The 50 Books Every Child Should Read

[Courtenay]

Just came across this "listicle" (modern term for the sort of article that's entirely a list of the top x-number of something!) from The Independent: The 50 books every child should read

Nice to see it's based on a survey of 2000 parents, rather than merely the opinions of educators or publishers. And at least there's one Blyton in it (Five on a Treasure Island, at no. 15)!

How many of them have you read? I've read 31, most of which I thoroughly agree deserve a place in the top 50. A significant number of the remaining 19 are ones I'd like to read but have never yet got to!

Are there titles you're surprised to see here - or other ones you can think of that deserve to be in this list and were missed out? I'd be interested to hear what others think.

[Fiona1986]

I've read 25 of those and seven are on my to-read list. One remains unfinished as well - The Diary of Anne Frank as I just couldn't get into it with all the names being changed.

I'm still not sure I class The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time as a children's book. Young Adult maybe - there's a lot of bad language in it.

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting list. I've read them all except Funny Bones and The Story of Tracy Beaker.

Some good choices but I wouldn't have included so many titles by Roald Dahl! I'd like to have seen more E. Nesbit on the list and also a personal favourite of mine - When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson, which is a moving and absorbing time-slip novel.

[Tony Summerfield]

I think the problem with these sort of lists is that they tend to be what parents liked when they were young and ignore any books that have been published more recently. There are only two books there that have been published this century and both of those were also published as adult editions and therefore may well have been read by parents.

[Courtenay]

Oh, Anita, how could you have missed out on Funnybones!



It was made into a TV series too, but I don't think it was on Australian television while I was little.

[Courtenay]

I think the problem with these sort of lists is that they tend to be what parents liked when they were young and ignore any books that have been published more recently. There are only two books there that have been published this century and both of those were also published as adult editions and therefore may well have been read by parents.

I beg to differ, Tony - I count four that were published this century: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and The Hunger Games (none of which, incidentally, I'd class as children's books - teens at the very least). A number of the others were published in the 1990s, so are not that far behind.

As for parents choosing the books they liked when they were young, the fact that they are parents suggests they've read these books to their own children and they've been met with approval. Most of the books I liked best as a child were ones from my parents' era or even earlier - including a whole lot of Enid Blyton! They wouldn't be children's classics if they hadn't been enjoyed by several generations of children, after all.

[walter raleigh]

I've read around 30 books on the list although it may be more. I probably read some of the picture books on the list ("The Very Hungry Caterpillar", The Dr. Seuss books, etc.) but I don't remember for definite.

I don't think it's parents picking books they loved as children, but rather books they percieve as being 'good' for children to read. As others have pointed out, some of the books on the list aren't really suitable for children, and there are a couple that many adults would struggle with.

"Oliver Twist", and "Great Expectations" certainly aren't childrens books and neither is "Huckleberry Finn" really. I know "Lord Of The Flies" gets taught in schools, but I wouldn't class it as a children's book anymore than I would "Day Of The Triffids". I think a number of books on the list are ones people are dimly aware of as 'classics' and feel that people would think they were better parents if they recommend them.

As for omissions, I would add more Blyton obviously, Mary Norton's 'Borrowers' books, Brian Jaques 'Redwall' series, and Anthony Buckeridge's 'Jennings' books. Although I'm not a fan personally, I'm suprised not to see Richmal Crompton on the list either. For sligtly older readers I'd add Robert Westall, and Alan Garner too.

[burlingtonbertram]

I've read eighteen of those and I've got (or owned at some point) thirteen of them. I currently own eleven of them.
I wouldn't put any Roald Dahl's in there because I don't like them.

I would throw Masefield's Box Of Delights into the mix; Susan Cooper's 'The Dark Is Rising', Clive King's "Stig Of The Dump" and Penelope Lively's "Ghost Of Thomas Kempe", and several Blytons.

There was a better list of about 20 in a Daily Mail recently that was much more to my taste.

EDIT: I'd add Little Women and Just William too.

[Poppy]

I've read 20 of those; it is an interesting list. I think it's a bit silly how they had several books by one author taking up quite a few places (such as Roald Dahl). There are so many books worthy of that list, it is a bit unfair how one author can take several places, in my opinion. I would have added Swallows and Amazons, Little Women and Goodnight Mr Tom, plus several by Michael Morpurgo.

I have also read the book Funny Bones and while I found it an entertaining read, I certainly don't think it is up to the standard of most of the others on the list.

[Tony Summerfield]

I agree with you here, Poppy, I don't think one author should take up several places either. When I said that only two books were published this century I missed the second Harry Potter book out as it was in the same series as a book already listed, but I admit I forgot about 'Striped Pyjamas' which came out in 2006. I do have copies of about 40 of the listed books, but I can't say that I have read them all! I have read the four that were published this century though.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I can't bring up the list with the link at all! Probably my lap top!

It doesn't matter anyway, as I've probably not read any of the books on the lists! My reading was always Blyton as a kid.

[Moonraker]

Yes, me too. I only wanted Blyton as a child. Possibly that's why teachers hated her! My authorship has expanded widely since then, though. I've no time for these lists. Reading is personal, anything else is just homework.

[Carlotta King]

The site does seem a bit temperamental Julie, I had trouble with it as well, it did load but then just kept closing itself while I was scrolling down.

There's a lot of Roald Dahl on it, and other things like Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, some Dickens, The Hungry Caterpillar, etc, but only one of Enid's.

I was exactly the same as you - all I read was Enid when I was a girl, with the odd other book here and there, like Jill's Gymkhana, the Trebizon school stories, and a few others that I can't even remember.
I think I read some of Dahl's books at school but I can't remember anything about them because I only read them because I had to choose books from the school shelves, and those were the ones that everyone seemed to find popular. I obviously didn't find them engaging enough to reread! As soon as I was out of school I was curled up with one of Enid's again!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Oh, Anita, how could you have missed out on Funnybones!

It wasn't yet written when I was little and I didn't see it in the library when my children were little either. If I come across it, I'll read it! My daughter once borrowed Each Peach Pear Plum by the same authors from the library, but we didn't think much of it because the "hidden" characters were ridiculously easy to find. Nevertheless, I see that that title also appears in the list of 50 books!

[Courtenay]

My daughter once borrowed Each Peach Pear Plum by the same authors from the library, but we didn't think much of it because the "hidden" characters were ridiculously easy to find.

True. I had it when I was little and thought it was a cute book, but hardly challenging and not one of my favourites. Funnybones is lots of fun, but I wouldn't put it in my own top 50 either.

One problem is that the books span too great an age range - The Cat in the Hat is for preschoolers, while The Hunger Games is most definitely young adult fiction! It would have made more sense to do two or three separate polls for people's favourite books aimed at different age levels.