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

The Tale of Despereaux

It seems hard to believe that I've been waiting 12 years to read The Tale of Despereaux, but given that it was released in 2003 then I must have been (I read it late in 2015). I've read two of Kate DiCamillo's books before, Because of Winn-Dixie and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and enjoyed both quite a lot so I've been waiting to read more, and thankfully that day finally came. 

After all this waiting, I still didn't really know anything of this story save for the cover which has been taunting me all this time. Despereaux Tilling is a small mouse born in a large castle, he is a runt, but the only one of his litter born alive.

He was ridiculously small. His ears were obscenely large. He had been born with his eyes open. And he was sickly. He coughed and sneezed so often that he carried a handkerchief in one paw at all times. He ran temperatures. He fainted at loud noises. Most alarming of all, he showed no interest in the things a mouse should show interest in. 

Despereaux is different to the other mice- he loves music and story and dancing. He does not want to scurry about the castle hiding in the shadows. He admires the light through the stained glass windows, he can read the books in the library and does not want to eat them. He has love and purpose in his heart, although he is a bit of a fainter.

Told by an omniscient narrator The Tale of Despereaux is told in 4 books, each told from a different perspective.  It is a story of courage, love and soup. 

"And when times are terrible, soup is the answer." 

Times are indeed terrible as Despereaux must go on a perilous quest in the dangerous dungeons of the castle. It is beautifully written dispensing honesty and truth amongst the dungeons full of scary rats.

He saw that the floor of the dungeon was littered with tufts of fur, knots of red thread, and the skeletons of mice. Everywhere there were tiny white bones glowing in the darkness. And he saw, in the dungeon tunnels through which Botticelli led him, the bones of human beings too, grinning skulls and delicate finger bones, rising up out of the darkness and pointing toward some truth best left unspoken. 

We readers get some great advice along the way. 

"Might as well be happy, seeing as it doesn't make a difference to anyone but you if you are or not," said the soldier."

And perspectives on life.

There are those hearts, reader that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do men, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. 

We learn that we each take a different path. 

Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform. 

It's a beautiful book, quick and easy to read. A deserving Newbery Medal winner. 

281/1001

Me Talk Pretty One Day

I've been meaning to read Me Talk Pretty One Day for the longest time. I understood it to be tales of David Sedaris moving to Paris and learning French. And indeed some of it is, but by no means is that what the book is mostly about, despite the blackboard cover and the Fleur de Lys decorating the back cover.

The first section, titled One, is about David's childhood in a number of Eastern States in America, and some of his time as a young man. They are an odd collection of stories perhaps, entertaining on the whole of course, but I kept waiting for Paris to appear. There was no Paris. But there was family pet stories, tales of the horror at being pulled out of class for speech therapy for a lisp,  non-flushing poos, jobs as a furniture removals and a conceptual artist, and more drug references than I expected.

Speed eliminates all doubt. Am I smart enough? Will people like me? Do I really look all right in this plastic jump suit? These are questions for insecure potheads. A speed enthusiast knows that everything he or she says or does is brilliant. The upswing is that, having eliminated the need for both eating and sleeping, you have a full twenty-four hours a day to spread your charm and talent. 

Sadly there is no mention of Paris whatsoever in the entire first section, although I was waiting for it the whole time. Finally though in the second section we got there! YAY.

But do we really need this?

David meets his future partner Hugh. Hugh has spent six years living in France and has a house in Normandy. He spends his summers in Normandy "visiting friends and working on the house." Which certainly had me wishing that the movement of tectonic plates had landed Australia somewhat closer to France. David and Hugh make their summer visits for a number of years, and David finds it very hard to learn any language on these fleeting visits. He practices ten new words a day.

slaughterhouse
sea monster
witch doctor

By the end of the month, I'd managed to retain three hundred nouns, none of which proved to be the least bit useful. 

An odd approach perhaps. The next summer visit was six weeks, and he added another 420 words. On his fifth trip to France he decides to limit himself to words and phrases that people actually use.

Things began to come together, and I went from speaking like an evil baby to speaking like a hillbilly. "Is them the thoughts of cows?" 

David begins to know as we all do that learning a language as an adult is difficult. It's hard work.

I'd hoped the language might come on it's own, the way it comes to babies, but people don't talk to foreigners the way they talk to babies. They don't hypnotise you with bright objects and repeat the same words over and over, handy out little treats when you finally say "potty" or "wawa". It got to the point where I'd see a baby in the bakery or grocery store, and instinctively ball up my fists, jealous over how easy he had it. I wanted to lie in a French crib and start from scratch, learning the language from the ground floor up.

Then David and Hugh decide to move to Paris for "a year or two" because of construction next door to their New York apartment! Oh, if only that was all it took... David enrols in a French language school with a rather obnoxious French teacher. Fear takes over.

My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of the classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards. Stopping for a coffee, asking directions, depositing money in my bank account: these things were out of the question, as they involved having to speak. Before beginning school there'd been no shutting me up, but now I was convinced that everything I said was wrong. When the phone rang, I ignored it. If someone asked me a question, I pretended to be deaf. I knew my fear was getting the best of me when I started wondering why they don't sell cuts of meat in vending machines. 

I felt very much like that on my last trip to France in 2014. Perhaps it is a sign of progress then? But I was the most uncomfortable speaking French that I had ever been, even though I generally made myself understood. I can only hope for David's next breakthrough when he started to understand every word that someone was saying.

Understanding doesn't mean that you can suddenly speak. Far from it. It's a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive. The teacher continued her diatribe and I settled back, bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult. 

David seems to spend all of his time in Paris watching old American movies, which I find particularly bizarre.

I've been here for more than a year, and while I haven't seen the Louvre or the Pantheon, I have seen The Alamo and The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Really? No, really? Whilst I get that he can rejoice at seeing old movies on the big screen, I can't at all understand living in Paris and going to 6 or 7 old American movies a week. I was rather disappointed that there were no French phrases slipped quietly in to these stories. Indeed they were strenuously avoided.

Since moving to Paris my most often used phrase is "One place, please." That's what one says at the box office when ordering a ticket, and I say it quite well. 

Surely readers who don't speak French could understand simple phrases when they're explained within the text? I've never been to the movies in France, but I might need that phrase one day..

I'm looking forward to seeing David Sedaris in a few weeks as part of his Australian tour. I will be delighted if there are some Parisian tales, but won't be expecting too many.

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog 

French Bingo 2016

French Bingo 2016

I had a great time participating in French Bingo 2015, although sadly I never got to leap up yelling BINGO even though I read 14 books. Emma from Words And Peace has changed the categories somewhat this year, and I'll give it another crack.

I'm looking forward to French Bingo 2016.You can join in the fun too.

1. Me Talk Pretty One Day January 4. B1, D3
2. Joan of Arc. The Story of Jehanne Darc. April 22. B1, C1, C4
3. Letter to D. A Love Story. Aug 1. B1, C2, E2.
4. Ransacking Paris. Aug 23. A5, B1, B3
5. Happy People Read and Drink Coffee. Aug 31. A5, B5, E2
6. The President's Hat. Oct 17. A5, C4, E2
7. Flowers for Mrs Harris. Oct 31. D3

El Deafo

I came across El Deafo when it was an 2015 honour book for the Newberry Medal. I read the extraordinary Brown Girl Dreaming (see my review) at the start of the year, and bought El Deafo at the same time. This week I got to read it. I thought it would be the perfect book to read while sitting around on a train for a day, and it was. 

I don't read all that many graphic novels, it's a category that doesn't always appeal to me, but I've learnt to read and love verse novels, so anything is possible. 

El Deafo, is not just a graphc novel, it's a graphic memoir, and for some reason I have a bit more success with them than graphic novels alone. I'm particularly thinking of French Milk (see my review) I suppose. El Deafo tells us the story of Cece Bell's childhood, which changes for ever when she contracts meningitis aged 4 and is left profoundly deaf, a change which isn't immediately recognised by Cece, her parents or her doctors. A few weeks later the diagnosis is made. Not too many kids books have lumbar punctures.

Picture source

Young Cece is anxious about her difference, self-conscious and worried that people are always staring at her because of her hearing aids- although no-one ever seems to. Cece, like every kid, wants a best friend. Kids (and adults) are always curious about any difference, but usually kids will just get on with things once their curiosity is answered.

Cece Bell is younger than me, and American, but I was surprised how many songs and TV shows we shared as kids. There are 70s references littered throughout El Deafo, very familiar to me of course, but not necessarily to modern kids. Monty Python. Elton John and Kiki Dee's Don't Go Breaking My Heart. The Monkees. The Partridge Family. I was most surprised to see reference a teacher singing "I've got a girl called Boney Maloney." I thought Bony Moronie was a Hush original. Sad to learn that it wasn't.

I was intrigued by the mention of Color by David Lasky. Because of my gross unfamiliarity with the graphic novel world I was not aware of the occupation of colorist (which rightly should be colourist of course). But it's a thing. Here's an interview with professional colorist Ian Hannin. I guess I find it odd that people can draw well enough to create a graphic novel and then need someone else to bring it to life in colour. 

Fascinating, but sad, to see that in this fabulous Guardian article that adult Cece still had those some childhood insecurities, but that they really led to the creation of El Deafo- first as a blog, then as a book. And she ran out of time to colour the book and so used a colourist! I am seeing references to Raina Telgemeier wherever I go today, so I think I know what my next graphic novel will be. 

Diversity on the Shelf 2015

Top 10 Christmas Books

Perfectly timed from The Guardian, Matt Haig's Top 10 Christmas Books.

1. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

2. Father Christmas - Raymond Briggs

3. A Child's Christmas in Wales - Dylan Thomas

4. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

5. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris (see my review)

6. The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

7. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

8. Mog's Christmas - Judith Kerr

I haven't read the book, but Sainsbury's Official Christmas Advert this year is Mog's Christmas Calamity. It's very cute.

9. Letters from Father Christmas - J.R.R. Tolkien

10. The Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Andersen

5/10

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

How I wish I'd read this book when I was a kid. I'm sure I would have loved it. I love it now. I didn't know all that much about this book or Joan Aiken before I read this most famous of her books. Joan Aiken wrote over 100 books for children and adults, and it appears she had the most stupendous imagination. 

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase has an almost Dickensian feel. Certainly the names are Dickensian,  a lawyer Mr Gripe, the governess Miss Slighcarp and a traveller Mr Grimshaw. A note at the front of the book makes sure we know that it is set in an alternate reality version of England in 1832. Good King James III is on the throne instead of George IV. A tunnel links Dover to Calais allowing hungry wolf packs from the continent to broach the channel and take over the genteel English countryside. Which is particularly clever. I'm not sure why we need the alternate king, there was no political element to this story. Perhaps it becomes apparent in one of the many books that were to become the Wolves Chronicles.

Wolves have been central characters in children's stories for a very long time. Little Red Riding Hood and many other fairy tales have wolves. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Joan Aiken was fascinated with wolves as a young girl after hearing Balten and the Wolf. There are quite a few new wolf titles this year, most of which sound quite intriguing. Katherine Rundell's The Wolf Wilder and Ryan Graudin's Wolf by Wolf come to mind, but I'm sure I've seen others. 

At the beginning of the story we meet Bonnie Green who is impatiently waiting in Willoughby Chase for her new governess to arrive as well as her cousin Sylvia who is coming to stay because her elderly aunt is becoming too frail to look after her. It is evocative and beautifully descriptive from the very start. 

It was dusk- winter dusk. Snow lay white and shining over the pleated hills, and icicles hung from the forest trees. Snow lay piled on the dark road across Willoughby Wold, but from dawn men had been clearing it with brooms and shovels. There were hundreds of them at work, wrapped in sacking because of the bitter cold, and keeping together in groups for fear of the wolves, grown savage and reckless from hunger.

The orphaned Sylvia is travelling to Willoughby Chase on the train and there are fantastic scenes of the wolf packs attacking the trains. I was a bit disappointed that the real wolves really only inhabit the first third or so, after which the threats come from more human wolves. It is still an exciting story though with Victorian workhouses, secret passages and intrigue.

I did absolutely adore the numerous, and surprising references to champagne. I do love Champagne even though I am nowhere near as lucky as the two villains of the piece who are condemned because they "drink champagne every day." And when a group are trying to rouse an old woman overcome by malnutrition the doctor advises her needs.

"Firstly, champagne. She is too weak to take anything else at the moment."

Not surprising to me at least that it was marvellously restorative.

Every now and then Dr Field came and administered another teaspoon of champagne, and presently he reported with satisfaction an improvement in the patient's breathing and a tinge of colour to her cheeks. 

As well it would. Just like reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. 

And the vocabulary, it is particularly luscious. Wold. Irruption. Oubliette. Immured. Victuals. It is not surprising to learn that Joan Aiken grew up hearing her mother read Dickens aloud to her as a young girl.  I can see myself reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase again, and I'm certainly curious to read more of Joan Aiken. 

283/1001