books every child should read

[bedlamsbard]

Today's e-mail from ABE Books is 50 books every child should read. (They say 50 books every 11-year-old should read.) For our purposes, I shall list them, and bold the ones I've read. (I don't know if I read them when I was 11, though. Some of them I definitely was! But when I was 11 I was also reading Valdemar and Diana Gabaldon, which aren't on the list. Also, some of these books weren't out when I was 11.)



1. Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome)
2. The Eagle of the Ninth (Rosemary Sutcliffe)
3. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) -- I've read an abridged version, but not the original
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
6. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson-Burnett) -- I can't remember if I actually read the book, but I don't think I did
7. The Talking Parcel (Gerald Durrell)
8. War Horse (Michael Morpurgo)
9. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle (Eva Ibbotson) -- I've read a fair bit of Ibbotson, but not this one.
10. Danny the Champion of the World (Roald Dahl)
11. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
12. Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer) -- I read almost all of them except for the last one, I think, when I lost my patience with Colfer
13. The City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau)
14. Little House on the Prairie series (Laura Ingalls Wilder) -- not only did I read all the Little House on the Prairie books, I read all the other books Wilder wrote too
15. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
16. The Machine Gunners (Robert Westall)
17. Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo) -- read it for school
18. Emil and the Detectives (Erich Kästner)
19. Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)
20. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle) -- huh, why isn't the entire series on this list? I'd rate the Wrinkle in Time series over the Artemis Fowl series anyday.
21. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)
22. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
23. Tom's Midnight Garden (Philippa Pearce)
24. The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)
25. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett)
26. Magic series (Edward Eager) -- the author's name is familiar, but I've never read the series. I'm not sure I've heard of the series, actually
27. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) -- read the entire series, and why isn't the whole series on this list? Is it because Anne grows up?
28. The Borrowers (Mary Norton) -- I've definitely heard of it, I can't remember if I read it or not.
29. Boy (Roald Dahl)
30. Holes (Louis Sachar)
31. The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) -- read it, but given that it came out, like, two years ago, I definitely did not read it when I was eleven.
32. The Phoenix and the Carpet (E. Nesbit) -- I read some Nesbit book, but it wasn't this one.
33. The Lantern Bearers (Rosemary Sutcliffe)
34. The Silver Sword/Escape from Warsaw (Ian Serraillier)
35. Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)
36. The Sheep-Pig (Dick King-Smith)
37. Bridge to Terebithia (Katherine Paterson)
38. The Dark is Rising series (Susan Cooper)
39. The Mozart Question (Michael Morpurgo)
40. The Pendragon Adventure series (D.J. MacHale)
41. Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan)
42. Silverwing (Kenneth Oppel)
43. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black)
44. Stig of the Dump (Clive King)
45. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (Alan Garner)
46. The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis) -- I know it will come as a huge shock that I have read these. Try and hold your surprise
47. His Dark Materials trilogy (Philip Pullman)
48. The Harry Potter books (J.K. Rowling)
49. Leven Thumps series (Obert Skye)
50. A Series of Unfortunate Events series (Lemony Snickett) -- read some of them, got bored

*looks up* You know, I have several flaws with this list. To begin with, Diana Wynne Jones is nowhere on this list, nor are the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books. Also, there are a huge number of books I've never heard of, which is probably my fault, or my parents' fault, or my schools' fault, but you know, whatever. And some of the books on here are books in series, but they only list the first book, not the whole series, but there are other series on here. And Black Beauty isn't on this list! That surprises me. Nor is Mary Stewart, or Robin McKinley -- I wouldn't count all McKinley books, but definitely The Blue Sword should be. But that's just me.

I'm really pleased Swallows and Amazons is first on the list, though. Huh, looking back at the webpage, it has The Phantom Tollbooth and the Redwall series both up, but not as part of the actual list. Wait, does that article actually say that some of these books are better for one sex than the other? (I mean, granted, I don't know many boys who grew up reading Anne of Green Gables, but still.)

*counts* Huh, I've really only read 19 of these? Wow, I thought it would be more...although my tastes clearly differ slightly from the OP.

Comments

BOOKS!

[darklyndsea]

This is probably just my strange reading habits speaking, but most of the books on this list that I've actually heard of are a lot younger than what I think 11-year-olds should be reading. I mean, that's about the age that I realized that nobody was going to stop me from reading adult books (er...I think I read Gone With the Wind at 12, actually. Middle school, definitely. And was horrified by the sex scene.). But I don't know, maybe I'm weird?

I don't really agree with saying things like "every child should read these books", because it's like, that's the kind of attitude that leads to everybody being forced to read Shakespeare. Some people enjoy it, but for other people it kills off all of their interest in poetry/Shakespeare/reading/school. And then the lists always end up lots and lots of books that everybody else thinks should be read. Like James Herriot's books! And those books about horses by...Henry? And Ender's Game! Also, wow, those are like the only Roald Dahl books that I *don't* remember. I only have a high degree of confidence that I've read them because, you know, Roald Dahl. (Unless Danny the Champion of the World was the one with the pheasants?)

Re: BOOKS!

[bedlamsbard]

*nodnod* A lot of these -- at least the ones that were out when I was 11 -- I probably read younger; I know I read Ransome, Lewis, Rowling, and L'Engle younger than eleven, same with The Hobbit. Actually, the only one of these I know for a fact I read after I was eleven is The Graveyard Book, since I read that last year.

Of course, when I was actually eleven, I know for a fact that I was reading Diana Gabaldon and Marion Zimmer Bradley, because I remember putting their books down on a list in sixth grade. (My teacher was shocked that I was reading Diana Gabaldon, because there are sex scenes in that.

Aww, horse books. *nostalgia* Like Misty of Chincoteague and so on. (I probably spelled that wrong.)

I have actually never read Ender's Game. Perhaps at some point I should do that.

Oh, I know what I would put on this list! Only...I can't remember what's called. Uh, whoops.

Re: BOOKS!

[darklyndsea]

That's exactly the author I'm talking about!!! Unless I'm lumping them together in my head. He wrote Misty of C. and, uh, other historic horse books, like the one with the Arabian horse which went to England and his caretaker who went everywhere with him. D: My memory is so terrible, it's not even funny.

I read Artemis Fowl (3 books of it, I think? Up to the one with the shiny blue cover) in high school because I ran out of books to read and my younger brother had it checked out from his school library.

I...actually don't think anybody ever made a big deal about anything I read, which is actually somewhat surprising. I think it was middle school when I started reading Heinlein, and they're...not really age appropriate by most people's standards. (Polygamy and incest and all sorts of other things, oh my!)

Re: BOOKS!

[bedlamsbard]

*more nostalgia* I shocked my class in elementary school when I brought this lovely illustrated children's Odyssey in. I'm not sure why they were so shocked, though.

I remember that one! The horse one, I mean. There was a horse named Satan, which I mentioned to a very Christian friend, and that was the first time I had someone tell me I was going to hell. /slightly less nostalgia (This was in...second or third grade, maybe?)

I was hard to shock. My dad started me out on Greek mythology.

Re: BOOKS!

[darklyndsea]

After you read/hear enough mythology, entry into fandom isn't that shocking. (Especially since it was like early fanfiction!...this is how I plan to get through any classes on mythology I take. Not that I dislike mythology, I just don't usually enjoy the common mythology plots except in fic)

I wasn't really told I was going to hell until middle school. And wasn't that fun?

More for the list: Mr. Popper's Penguins, Stuart Little, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, My Side of the Mountain, The Trumpet of the Swan

(You're totally going to do some more rereading now, aren't you?)

Re: BOOKS!

[bedlamsbard]

I had no idea what she was talking about, so that was confusing.

Hmm, I never read Mr. Popper's Penguins or The Mouse and the Motorcycle, I think. Oh, Julie of the Wolves should definitely be on the list! And Swiss Family Robinson. And The Once and Future King.

...ah, I just remembered what I couldn't remember two comments ago -- the Prydain Chronicles. *nods firmly*

(I don't think I can, I don't care about these books any more. *sheepish* Also, I don't think I have a lot of them right now. Although I've been meaning to rearead Swallows and Amazons, so that one I can do.)

Re: BOOKS!

[darklyndsea]

Our list>>>>>their list.

(Interest drift is a strange, strange thing; you can still get the warm and fuzzies from remembering them, but have no interest in rereading unless there isn't anything else to reread. *looks sadly at full, dusty bookshelves* although on the bright side, me switching to fanfiction probably saves hundreds of dollars each year.)

Re: BOOKS!

[snacky]

That's exactly the author I'm talking about!!! Unless I'm lumping them together in my head. He wrote Misty of C. and, uh, other historic horse books, like the one with the Arabian horse which went to England and his caretaker who went everywhere with him.

You are lumping two different authors together, I think. Marguerite Henry wrote the Misty books and several others (King of the Wind, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, etc.). I think the other author you mean is Walter Farley, who wrote the Black Stallion books.

[snacky]

This is a very contemporary list - I say that as someone who has also read 19 of them, and those are the ones that were around when I was a kid.

As someone who was a children's bookseller for several years, I have my own quibbles with this list - many of these are popular/contemporary but not necessarily what I would consider good choices, and I'd probably put a better variety of books on there (like you mention above, where are the horse books?).

I'm pleased to see the Edward Eager books on the list though - I always recced those to kids and parents. So funny and so imaginative.

What other Laura Ingalls Wilder books did you read? Her memoir writings? I remember being fascinated with West From Home as a kid.

[bedlamsbard]

Well, the person who made the list was a guy; I know the horse books tend to be associated with girls more than boys. *shrug* Although there I go, pulling out, "Some books are more read by one sex over the other." *hands*

I was typing this list up, and I was getting closer and closer to the end going, "WHERE THE HELL IS NARNIA OH MY GOD" and then it finally showed up pretty near the end. *laughs*

I actually still have the Little House books in my room, so I can check -- and the other ones weren't by Laura Ingalls Wilder, though they're in the same style. (The Roger MacBride ones, looks like. Hmm, I distinctly remember there being one set in Scotland, but I might be making that up?)

Now that I think of it, I'm surprised Little Women isn't on this list. Then again, made by a guy.

[snacky]

Yeah, I was going to say, it's very boy-skewed in terms of books. It is true, that boys generally have to read "boy books" and won't read "girl books" whereas girls will read both "boy books" and "girl books."

Oh! Those are the new Little House books that MacBride put out in the 90s/early 2000s. There is one set in Scotland, you're not making it up. :)

Of course, this inspired me to make my own list. It was not easy!

[bedlamsbard]

Very true. *sighs*

Let's be honest, if I made a list, Edgar Rice Burroughs and at least one book of Greek mythology would have to be on it. And some version of the King Arthur and Robin Hood lists.

Oh, thank the gods. And...it may have been purple? (Why do I remember that? Was that the book with a dramatic murder in, or was that a different book?)

Oooh, what's on your list?

[snacky]

I think it was purple! I don't remember a murder though, but to be honest, I did a bookseller speed-read of all the newer Little House books, so I could have missed a pertinent murder or two. ;)

Here is my list!

[bedlamsbard]

There is a strong possibility that I am confusing it with another book I must have read around the same tiime, because I remember a clan feud which culminates in mass murder and a keep burning down.

[cofax7]

I've only read 23 of them. A lot of them I never read because they came out when I was in my 20s, or later.

Not only where are the horse books, but where are the dog books? Jim Kjellgard was a mainstay of my elementary school days. Also Ernest Thompson Seton. And Elois Jarvis McGraw, who is far better than quite a number of these writers. Oh! And Zilpha Keatley Snyder, too.

And where's Harriet the Spy?!!!

[bedlamsbard]

Oh, the dog books! I remember those -- or, at least, the ones I read, I don't remember the author or the title. (Not Lassie -- a series about breeding collies, all I remember is that there was a collie whose show name was Sigurd but who was usually called by something else because "Sigurd" sounded too much like "sic 'em." Look, I remember really random things, okay?)

[harpers_child]

most of these came out long after i was eleven. when i was eleven i was reading isaac asimov, peirs anthony, and _the indian in the cupboard_ books. i may have not been reading at my age level at all times, but a world built entirely on puns where everyone has an innate magic talent is attractive to a youngling. (i think the asimov was my dad giving me a basic SF foundation.)

[bedlamsbard]

See, from ages birth to fandom (which, let's be honest, was age eleven), my biggest influence was Edgar Rice Burroughs. Which explains a lot.

...aww, Indian in the Cupboard! I remember those!

[harpers_child]

i've read most of the Tarzan books. could never find the mars stuff at the library. i was also reading every fairytale and bit of mythology i could get my hands on. i also read a large variety of poetry. my parents were big into getting me "the classics" when i was a wee thing. rudyard kipling. lewis carrol. beatrix potter. jules verne. both my parents read to me or had me read to them or bribed me with books for good behavior in school. i learned how to read when i was three, which i understand is a little early when compared to peers. while i could technically read at a college level by third grade my parents tried to keep the stories i was getting at a less mature thematic level.

[bedlamsbard]

My dad has virtually all of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, most of them with inscriptions from when he was a kid -- I think the last Tarzan book was the first book I ever read on my own, without waiting to be read to.

I had the abridged children's classics, so while I grew up with, you know, a fair bit of western canon, I still haven't read a lot of the originals, although some I have, of course.