Director Hayo Miyazaki grew up reading a lot of children’s books. He describes himself as a “weak child” and turned to literature to escape to the fantasy world. And Miyazaki shared his favorite books recently. Keep reading to find out Hayao Miyazaki’s favorite children’s books!

In a 2010 exhibition honoring publisher Iwanami Shoten‘s “Boy’s Books”, Miyazaki created a list of 50 favorite children’s books. The books include Eastern and Western classics that Miyazaki is fond of. You can see the full list below!
Hayao Miyazaki’s Favorite Children’s Books
- Les Princes du Vent by Michel-Aime Baudouy
- Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Nine Fairy Tales: And One More Thrown in For Good Measure by Karel Čapek
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en
- The Otterbury Incident by Cecil Day-Lewis
- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
- Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
- The Radium Woman by Eleanor Doorly
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Tistou of the Green Thumbs by Maurice Druon
- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
- Souvenirs entomologiques by Jean Henri Fabre
- The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon
- The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
- A Norwegian Farm by Marie Hamsun
- City Neighbor, The Story of Jane Addams by Clara Ingram Judson
- The Flying Classroom by Erich Kästner
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
- Nihon Ryōiki by Kyokai
- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Ship that Flew by Hilda Winifred Lewis
- Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
- The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
- The Forest is Alive & Twelve Months by Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
- The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- What the Neighbours Did, and Other Stories by Ann Philippa Pearce
- The Flambards Series by K. M. Peyton
- There Were Five of Us by Karel Poláček
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
- When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson
- The Adventures of the Little Onion by Gianni Rodari
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- The Treasure of the Nibelungs by Gustav Schalk
- The Man Who Has Planted Welsh Onions by Kim So-un
- Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Eagle of The Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
- The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Ivan the Fool by Leo Tolstoy
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- The Little Humpbacked Horse by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov
50 Children’s Books
Choosing 50 children’s books is a lot no matter how you look at it. That alone shows Miyazaki’s love for the genre. His works are inspired by some of these books and he understands the audience that he is creating movies and animation for.
Yes, not all books are children’s books but if you read them as a child, they would count as children’s books. We’ve all read books during our childhood that weren’t necessarily children’s books.
Conclusion
What do you think of Hayao Miyazaki’s Favorite Children’s Books? What children’s books should he have included on his list? Let us know in the comments below!
Would’ve loved to have seen Charlotte’s Web, Peter Pan, and Little Women on this list.
They might not be as popular in Japan. A lot of factors to consider
Huge list! A lot of interesting ones on there you can definitely see the influence on his work.