This week, five UK children's laureates were asked to pick their favourite children's books.
Have you ever tried to do that?
It strikes me odds-bodkin that an author like Jacqueline Wilson would choose books like Little Women, A Little Princess, The Railway Children, Ballet Shoes and Mary Poppins.
But anyway, I love what columnist Lucy Mangan adds: "But we do not devour other people's book lists for insights into their taste or the influences that might have moulded them - no! We read them to see what heinous oversights have occurred and assemble our alternatives. And in that exuberant, borderline aggressive spirit, here are mine."
And so, at the very bottom, is my list (not a bitty presumptuous, eh?).
Chosen by Quentin Blake:
1. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone (1936)
2. Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham (1997)
3. The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935)
4. Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan and Roberto Innocenti (1985)
5. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)
6. Snow White by Josephine Poole (1991)
7. Stuart Little by E.B. White (1945)
Chosen by Anne Fine:
8. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1963)
9. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (1978)
10. Just William by Richmal Crompton (1922)
11. Journey to the River Sea by Iva Ibbotson (2001)
12. Lavender's Blue by Kathleen Lines (1954)
13. A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)
14. Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (1938)
Chosen by Michael Morpurgo:
15. Five Go to Smuggler's Top by Enid Blyton (1945)
16. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939)
17. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1838)
18. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (1902)
19. A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (1846)
20. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
21. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (1888)
Chosen by Jacqueline Wilson:
22. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
23. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)
24. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge (1872)
25. The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett (1937)
26. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (1906)
27. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1936)
28. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (1934)
Chosen by Michael Rosen:
29. Clown by Quentin Blake (1995)
30. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)
31. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner (1928)
32. Not Now, Bernard by David McKee (1980)
33. Fairy Tales by Terry Jones (1981)
34. Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton (2008)
35. Daz 4 Zoe by Robert Swindells (1990)
Chosen by Noel De Vries:
36. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (1908)
37. Little Women, by L.M. Alcott (1868-9)
38. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1909)
39. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (1950)
40. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt (1975)
41. The Enchanted Castle, by E. Nesbit (1907)
42. The Star of Kazan, by Eva Ibbotson (2004)
3 comments:
Great lists!
Mine are:
1) The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
2) Anne of Green Gables (all of them)
3) Narnia (all of them)
4) The Hobbit
5) Sara Crewe (which is not the same as The Little Princess)
6) The Scarlet Pimpernel
7) The Little House books (all of them)
That is SO not a list of seven! The blood and guts of narrowing down did not touch you when you wrote that!
Oh boy, I'm going to have to think about my list of 7. Glad to see Anne on your list though! :) She'd definitely be on mine.
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