First 100 Children's Books: Recommendations for a first collection of children’s literature

This note outlines the World Bank’s Read@Home initiative’s recommendations for a “first collection” of children’s
literature. It is intended for Read@Home and other early reading programs involved in the development and/or
selection of books to support children’s pre-reading and early reading skills.

Providing children with a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts–with nonfiction making up as much as 50% of a book collection is critical in order to engage all kinds of readers and help children gain the background knowledge they need to succeed in their educational and life pursuits. Gender, diversity, and inclusion should be considered within all of the categories. In addition, accessible digital, Braille, audio, sign language, and other types and versions of books should be considered for as many titles as possible.

This document provides overall recommendations and general selection principles, further explanations of the types of book included in each category, and their importance for children’s language and literacy development.