Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A Top 100 List of Children's Books

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Jim over at Teacherninja asks, Which books have you read?

For the last four months Elizabeth Bird at Fuse #8 has been compiling a list of the Top 100 Children's books. The list is now complete: Out of the 100 sadly, I have only read 36, and most of them I have read in the past 18 years when I began my career as a teacher.

There are only a few books on the list that were even written during the time I was growing up (1950's), and try as I may I have no recollection of books teachers read to me in elementary school.  I do remember, however, that I was a big biography buff and read George Washington Carver's biography, which obviously impacted me enough for me to be able remember this.

My memories of books I read in high school and in college for lit classes are a least a bit more sharp. So I am wondering what books would make the top 10 young adult list?

  1. The Egypt Game — Snyder (1967)
  2. The Indian in the Cupboard — Banks (1980)
  3. Children of Green Knowe — Boston (1954)
  4. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane — DiCamillo (2006)
  5. The Witches — Dahl (1983)
  6. Pippi Longstocking — Lindgren (1950)
  7. Swallows and Amazons — Ransome (1930)
  8. Caddie Woodlawn — Brink (1935)
  9. Ella Enchanted — Levine (1997)
  10. Sideways Stories from Wayside School — Sachar (1978)
  11. Sarah, Plain and Tall — MacLachlan (1985)
  12. Ramona and Her Father — Cleary (1977)
  13. The High King — Alexander (1968)
  14. The View from Saturday — Konigsburg (1996)
  15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Rowling (1999)
  16. On the Banks of Plum Creek — Wilder (1937)
  17. The Little White Horse — Goudge (1946)
  18. The Thief — Turner (1997)
  19. The Book of Three — Alexander (1964)
  20. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Lin (2009)**
  21. The Graveyard Book — Gaiman (2008)
  22. All-of-a-Kind-Family — Taylor (1951)**
  23. Johnny Tremain — Forbes (1943)
  24. The City of Ember — DuPrau (2003)
  25. Out of the Dust — Hesse (1997)
  26. Love That Dog — Creech (2001)
  27. The Borrowers — Norton (1953)
  28. My Side of the Mountain — George (1959)
  29. My Father’s Dragon — Gannett (1948)
  30. The Bad Beginning — Snicket (1999)**
  31. Betsy-Tacy — Lovelae (1940)
  32. The Mysterious Benedict Society — Stewart ( 2007)
  33. Walk Two Moons — Creech (1994)
  34. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher — Coville (1991)
  35. Henry Huggins — Cleary (1950)
  36. Ballet Shoes — Stratfeild (1936)
  37. A Long Way from Chicago — Peck (1998)
  38. Gone-Away Lake — Enright (1957)
  39. The Secret of the Old Clock — Keene (1959)
  40. Stargirl — Spinelli (2000)
  41. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle — Avi (1990)
  42. Inkheart — Funke (2003)
  43. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase — Aiken (1962)
  44. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 — Cleary (1981)
  45. Number the Stars — Lowry (1989)
  46. The Great Gilly Hopkins — Paterson (1978)
  47. The BFG — Dahl (1982)
  48. Wind in the Willows — Grahame (1908)
  49. The Invention of Hugo Cabret — Selznick (2007)
  50. The Saturdays — Enright (1941)
  51. Island of the Blue Dolphins — O’Dell (1960)
  52. Frindle — Clements (1996)
  53. The Penderwicks — Birdsall (2005)
  54. Bud, Not Buddy — Curtis (1999)
  55. Where the Red Fern Grows — Rawls (1961)
  56. The Golden Compass — Pullman (1995)
  57. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing — Blume (1972)
  58. Ramona the Pest — Cleary (1968)
  59. Little House on the Prairie — Wilder (1935)**
  60. The Witch of Blackbird Pond — Speare (1958)
  61. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Baum (1900)
  62. When You Reach Me — Stead (2009)
  63. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Rowling (2003)
  64. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry — Taylor (1976)
  65. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret — Blume (1970)
  66. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — Rowling (2000)
  67. The Watsons Go to Birmingham — Curtis (1995)
  68. James and the Giant Peach — Dahl (1961)
  69. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH — O’Brian (1971)
  70. Half Magic — Eager (1954)
  71. Winnie-the-Pooh — Milne (1926)**
  72. The Dark Is Rising — Cooper (1973)
  73. A Little Princess — Burnett (1905)**
  74. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass — Carroll (1865/72)
  75. Hatchet — Paulsen (1989)
  76. Little Women — Alcott (1868/9)
  77. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Rowling (2007)
  78. Little House in the Big Woods — Wilder (1932)
  79. The Tale of Despereaux — DiCamillo (2003)
  80. The Lightening Thief — Riordan (2005)
  81. Tuck Everlasting — Babbitt (1975)
  82. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Dahl (1964)
  83. Matilda — Dahl (1988)
  84. Maniac Magee — Spinelli (1990)
  85. Harriet the Spy — Fitzhugh (1964)
  86. Because of Winn-Dixie — DiCamillo (2000)
  87. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — Rowling (1999)
  88. Bridge to Terabithia — Paterson (1977)
  89. The Hobbit — Tolkien (1938)**
  90. The Westing Game — Raskin (1978)
  91. The Phantom Tollbooth — Juster (1961)
  92. Anne of Green Gables — Montgomery (1908)
  93. The Secret Garden — Burnett (1911)
  94. The Giver — Lowry (1993)
  95. Holes — Sachar (1998)
  96. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — Koningsburg (1967)
  97. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — Lewis (1950)
  98. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philsopher’s Stone — Rowling (1997)**
  99. A Wrinkle in Time — L’Engle (1962)
  100. Charlotte’s Web — White (1952)**
Of all the books on this list, I have to say my favorites are definitely A Wrinkle in TimeRoll of Thunder Hear My CryThe Giver  and Bridge to Terabithia, and Maniac MaGee.

So how many have you read?

7 comments:

Nina said...

I have seen allot of movies that are based on those books! :)
But I actually read only two of the whole list:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Little Woman. :)

Jody said...

I've only read 20 of them - and many of those I read as an adult!

Lenore Appelhans said...

I've read 35, and 8 of my picks made the top 100.

Kathy Martin said...

Check out my blog at Ms. Martin Teaches Media. I did find that another blogger had made a YA list. I didn't do much better there. I have read about half of each list.

Sue Jackson said...

Ooh, I love lists like this! I think I've read 44 of these - it's an interesting combination of old and new. I read some as a kid and some more recently with my own kids (quite a few on audio). I agree these are all worthy of the list!

I have very distinct memories of my elementary teachers reading to me and introducing me to new books. My 2nd grade teacher read us The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and I was hooked! I read the whole series after that. In third grade, we read A wrinkle in Time (and I played Meg in our class play!), and again, I was hooked and read the entire series (I still have it!)

I posted a YA list last year from the web:

http://greatbooksforkidsandteens.blogspot.com/2009/07/teen-book-meme.html

Lots of fun - thanks!

Sue

Sue Jackson said...

P.S. What does the ** mean on #1 and 3?

Sue

Hannah said...

I've read 45 of those books, and I cannot even begin to tell you how many of them I've never even HEARD of! Oh! and I really dislike Roald Dahl's books. REALLY dislike. So, I don't believe I'll ever be able to read that entire list just for that reason alone.

 
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