If you love classic children's books, here are some modern titles that explore similar themes, or evoke the same feelings as the classic, but with a modern sensibility. If you're looking for appealing orphans, the warmth of a found family, or life in  America's past these excellent books will satisfy your craving.

If you love Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland,  in which Alice falls down a rabbit hole and finds a world  inhabited by nonsensical and amusing characters, then you should try Wed Wabbit by Lisa Evans.  A "down the rabbit hole" adventure by the author of  Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms places readers in the role of an 11-year-old protagonist who is accompanied by three eccentric companions on a quest to defeat a stuffed-animal dictator and an army of wacky monsters.

Both are humorous stories where things are turned upsidedown, and the rules are not what we expect.

 

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor portrays the joys and troubles of five high-spirited Jewish sisters as they grow up in Manhattan's Lower East Side  in 1912.

If you like All-of-a-Kind Family try My Basmati Bat Mitzvah  by Paula J Freedman.

Tara Feinstein, proud of both her East Indian and Jewish heritage, questions what it means to have a bat mitzvah and deals with her doubts about her faith. 

 

If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, the sweet and funny story of an orphan girl sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm who makes an indelible impression on everyone around her, then you should try When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad. 

In 1911, when orphaned ten-year-old Inge comes to live with her stern grandmother in a remote island village in Bornholm, Denmark, she ends up changing the climate of the town, bringing joy and laughter to her grandmother's life, and finding a new family for herself to help assuage her grief over losing her mother, in this very funny book. 

These are both delightful stories of orphan girls living on remote  islands in the early 20th Century.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.  

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, when robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

Two heartwarming stories about friendship and belonging.
 

In The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton, An African American family tries to unravel the secrets of their new home in Ohio which was once an important station on the Underground Railroad.

The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown, When eleven-year-old Iris sneaks out at night to make snow angels, she was not expecting to raise the ghost of Avery Moore, a girl her own age; but bringing to light the segregated and abandoned Black cemetery seems like the perfect way to help Avery get the recognition she craves, and it will also be a good idea for the school project about the history of her small North Carolina town, where racial tensions are never far from the —only it seems that if Avery gets everything she wants Iris will join her as a ghost, best friends forever.    

Both these books mix ghostly stories with engaging characters and African American history.

Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams, the first book in the Little House series, takes place in 1871 and introduces us to four-year-old Laura, who lives in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. She shares the cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their lovable dog, Jack.

Pioneer life isn't easy for the Ingalls family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But they make the best of every tough situation. They celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do their spring planting, bring in the harvest in the fall, and make their first trip into town. And every night, safe and warm in their little house, the sound of Pa's fiddle lulls Laura and her sisters into sleep.

The portrayal of Native Americans in this series has not kept up with modern  views, for an alternate portrayal of Native Americans in the early United States try reading Louise Erdrich's award winning book The Birchbark House. 

Erdrich's book chronicles the experiences of an Ojibwa girl and her family as they live their lives quietly on an island in Lake Superior in 1847, until the white man comes and begins moving her entire tribe off their land.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, is the beloved story of the four March girls: hardworking eldest sister Meg, headstrong, impulsive Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. With their father away at war, and their loving mother Marmee working to support the family, the four sisters have to rely on one another for support as they endure the hardships of wartime and poverty.  

More to the Story by Hena Khan, a tale inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women follows the experiences of a Muslim-American girl Jameela, an aspiring writer, whose ambition to win a national media contest is complicated by her family's relocation overseas and her sister’s dangerous illness.

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor 
Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.  

Fans of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry will also love Sharon Draper's Stella by Starlight.  Growing up in the segregated South where they accept the disparities in how they are treated, Stella and her little brother witness a terrible event that compels them to fight back and trigger fundamental changes. By the Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of  Out of My Mind.

 

These books  can be ordered for pick up at our grab-and-go branches, or downloaded as e-books, or in some cases as e-audiobooks.

 

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Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!