Hayao Miyazaki’s Favorite Children’s Books 

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 

1. Les Princes du Vent by Michel-Aime Baudouy 
2. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett 
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 
4. Nine Fairy Tales: And One More Thrown in For Good Measure by Karel Čapek 
5. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll  
6. Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en 
7. The Otterbury Incident by Cecil Day-Lewis 
8. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 
9. Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge 
10. The Radium Woman by Eleanor Doorly 
11. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 
12. Tistou of the Green Thumbs by Maurice Druon 
13. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas 
14. Souvenirs entomologiques by Jean Henri Fabre 
15. The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon 
16. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge  
17. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame  
18. A Norwegian Farm by Marie Hamsun 
19. City Neighbor, The Story of Jane Addams by Clara Ingram Judson 
20. The Flying Classroom by Erich Kästner 
21. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg 
22. Nihon Ryōiki by Kyokai 
23. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin 
24. The Ship that Flew by Hilda Winifred Lewis 
25. Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren 
26. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting 
27. The Forest is Alive & Twelve Months by Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak 
28. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne  
29. The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa 
30. The Borrowers by Mary Norton 
31. What the Neighbours Did, and Other Stories by Ann Philippa Pearce 
32. The Flambards Series by K. M. Peyton 
33. There Were Five of Us by Karel Poláček  
34. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 
35. When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson 
36. The Adventures of the Little Onion by Gianni Rodari 
37. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry  
38. The Treasure of the Nibelungs by Gustav Schalk 
39. The Man Who Has Planted Welsh Onions by Kim So-un 
40. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling 
41. Heidi by Johanna Spyri 
42. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson  
43. Eagle of The Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff 
44. The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray 
45. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 
46. Ivan the Fool by Leo Tolstoy 
47. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 
48. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 
49. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
50. 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!  

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