get this."