Top Thirteen Children’s Books

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smith_a171Nicholas Kristoff weighs in on his 13 favorite children’s books, and 908 readers (so far) responded with additional proposals for summer reading.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/opinio…

Kristoff’s top pick: Charlotte’s Web. I was happy to see readers add titles by Roald Dahl, Lois Lowry, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and others. Time to develop a list of the top 100. I am savoring the reader’s comments.

Here’s a start to the top 100 (to be developed in the coming weeks based on posts and conversations). My top 19 for starters.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl, Matilda

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tales

C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Lois Lowry, The Giver

Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter books

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web


6 thoughts on “Top Thirteen Children’s Books”

  1. From my personal top 10 list, I would add Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, and something by Diana Wynne Jones — it’s hard to say what, though!

  4. At last! You have a blog! You would have no reason to know, but your books form the foundation for my class on fairy tales at Indiana University South Bend. This fall, we will be using two: The Classic Fairy Tales and The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales.
    Anyway,to the book lists, I would add the following:
    1) The 13 sequels to the Wizard of Oz, also by Baum
    2) Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field
    3) Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman
    4) Every single Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Book, by Betty MacDonald
    5) Striped Ice Cream, by Joan M. Lexau
    6) The Amy and Laura Book series by Marilyn Sachs
    7) Every one of the All of a Kind Family books, by Sydney Taylor
    8) When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr
    I could go on and on and on. But I’ll stop here.
    And again, thank you for what you do. (I am not big on fan mail or gushing, so it is rare for me to write such things for others to see.)

  5. Hello webmaster. Not totally agree with you, but you just gave me an idea for a new eBook regarding \”Top Thirteen Children’s Books\”. It is related to charlie and the chocolate factory roald. Thanks.

  6. I would add Madeline L’Engle’s Time Quartet series to your list. Anne of Green Gables. And a good collection of fairy tales (Andersen, Grimm, etc) to boot.

    Newer books that I would add to the classics list:

    The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and also his book Coraline.
    I also enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

    And most recently Catherynne Valente’s online YA serial, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, has captured my heart and has the feel of a classic in the making already. http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland/

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