This list appeared last weekend in my Sunday paper, these 50 books were selected from the titles of the NSW Board of Studies for the K-10 Syllabus.
Books I've read are in red.
Kindy to Year 6 (roughly ages 5 - 12)
Koala Lou - Mem Fox
Outside over There - Maurice Sendak
Possum Magic - Mem Fox
The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck - Beatrix Potter
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss
The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Boy - Roald Dahl
Matilda - Roald Dahl
The BFG - Roald Dahl
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
The Magic Pudding - Norman Lindsay
13/14 93% (best result ever in a booklist for me!)
Years 5 to 7 (roughly ages 10-12)
The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig
Hiroshima - John Hersey
I Can Jump Puddles - Alan Marshall
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank (see my review)
The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien (see my review)
1/5 20%
Jan 2014 now 2/5 40%
Years 7 to 10 (roughly ages 12-16)
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
For the Term of his Natural Life - Marcus Clarke
Ring of Bright Water - Gavin Maxwell
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (see my review)
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Silas Marner - George Eliot
My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin
A Fortunate Life - Albert Facey
My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Watership Down - Richard Adams (see my review)
The Kon-Tiki Expedition - Thor Heyerdahl
Z for Zachariah - Robert C O'Brien
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh - Robert C O'Brien
Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell (see my review)
The Cay - Theodore Taylor (see my review)
Storm Boy - Colin Thiele
Playing Beatie Bow - Ruth Park (see my review)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding (see my review)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (see my review)
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
My Brother Jack - George Johnston
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S Lewis
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Animal Farm - George Orwell
16/ 31 51%
making a somewhat respectable 29/50, or 58% overall, which is vastly better than I usually do with a list.
Jan 2014 now 17/31 55% (31/50, 62% overall)
As with any list there are some controversies. 4 Roald Dahl? He is a genius, it's true. And I think The BFG is one of my favourite books ever. But still 4? I do like that there are a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Some I haven't heard of before, most notably The Endless Steppe, Hiroshima and Ring of Bright Water.
Of the books that I've read, I'm not sure that I'd include Wind in the Willows, Watership Down or The Old Man and the Sea in a top 50. There aren't really any recent Australian titles for the older children, which is shameful. Some books of these books are also in my 1001 quest, so I shall be reading them anyway. But otherwise I guess my TBR just swelled by 21 more titles.
Sunday Telegraph 10/3/2013
Mine: 13/14; 2/5; 19/31
ReplyDeleteThat's mighty impressive Kath, although somewhat demoralising at the same time.... I should remember reading is not a competitive sport shouldn't I?
ReplyDeleteLove to see lists of books we must read. Always prompts me to add a couple of books to my wishlist and then to my TBR. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely must read The Diary of a Young Girl before visiting Amsterdam. That book had a huge impact on me when I read it as a youngster.
ReplyDeleteI did better on the older kids' books than on the young ones. I wonder what criteria they used to choose when there are so many wonderful kids books out there. So many more to add to my list- I'm going to need some grandkids to read to.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be a very literary Aussie 12 year old who has read Silas Marner! Rebecca seems ambitious for that age group as well. Interesting collection. I wish I had time for fiction...
ReplyDeleteMegan