,

This list is for the best books about orphans. Lest there be any dispute about whether a character is technically an orphan, it is also for books about children who believe they are orphans, or are practically orphans...
1

by
4.47 avg rating — 11,584,625 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,131,931 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,314,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,363,339 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.23 avg rating — 332,723 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.04 avg rating — 212,883 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.03 avg rating — 161,282 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.02 avg rating — 425,507 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.80 avg rating — 883,396 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.14 avg rating — 140,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.01 avg rating — 322 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.03 avg rating — 576,626 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.71 avg rating — 36,418 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.15 avg rating — 210,719 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.25 avg rating — 1,252 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.88 avg rating — 432,292 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.20 avg rating — 177,247 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.90 avg rating — 128,991 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.13 avg rating — 55,038 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.83 avg rating — 212,098 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,345,642 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.07 avg rating — 38,976 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.68 avg rating — 6,113 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.03 avg rating — 30,771 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.15 avg rating — 568,482 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.05 avg rating — 78,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.04 avg rating — 366,561 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.13 avg rating — 76,680 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.18 avg rating — 432,714 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,493,230 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.78 avg rating — 112 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.75 avg rating — 2,398 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 518,360 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.05 avg rating — 262,364 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.12 avg rating — 27,856 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.84 avg rating — 2,057 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.06 avg rating — 56,026 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.06 avg rating — 22,587 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.84 avg rating — 8,393 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.95 avg rating — 247,413 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.98 avg rating — 23,396 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.25 avg rating — 15,436 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.95 avg rating — 2,919 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,902 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.01 avg rating — 39,974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.72 avg rating — 11,033 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.89 avg rating — 134,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.12 avg rating — 38,377 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.78 avg rating — 82,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.68 avg rating — 3,668 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.04 avg rating — 331 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.86 avg rating — 10,616 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.70 avg rating — 94,782 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.15 avg rating — 130,811 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.14 avg rating — 20,288 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.17 avg rating — 23,489 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.91 avg rating — 398,190 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.59 avg rating — 315 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.02 avg rating — 92,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.10 avg rating — 234,696 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.02 avg rating — 31,999 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.70 avg rating — 51,826 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.08 avg rating — 15,484 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.23 avg rating — 13 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.36 avg rating — 14 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.20 avg rating — 40 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.32 avg rating — 4,634 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
2.80 avg rating — 5 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.13 avg rating — 47 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.89 avg rating — 23,227 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.21 avg rating — 28 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.18 avg rating — 34 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.19 avg rating — 17,740 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.94 avg rating — 49 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.40 avg rating — 5 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.54 avg rating — 1,671 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.07 avg rating — 10,011 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,142 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.25 avg rating — 4,660 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.23 avg rating — 3,053 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.71 avg rating — 698 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.17 avg rating — 6,921 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.17 avg rating — 4,621 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,030,485 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.29 avg rating — 129,703 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.25 avg rating — 1,346 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.01 avg rating — 2,462 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.69 avg rating — 2,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.07 avg rating — 105,057 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.80 avg rating — 100,977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.60 avg rating — 2,144 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.13 avg rating — 114,403 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.05 avg rating — 95,294 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.54 avg rating — 1,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.82 avg rating — 9,725 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.81 avg rating — 789 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.34 avg rating — 21,217 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.98 avg rating — 4,806 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
163 books · 71 voters · list created January 17th, 2012 by Lydia (votes) .
10 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Lydia 849 books
21 friends
Meghan 2313 books
274 friends
Jessie 498 books
36 friends
Manybooks 22636 books
249 friends
Annie 12613 books
143 friends
Apostrophe 51 books
829 friends
Andréa 51171 books
547 friends
Faith 271 books
28 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Surendran (new)

Surendran Murugesan Can somone suggest some indian books in this theme


message 2: by Christine (new)

Christine Jeffords If you mean Indians as in India, Mowgli in "The Jungle Books" would qualify; his parents may or may not be dead, but they ran away when Shere Khan started "humming" in the brush, and he never meets them.

If Indians as in "Native Americans," there's a Cinderella variant in Native myth, and a Blackfoot story about Scarface, who is "an orphan and poor." That's just a start; I'd guess that if you searched worldcat under Subject: Orphans: Native American: Juvenile, you might find some.


message 3: by Janice (new)

Janice Kuharski This is a wonderful list--bringing so many great children's titles under the searchable heading of "orphan books." Didn't find what I was looking for. But I discovered this great list!


message 4: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Nov 23, 2019 08:35AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Pippi Longstocking (#13) has a father... (I know the description says 'it is also for books about children who believe they are orphans, or are practically orphans', but she does have a father...)


message 5: by Georgina (new)

Georgina Warren BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) wrote: "Pippi Longstocking (#13) has a father... (I know the description says 'it is also for books about children who believe they are orphans, or are practically orphans', but she does have ..."

I agree with you, Pippi Longstocking does have a father, but he is absent except when she visits him in Pippi in the South Seas. I think this book should be removed from this list.


message 6: by Georgina (new)

Georgina Warren The most iconic orphan stories familiar to readers are Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Oliver Twist, Little Orphan Annie, Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden) and Sarah Crewe (A Little Princess).

Other well-known fictional orphans in the modern era:

The Beaudelaire siblings Violet, Klaus and Sunny (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Harry Potter.

Roald Dahl has written many orphans stories
James Henry Trotter (James and the Giant Peach), Sophie (The BFG), the little boy (The Witches)


back to top