We Did It!
100 books. 1 winner.
America selected "To Kill A Mockingbird" as its favorite book.
See the Full Results
#GreatReadPBS
PBS.org/GreatAmericanRead
So You Want to Talk About Race
Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch of the Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, discusses author Ijeoma Oluo's new book "So You Want to Talk About Race."
My Favorite Book
FRANKESTEIN by Mary Shelley
I love this novel because it not only enriched my experience of the sci-fi movies and the series that I’m vividly watching on Netflix right now, but also, I’m going to be graduating from medical school in like three weeks, and it really talks about the importance of not pursuing knowledge just for knowledge itself.
- Cassandra Lautreder
My Favorite Book
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole
I really like it because there is such a complex main character, and he’s deeply flawed. He’s highly intelligent, and misunderstood by many, but I’m fascinated by it.
- Tracy Scotts Weed
My Favorite Book
THE BARON IN THE TREES by Italo Calvino
It's just infused with the joy of living. It’s not blind to the pain of the world, but you get the feeling reading it that this is a writer who is performing out of a love of performance in some ways. A lot of the books I love the best are very sorrowful and about what it’s like to be alive and grieving, and this is a book that’s the opposite of that. It reminds you what it’s like to be alive and celebrating.
- Kevin Brockmeier
My Favorite Book
THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton
I love this book because it gave me a new perspective on class division. I really relate to the main character and also, it was the first book that I was forced to read in school that I actually liked. People should read it because it’s really well-written, it’s a beautiful book, it’s really interesting and the plot is very, very good.
- Thea Standridge
My Favorite Book
HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain
I feel that Mark Twain is expressing himself through Huck Finn, and Huck’s naivity hides Twain’s brilliance. Twain makes a statement about slavery through this very smart, but naïve boy, and it’s very moving. He makes real statements, and those statements make sense even now.
- Trina Robbins
My Favorite Book
A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest Gaines
It pretty much moved me from page to page. It’s about a young man who moves back to his hometown to be a teacher, and he somehow begins giving lessons to a young man who is in jail, who is on Death Row. He’s teaching the young man but he’s also learning from this young man.
- Arthur Lee Pruitt Jr.
My Favorite Book
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I probably had an ambivalent relationship with in high school, when they taught it in kind of a very specific narrow way. The more that I’ve been able to encounter it on my own, the more I realize how beautifully constructed, how symmetrical the whole book is, the whole enterprise. What a fascinating job Fitzgerald did in painting Nick as this narrator who thinks really highly of himself, but also is blind to a lot of things.
- Matthew Pitt
My Favorite Book
THE DARKEST CHILD by Delores Phillips
It’s a really good story of the struggle of this child, that was the darkest-skinned child, and all the abuse she had to take, not only from the outside world but internally from her mother. I guess it’s a historical fiction book, and I just like the story of how she made it through all those difficulties.
- Lajean Frisch
My Favorite Book
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
Why do I love it? Because I am the third of three daughters, and so I know what it’s like for a family to constantly be obsessed with trying to marry off their daughters. And so I found in the story of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane who is very much an impowered woman herself, a reflection of who I am myself.
- Daisy Khan
My Favorite Book
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole
It was the first book my daughter suggested I had to read. She was 16. She said, “you have to read this.” And it was such a nice surprise, pleasure, that my kid would recommend that book for me to read. And she said it made her laugh, and that was the second pleasure because she was always way too serious.
- Graham Underwood
My Favorite Book
WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy
It’s absolutely absorbing and covers war and romance and peace and everything – I just love that book. I think what really makes a great book is that it reaches people at a visceral level. Tolstoy was writing over a hundred years ago, but there is so much about that book that touches me on a visceral level.
- Stephanie Vanderslice
My Favorite Book
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD by Kevin Brockmeier
It has probably the strongest hero of any book I’ve ever read. It doesn’t fall into the trap of a happy ending, or an unhappy ending. It has a transcendental ending. It’s truly heroic in every sense, in these unheroic times. It’s about someone who’s brave and decent and persevering who deserves to be remembered in the best ways possible.
- Larry Mitchell
My Favorite Book
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie
It’s a very short book, and it’s fairly simple. It’s just people who have secrets. Each one of them is a normal, ordinary person with reasons for what they did, and they still have done these horrible things. And in combination with that very normalized horror and darkness, the atmosphere is wonderful. There’s tension. There’s suspense. And it’s a mystery puzzle, and the mystery puzzle is very good
- Amanda Hayes
My Favorite Book
THE COLDEST WINTER EVER by Sister Souljah
It’s set in New York City. It’s my New York City, and it’s kind of representative of my upbringing as a teenager in the ‘90s. And it’s a very interesting, gritty read, and I remember everyone reading it. And I felt like it was a story that belonged to us - “us” meaning people, kids who grew up in New York City at a certain time – and I kind of feel protective of it.
- Ibi Zoboi
My Favorite Book
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
I just loved it. It was so funny and in a way that I thought was just so intellectually stimulating while still being that kind of absurd hilarity. It’s still so timeless. So many years after it’s been written, it’s still hilarious today, and I think if you want just that kind of funny but thought provoking novel, it’s just something you should read.
- Frankie Alford
My Favorite Book
HATCHET by Gary Paulsen
It’s a survival story and Gary Paulsen is an awesome author, and has written lots of other books. It’s one book that I really enjoyed teaching and the kids enjoyed reading.
- Nathalie Coulter
My Favorite Book
HARRY POTTER by J.K. Rowling
I’m always constantly re-reading Harry Potter. I think you need to read this book because you’ll get lost in a magical world that you’ll want to read time and time again. And, sometimes when life is hard, I think, man, wouldn’t it be better to be magical right now!
- Tafta Rogers
Book It!
Share your story with us. Tell us your favorite book and why in 10 seconds or less. You can also share your story via YouTube. The form below allows for you to provide a link to your video.
Share Your Story wArkansas PBS Resources
Whether it's rediscovering an old favorite or engaging with a new title, "The Great American Read" encourages people to read as many novels as they can from the top 100 list. We have created some tools to help you keep track of your progress.
- Get your very own booklet to track and rate the books you read (Includes all 100 books, a rating system and checklist.)
- Print your own bookmark with useful campaign information.
- A simple checklist is also available.
Arkansans Share Their Book Love
Watch how books are impacting Arkansans from students to professors, teachers to librarians, young poets to rappers and more. Find out how to help choose a book for your hesitant reader, suggestions for the best Young Adult novels, and how to find that hook book for your child.
About the Broadcast
"The Great American Read," a new PBS series and multiplatform initiative that celebrates the joy of reading and the books people love, launched with a two-hour premiere episode Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m. Hosted by television personality and journalist Meredith Vieira, the program introduced viewers to a list of America's 100 favorite novels selected through a demographically representative national survey. Features included interviews with celebrities, authors, super fans and everyday Americans discussing the way particular books have influenced them and the significance in American popular culture. The series culminates in the Fall 2018 with the finale episode presenting the results of the first-ever national vote to choose America's Best-Loved Novel. The series concludes with a Grand Finale Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.
Trailer E Premiere E Grand Finale EAbout the Books
The top 100 book list is based on a public opinion poll, conducted by YouGov.com on behalf of PBS for "The Great American Read," that asked respondents to name their favorite novel. An advisory panel of book industry professionals compiled the results. Each author was represented only once, and series such as the "Alex Cross Mysteries" were included as one entry. The chosen books span five centuries, from "Don Quixote" (1603) to "Ghost" (2016). Authors from 15 different countries are represented, with genres ranging from beloved children's classics such as "Charlotte's Web" to modern best sellers such as "Twilight."
The List
- 1984 - George Orwell
- A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
- A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
- A Separate Peace - John Knowles
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
- The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
- Alex Cross Mysteries (series) - James Patterson
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
- Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
- Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Another Country - James Baldwin
- Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
- Beloved - Toni Morrison
- Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
- The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
- The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz
- The Call Of The Wild - Jack London
- Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
- The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
- Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
- The Chronicles of Narnia (series) - C.S. Lewis
- Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel
- Coldest Winter Ever - Sister Souljah
- The Color Purple - Alice Walker
- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
- Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
- The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
- Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
- Doña Bárbára - Rómulo Gallegos
- Dune - Frank Herbert
- Fifty Shades Of Grey (series) - E. L. James
- Flowers In The Attic - V.C. Andrews
- Foundation (series) - Isaac Asimov
- Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
- Game of Thrones (series) - George R. R. Martin
- Ghost - Jason Reynolds
- Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
- The Giver - Lois Lowry
- The Godfather - Mario Puzo
- Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
- Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
- The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
- Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
- The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
- Harry Potter (series) - J.K. Rowling
- Hatchet (series) - Gary Paulsen
- Heart Of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
- The Help - Kathryn Stockett
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
- The Hunger Games (series) - Suzanne Collins
- The Hunt For Red October - Tom Clancy
- The Intuitionist - Colson Whitehead
- Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
- Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
- The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
- Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
- Left Behind (series) - Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
- The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
- Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
- Looking for Alaska - John Green
- The Lord of the Rings (series) - J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
- The Martian - Andy Weir
- Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
- Mind Invaders - Dave Hunt
- Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
- The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
- One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
- Outlander (series) - Diana Gabaldon
- The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
- The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
- The Pillars of The Earth - Ken Follett
- Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
- Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
- Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
- The Shack - William P. Young
- Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
- The Sirens Of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
- The Stand - Stephen King
- The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
- Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon
- Tales of The City (series) - Armistead Maupin
- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
- Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
- This Present Darkness - Frank. E. Peretti
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
- The Twilight Saga (series) - Stephenie Meyer
- War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
- Watchers - Dean Koontz
- The Wheel of Time (series) - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
- Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
- White Teeth - Zadie Smith
- Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
The Voting
Voting is open and continues throughout the summer, leading up to the grand finale in October 2018. Over the summer, viewers will be able to vote here at this website and through hashtag voting via Facebook and Twitter using #GreatReadPBS. In the fall, viewers will also be able to cast their vote toll free by phone and through SMS texting.
Vote Now 3
Great Books to Check Out This Summer
There are so many adventures to find in books! If you’re looking for ideas or a book you haven’t read yet, PBS KIDS has drawn together a list of books we think are pretty great. We’ve sorted our recommendations into lists of books you can read aloud to your kids, read along with your kids, and books that are fun for kids to read on their own.
20 Great Read-Along Books
Ages 2 and Up
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
- Dragons Love Tacos, Adam Rubin
- Press Here, Herve Tullet
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems
Ages 3 and Up
- Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
- Curious George, H.A. Rey and Margaret Rey
- Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
- Alligator Pie, Dennis Lee
- Stellaluna, Janell Cannon
- Z is for Moose, Kelly Bingham
- No, David!, David Shannon
- Jazz, Walter Dean Myers
- Leo: A Ghost Story, Mac Barnett (Ages 3-9)
Ages 4 and Up
- Olivia, Ian Falconer
- Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type,
- Doreen Cronin
- The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,
- Judith Viorst (Ages 4-9)
Ages 5 and Up
- Invisible Boy, Trudy Ludwig
Ages 6 and Up
- Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, Paul Fleischman
- My Brother Charlie, Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete
20 Great Read-Aloud Books
Ages 2 and Up
- Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
- The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
- The Day the Crayons Quit, Drew Daywalt
- Interrupting Chicken, David Ezra Stein
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Joffe Numeroff
- Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Bernard Waber
Ages 3 and Up
- Corduroy, Don Freeman (Ages 3-5)
- Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors, Roseanne Greenfield Thong (Ages 3-5)
- Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald no combina,
- Monica Brown
- Pinkalicious, Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
- I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen
- Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
- The Secret Footprints, Julia Alvarez
- Hello, Rock, Roger Bradfield
- Two is Enough, Janna Matthies
Ages 5 and Up
- Lowriders in Space, Cathy Camper
- The Stories Julian Tells, Ann Cameron
- Salsa Stories, Lulu Delacre
Ages 6 and Up
- The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
15 Great Read-on-Your Own Books
Ages 4 and Up
- The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
- May I Please Have A Cookie?, Jennifer E. Morris
- Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss
- Go, Dog. Go!, P.D. Eastman
- Bark, George, Jules Feffer
- Diary of a Wombat, Jackie French
- Library Lion, Michelle Knudsen
- Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes, Eric Litwin
Ages 5 and Up
- Hi! Fly Guy, Tedd Arnold
- My Name is Yoon, Helen Recorvits
- Tales for Very Picky Eaters, Josh Schneider
- We Are in a Book, Mo Willems
Ages 6 and Up
- The Princess in Black, Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
- Nate the Great, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
- The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dave Pilkey
