That's right folks. I'm coming out of blog hibernation to tackle the best children's books ever written. I wouldn't except for this article in the New York Times that I don't totally agree with.This is such a hard topic to address because it's so subjective. What are the criteria? Can it be any children's book, or do they have to be books that influenced you as a child? Or do they have to be literarily sound? What about books that used to be considered children's books but are now considered adult classics (such as A Christmas Carol or Gulliver's Travels)? Should chapter books be separated from picture books? I have no answers for these questions, so without further ado, here are my favorites, in no particular order. I won't say "best" because that's impossible to judge.
1. Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery because reading this column made me remember one summer when I read all of those books in one summer. I was technically a young adult, but I loved them. In fact, I remember getting in trouble a couple of times that summer because I was caught reading those instead of doing something else I was supposed to be doing.
2. Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter not because it influenced me as a child, but because I fell in love with this as an adult. The story is sweet and endearing, and so idyllic.
3. Heidi by Johanna Spyri because it's the first book I remember my mother reading to me. I know I was young enough that I didn't know how to read yet, and I remember wanting to know how you knew what those words on the page actually said.
4. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs because I could read it before I knew how to read! I will always remember the illustrations in that book and how they told a more vivid story to me than any words.
5. Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss again, because the images and funny concepts remind me of childhood. I remember tracing the different paths the poor boy who lived in Ga-Zair could take to get from his bedroom to the bathroom.
6. Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever because I loved that everything was labeled with a word of what it was.
7. The Boxcar Children Gertrude Chandler Warnerbecause it was cool the children could just live in a boxcar. It always sounded like a fun adventure.
8. The Witches by Roald Dahl. My 5th-grade teacher read it to us, and I remember the vivid description of those witches. I could just see those hideous witches in my mind's eye.
I've probably forgotten many of my favorites, but it's a start. So if anyone still reads this here blog, I'd love to hear what you think. What are your "best" children's books of all time and why? Let's discuss.
4 comments:
Ahhh, The beauty of google reader. Welcome back. :)
I loved the Witches. Have you seen the movie? It's freaky, but very nostalgic.
I would also like to add A Wrinkle in Time, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Fanny's Dream. And the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I like the whole series, but I hadn't read any of the others until I was an adult, and that one made a huge impression on me as a kid. The others I just have vivid memories about reading them and being completely entranced by the descriptions they gave.
Ouch! This will be a painful thought! (Do I really have to limit it...no "best children's books genres"?)Are you saying children's is a specific year? Does Young Adult get their own category? Is it all lumped together like it often is? Is this the "best" for us as readers (or nostalgic readers) or the "best" in our opinion as to what looking back is what was the best? There is so much this could mean...Define best. Define children's. What was the New York Times thinking?!?
If I have to(my opinion if I had to lump young adult in the children's category--in no particular order). MY TOP TEN:
#1 Collection of Fairy Tales (even just a collection of the Brothers Grimm would work...but it must have Cinderella in the edition)
#2 Anne of Green Gables
#3 Dr Seuss (you can't make me choose one--to make stories that kids actually liked to read, he was a genius)
#4 To Kill a Mockingbird
#5 The Lord of the Rings
#6 Secret Garden
#7 The Giver
#8 Ramona Quimby, Age 8
#9 Ella Enchanted
#10 The Hatchet
This is hard, I need to think about it.
Hello! I found your link on Heather's blog! Looks like you've been up to some great things!
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