Thursday 7 January 2016

Sunday Times Britain's 100 Favourite Children's Books

I love a good book list and it seems a lot of other folks do too. So much so that this list was turned into a 90 minute BBC special, hosted by David Walliams! There's some kid lit cred right there. I hope we outside Britain get the chance to see it soon too. In the meantime here's the list. It even has it's own twitter hashtag #britainsfavouritechildrensbooks. The list was selected by Nicolette Jones, Children's Books Editor of The Sunday Times. The criteria included books suitable for children up to 12 years, so it excludes YA. It's a killer list though.





1. Winnie the Pooh (especially The House at Pooh Corner) - A.A. Milne (illustrated by E.H. Shephard)


2. The Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) - C.S. Lewis (illustrated by Pauline Baynes)


3. Harry Potter (especially Harry Potter and the Philosohper's Stone) - J.K. Rowling


4. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak


5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (illustrated by Quentin Blake)


6. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (illustrated by E.H. Shepard) (see my review)


7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle


8. A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond (illustrated by Peggy Fortnum) (see my review)


9. The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson (illustrated by Axel Scheffler)


10. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (see my review)


11. The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss


12. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (illustrated by John Tenniel)


13. We're Going On a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen (illustrated by Helen Oxenbury)


14. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott


15. Alfie and Annie Rose (especially Dogger) - Shirley Hughes


16. Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren (illustrated by Lauren Child)


17. The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr


18. Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson


19. The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter (especially The Tale of Peter Rabbit) - Beatrix Potter


20. Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson





21. The Story of Tracey Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson (illustrated by Nick Sherratt)


22. Kensuke's Kingdom - Michael Morpurgo (see my review)


23. Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian


24. Rooftoppers - Katharine Rundell


25. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (illustrated by Jim Kay) (see my review)


26. The Railway Children - E. Nesbitt


27. Millions - Frank Cottrell Boyce


28. The Snowman - Raymond Briggs


29. The Arrival - Shaun Tan (see my review)


30. The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen


31. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell


32. Famous Five (especially Five on a Treasure Island) - Enid Blyton


33. Just William (especially Just William) - Richmal Crompton


34. Holes - Louis Sachar (see my review)


35. Stig of the Dump - Clive King


36. The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams (illustrated by Quentin Blake) (see my review)


37. Charlie and Lola (especially I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato) - Lauren Child


38. The Jolly Postman - Allan and Janet Ahlberg


39. Horrid Henry (especially Horrid Henry Strickes it Rich) - Francesca Simon (illustrated by Tony Ross)


40. How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell


41. The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett


42. Alex Rider (especially Stormbreaker) - Anthony Horowitz (see my review)


43. Mortal Engines (especially Mortal Engines) - Philip Reeve





44. The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett (illustrated by Inga Moore) (see my review)


45. Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling


46. This is Not My Hat - Jon Klaassen


47. Fortunately, the Milk - Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Chris Riddell)


48. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White (illustrated by Garth Williams)


49. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney


50. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson


51. The Borrowers - Mary Norton (see my review)


52. Gorilla - Anthony Browne


53. The Poems of Edward Lear (especially Owl and the Pussycat) - Edward Lear


54.  Pig-Heart Boy - Malorie Blackman


55. Orlando the Marmalade Cat - Kathleen Hale


56.  The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier


57. Elmer (especially Elmer the Patchwork Elephant) - David McKee


58. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery


59. Guess How Much I Love You - Sam McBratney (illustrated by Anita Jeram)


60. The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goodge


61. Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce (illustrated by Susan Einzig) (see my review)


62. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (illustrated by Jules Feiffer)


63. Flour Babes - Anne Fine


64. Centrally Heated Knickers - Michael Rosen (illustrated by Harry Horse)


65. The Way Home - Oliver Jeffers


66. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie


67. Asterix - Uderzo and Goscinny


68. The Family from One End Street - Eve Garnett


69. Mr Gum - Andy Stanton (illustrated by David Tazzyman) (see my review)





70. Fairy Tales - Berlie Doherty (illustrated by Jane Ray)


71. Wolves - Emily Gravett


72. The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy


73. The Blue Kangaroo (especially I Love You, Blue Kangaroo) - Emma Chichester Clark


74. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams (illustrated by William Nicholson)


75. Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (see my review)


76. The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd





77. The Sheep-Pig - Dick King-Smith


78. Chrestomanci (especially The Lives of Christopher Chant) - Diana Wynne Jones


79. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


80. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot (illustrated by Nicholas Bentley) (see my review)


81. 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith


82. Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kästner (see my review)


83. A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicker


84. Handa's Surprise - Eileen Browne


85. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (see my review)


86. Babar - Jean de Brushoff


87. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden (see my review)


88. Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey


89. Mary Poppins - P.L. Travers


90. The Tom Gates (especially The Brilliant World of Tom Gates) - Liz Pichon (see my review)


91. The Casson Family (especially Saffy's Angel) - Hilary McKay


92. The Percy Jackson (especially Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) - Rick Riordan


93. Thomas the Tank Engine - Rev W Awdry (illustrated by Peter Sam)


94. The Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin


95. The Inkworld Series (especially Inkheart) - Cornelia Funke


96. War Boy - Michael Foreman





97. The Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum


98. Goosebumps - R.L. Stine


99. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome (see my review)


100. Tintin - Hergé (Georges Remi)


59/100


March 2017 60/100

June 2018 61/100

5 comments:

Tamara said...

wow Louise, You've read alot of that list! also, did you type all that in? Did I miss it in the list - what about Clifford the big Red Dog!

Beth F said...

Cool. I didn't count, but I've read a lot of these too. Nice list.

bermudaonion said...

I love lists like this. I've read quite a few of them!

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I see lots of overlap between this list and our 1001 list.

Louise said...

I did type it all in Tamara- over a few days. I'm actively reading kids books, and as Deb says there is a good overlap between our 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Clifford isn't there I think, I have an idea that that's American, which doesn't exclude it of course, but it is rather an English focused list.

It's quite a classic list Beth, but mixed up with enough new ones for interest.

Lists are great- but make my TBR grow even more...

Yes lots of overlap Deb, this might even be a list I finish!