Children's Fiction

After a great deal of thought, I've decided to start my reading with Charlotte web.  First, I had better share a little bit about my process of book selection.  Being a "Busy Bibliophile" I decided to start with books that I already own.  After all, if I love them enough to have bought them, I love them enough to reread them.  My next thought was about order.  501 Must-Read Books is broken down into categories (Children's Fiction, Classic Fiction, History, etc).  I certainly did not want to read an entire category, before moving onto another category.  I think that might get overwhelming (I could easily picture myself giving up mid-History).  So for now, I will be haphazardly selecting my books, choosing what strikes me at that moment.  Coincidentally, this is how I have my bookshelves arranged.  Sure my husbands Ted Dekker might be next to The Devil Wears Prada, but that means I am always surpised when I walk to my bookshelves to select a book.

Since I'm starting with Children's Fiction, I thought it might be appropriate to share what books are included on the list.

1. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
2. Fairy Tales, Hands Christian Andersen
3. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
4. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
5. The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
6. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
8. Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
10.Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
11. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, Alan Garner
12.The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Graham
13.Children's and Household Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
14.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Mark Haddon
15.Emil and the Detectives, Erich Kastner
16.Just So Stories, Rudyard Kpling
17.The Complete Nonsense Book, Edward Lear
18.A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
19.The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
20.Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren
21.Dr. Dolittle, Hugh Lofting
22.At the Back of the North Wind, George Macdonald
23.Nobody's Boy, Hector Malot
24.Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne
25.Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
26.Five Children and It, E. Nesbit
27.Tom's Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
28.The War of the Buttons, Louis Pergaud
29.Fairy Tales, Charles Perrault
30.The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
31.The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
32.Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
33.Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
34.Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fant, Mordecai Richler
35.Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling (I think I'll be reading the American version)
36.The King of the Golden River, John Ruskin
37.The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
38.The Human Comedy, William Saroyan
39.The Misfortunes of Sophie, Comtesse de Segur
40.Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
41.And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Dr. Seuss
42.Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
43.The Golem, Isaac Bashevis Singer
44.Heidi, Johanna Spyri
45.Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
46.The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R. R. Tolkien
47.Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers
48.Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
49.The Sword in the Stone, T.H. White
50.Rebecca of Sonnybrook Farm, Kate Douglas Wiggin
51.The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde

At first I was startled by what I thought was a glaring omission; how can they leave of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  However, I'm guessing they did not classify those books as children's "fiction", being largely autobiographical, and so they were left off.  But I have to say, I read and reread those books as a little girl.  If I remember correctly, I had read the entire series by the end of secone grade!  Another childhood favorite of mine, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler also did not make the list.  I'm excited about reading the others to see how they stacked up against it.  As a child, the idea of running off to live in an art museum was very appealing.My husband was surprised that there was no Shel Silverstein on the list, and I have to say I agree.  His books are definately part of the fabric of my childhood, and my goal is to have all of them for my son's enjoyment some day.

I'm also excited to share some of these stories with my son.  I will of course be buying him his own copy of Where the Wild Things Are.  I'm looking forward to sharing some of the fairy tales of the Grimm's Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen-- show him the real stories, not the sanitized Disney version.  By the time I'm done with this project, he may be old enough to have chapters of Treasure Island or Harry Potter as his bedtime reading!

501 Must Read Books

For quite some time now, my husband and I have had these two books on our bookshelves-- 501 Must-Read Books and 501 Must-See Movies. From time to time (or once every 6 months, when I get the inclination to dust), we take them down, flip through, and compare notes about who has seen/read what. These are hardly definitive lists, but we enjoy looking through the books and it usually sparks a lively conversation. Several nights ago we were doing just that, and I once again came to the realization that there are some really great books I just haven't read yet. Now, as a full-time working mother of a two-year old, I could blame this on being busy. But let's face it, I have managed to re-read the entire Confessions of a Shopaholic series TWICE in under a year. Apparently, it's not that I'm not making time to read; I'm just not making time to go to the library, the bookstore, or pay a late-night visit to Amazon. So, with no time frame (because I can only imagine how long it will take me to read 501 books), I plan on reading all 501 books in 501 Must-Read Books. Care to watch the insanity ensue?