Thursday, February 3, 2011

List Love: 1001 Children's Books

There's a new challenge out there to read books from the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up list. I'm not taking on any challenges this year but I thought it would be fun to go through the list and see how I've done and what I have left to read before I grow up.

Listed are the books I've read or at least remember reading. There were a lot that I read as a kid that I don't remember the titles of now. I've put the ones we own in bold because they're the ones easily available to Z. Ones with stars are the ones Z has already read too.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne
Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Aesop's Fables - Aesop
Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Viorst *
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *

Amelia Bedelia - Peggy Parish
Anne Of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Are You My Mother? - P.D. Eastman *

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond *
Bedtime For Frances - Russell Hoban *
The Berenstein Bears - Stan Berenstain *
The Best Nest - P.D. Eastman
The BFG - Roald Dahl *
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
The Black Stallion - Walter Farley
Blueberries For Sal - Robert McCloskey
Book Of Nonsense - Edward Lear *
Bridge To Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See - Bill Martin, Jr. *
The Call Of The Wild - Jack London (own but haven't read yet)
Caps For Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina *
The Cat In The Hat - Dr. Seuss *
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl *
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones
The Children Of Green Knowe - L.M. Boston

A Child's Garden Of Verses - Robert Stevenson
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Clifford The Big Red Dog - Norman Bridwell *
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - Judi Barrett *
Corduroy - Don Freeman *

The Cricket In Times Square - George Selden *
Crictor - Tomi Ungerer *
Curious George - H.A. and Margret Rey *
Dear Zoo - Rod Campbell *

Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus - Mo Willems *
The Emperor's New Clothes - Hans Christian Anderson
The Enormous Crocodile - Roald Dahl *
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Freight Train - Donald Crews *
From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E.L. Konisburg
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
Go, Dog, Go - P.D. Eastman *
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown *
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Green Eggs And Ham - Dr. Seuss *

Grimms' Fairy Tales - Jacob Grimm
The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson *
The Hardy Boys 1 - Franklin Dixon
Harold And The Purple Crayon - Crocket Johnson *
Haroun And The Sea Of Stories - Salman Rushdie
(own but haven't read yet)
Harriet The Spy - Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion *
Haunted House - Jan Pienkowski *
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hound Of The Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
I Capture The Castle - Dodie Smith
I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato - Lauren Child *

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie - Laura Numeroff *
In The Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnford
The Indian In The Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
The Invention Of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick
James And The Giant Peach - Roald Dahl *
Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes
Journey To The Center Of The Earth - Jules Verne (own but haven't read yet)
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling (slowly reading on iPhone)
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
A Kid For Two Farthings - Wolf Mankowitz (own but haven't read yet)
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale - Mo Willems *
Lemony Snicket: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
Leonard The Terrible Monster - Mo Willems *

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse - Kevin Henkes
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
The Little Engine That Could - Walter Piper *

The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Anderson
The Little Prince - Antoine De St. Exupery
Little Toot - Hardie Gramatky
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Lord Of The Flies - William Golding 
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
Love You Forever - Robert Munsch *
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile - Bernard Waber *
Madeline - Ludwig Bemelmans *
Make Way For Ducklings - Robert Mccloskey
Miffy - Dick Bruna
Mike Mulligan - Virginia Lee Burton *
Millions Of Cats - Wanda Gag
The Mouse And The Motorcycle - Beverly Cleary *
Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh - Robert O'Brien
My Father's Dragon - Ruth Gannett (own but haven't read yet)
Northern Lights - Philip Pullman (a.k.a. The Golden Compass)
The Nutcracker And Other Tales - E.T.A. Hoffman
Oh, The Places You'll Go - Dr. Seuss
Pat The Bunny - Dorothy Kunhart *

Peanuts - Charles Schulz
Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens - J.M. Barrie
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren *

A Pocket For Courduroy - Don Freeman
Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis 
The Quangle Wangle's Hat - Edward Lear *
Ramona The Pest - Beverly Cleary
The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Of The Old Clock - Carolyn Keene
Skippyjohn Jones - Judy Schachner *
Smith - Leon Garfield (own but haven't read yet)
The Snowy Day - Jack Ezra Keats *
Stone Soup - Marcia Brown *
The Story About Ping - Marjorie Flack
The Story Of Babar - Jean de Brunhoff *
The Story Of Doctor Doolittle - Hugh Lofting
The Story Of Ferdinand - Munro Leaf *
Stuart Little - E.B. White 

Superfudge - Judy Blume
Swimmy - Leo Lionni
The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Wyss (own but haven't read yet)
The Tale Of Jemima Puddle Duck - Beatrix Potter
The Tale Of Mr. Jeremy Fisher - Beatrix Potter
The Tale Of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter *

The Thirteen Clocks - James Thurber
The Three Robbers - Tomi Ungerer
Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce
Treasure Island - Robert L. Stevenson
(own but haven't read yet)
The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs - John Scieszka *
The Ugly Duckling - Hans Christian Anderson
The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle *
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis
We're Going On A Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen *

What Do People Do All Day - Richard Scarry
Where The Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein *
Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak *
The Wind In The Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Winnie The Pooh - A.A. Milne *

The Wolves In The Wall - Neil Gaiman
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Frank L. Baum
A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle

So, it looks like I've read 140 and Z has read 55 of these so far. We have eight more of them waiting for us on our shelves too! There are also a few of these that I need home copies of too like Little Women and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Many of the titles on the list are new to me and I'm not sure that they're even all available in English so I'm not sure if I'll really set out to make progress on reading more of the titles other than those we already own.

Have you looked through the whole list? How many have you read?

Making every effort to postpone growing up,
K and Z


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7 comments:

  1. I think some of these are questionable. Is Lord of the Flies a children's book? It's very upsetting for a children's book. In other news, I may have to investigate the actual book that describes all these books, so I can fill up some gaps in my knowledge.

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  2. Jenny, I think that Lord of the Flies is a book that's aimed at both older children and adults. I think it confirms what most children know, or ought to be aware of, that some children are total bullies and would be perfectly capable of killing if they could get away with it, even if they do look like angelic choirboys. We read it at school.

    Kristen - I have Little Women on this year's TBR pile - I've never read it, but after reading March by Geraldine Brooks I feel I ought to.
    And Haroun and the Sea of Stories is excellent - all of my bookclub friends enjoyed it.

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  3. Jenny - While looking through the list I certainly got the idea that they were liberal with the "children's" label, probably something you would read before college. And I need to look through the descriptions too because I hadn't heard of so many of the books.

    Tracy - I read Little Women many years ago and should probably re-read it. Haroun is on my list for this year, partly because I've heard it's good but also just because I need a regular Rushdie fix!

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  4. Hi, there! I came across your blog as I was googling the book title for 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. The link to the Listology site is gone. Did you save that booklist by any chance? I'd love to see it!

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  5. Darlene - The link works for me right now. Maybe the site was down when you tried?

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  6. Hi, Kristen! You are right - the link is working now. It must have been down temporarily. Thanks for letting me know!

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  7. check out our blog

    http://1001-childrens-books.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete