In 2018, I made a goal to read MORE. I wanted to read a minimum of 40 novels, largely ones that were picked from Reese Witherspoon's book club.
This past year, 2019, I decided that I wanted to push myself to read even more. Particularly, fun books. Books that I would enjoy.
In University, I read quite a bit, but it was books and lectures that were placed upon me to a large extent. I wanted to read strictly for pleasure and wanted to make sure it was the best of the best.
So in December 2019, I googled "Classic Children's Literature" and came upon a list from Wikipedia. On it, was 69 titles, from the 19th Century. Books spanning from early 1900s to 1990s. From those 69 books, I had only read 16. I did re-read them all. These books ranged from a few pages (such as Velveteen Rabbit, Curious George collection, Thomas the Train collection, Jumanji) to longer novels (The Hobbit, Watership Down, and The Neverending Story). Overall, I would average the books to be around 200-250 pages in length.
It was a pleasure to go throughout time and experience the wonder and fascinations of fiction. Starting with pirates, horses (lots of books about horses), dogs, and trains to the more modern Science Fiction and abstract realities, even a book about how a child can process suicide.
It was also interesting to note that the author's ranged from American, British, Australian (The Magic Pudding), Mexican (The Tigers of Mompracem), Russian (Heart of a Dog), German (The Neverending Story).
I found that a couple of titles in particular were definitely NOT children's books. I would not recommend Heart of a Dog or The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole to kids, maybe teens or young adults.
I mostly read them in order, but I did skip around a bit later on, as some titles came in quicker from various libraries across Alberta than others.
Besides the 69 Classic Children's books from the 19th Century, I did read some other modern novels, a dappling of fiction, biographies and a non-fiction book, but I will mention those reads on the next blog post.
Below, I have listed all of the titles and a star rating that I give the book. 5/5 being a MUST read, one that I will likely read again to myself, my boys or grandchildren. And the lowest I think I gave a title is 2 or 3, none received 1 or a 0 because they are classics so despite my lack of enthusiasm for the concept or characters, I understand and appreciate why some other people may enjoy the book.
For instance, ones that are excellent children's books, I may find super redundant and graded it lower for myself (Like Narnia books or Thomas the Train).
A * before the title is a book that I had previously read.
1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 1900- 4.5/5 Stars
2.The Tigers of Mompracem by Emilio Salgari 1900- 4/5 Stars
3. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit 1902- 5/5 Stars
4. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling 1902- 3.5/5 Stars
5. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter 1902- 4/5 Stars
6. King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle 1902-1903- 4/5 Stars
7. The Call of the Wild by Jack London 1903- 5/5 Stars
8. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin 1903- 3.5/5 Stars
9. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905- 4.5/5 Stars
10. The Railway Children by E. Nesbitt 1906- 4/5 Stars
11. White Fang by Jack London 1906- 5/5 Stars
12. *Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 1908- 5/5 Stars
13. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 1908- 5/5 Stars
14. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 1909/1910- 5/5 Stars
15. Peter and Wendy (based on the author's play) by J.M. Barrie 1911- 5/5
16. The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1912- 4/5 Stars
17. Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter 1913- 4/5 Stars
18. The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay 1918- 4/5 Stars
19. Raggedy Ann by Johnny Gruelle 1918- 4/5 Stars
20. The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Loftying 1920- 4/5 Stars
21. The Heart of a Dog by Albert Payson Terhune 1921- 3.5/5 Stars
22. Juan Bobo by Puerto Rican school children 1921- 4/5 Stars
23. *The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams 1922- 5/5 Stars
24. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting 1922- 4/5 Stars
25. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes 1923- 4/5 Stars
26. Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James 1926- 3/5 Stars
27. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne 1926- 5/5 Stars
28. The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne 1928- 5/5 Stars
29. Bambi by Felix Salten 1928- 5/5 Stars
30. The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly 1928- 5/5 Stars
31. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner 1929- 4.5/5 Stars
32. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 1930-1931- 3/5 Stars
33. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932- 5/5 Stars
34. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers 1934- 5/5 Stars
35. Ballet Shoes by Noel Stretfeild 1936- 4/5 Stars
36. *The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 1937- 5/5 Stars
37. The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White 1938- 4/5 Stars
38. My Name is Aram by William Saroyan 1940- 4/5 Stars
39. *Curious George by H. A. Rey 1941- 5/5 Stars
40. Five on a Treaure Island by Enid Blyton 1942- 4.5/5 Stars
41. Johhny Remain by Ester Forbes 1943- 3/5 Stars
42. *The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1942- 5/5 Stars
43. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren 1945- 5/5 Stars
44. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge 1946- 4/5 Stars
45. *Thomas the Tank Engine by Wilbert Awdry 1946- 2/5 Stars
46. * Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 1947- 5/5 Stars
47. Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson 1949- 4/5 Stars
48. *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis 1950- 4/5 Stars
49. *Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 1952- 5/5 Stars
50. The Borrowers by Mary Norton 1952- 5/5 Stars
51. The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston 1954- 4/5 Stars
52. The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith 1956- 5/5 Stars
53. *Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion 1956- 5/5 Stars
54. *The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss 1957- 4/5 Stars
55. Tom's Midnight Garden by Pilippa Pearce 1958- 5/5 Stars
56. A Bear Called Paddington by Micheal Bond 1958- 5/5 Stars
57. The Rescuers By Margery Sharp 1959- 4/5 Stars
58. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner 1960- 2/5 Stars
59. *James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl 1961- 4/5 Stars
60. *The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 1961- 5/5 Stars
61. *Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 1963- 5/5 Stars
62. *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 1964- 4/5 Stars
63. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin 1968- 3.5/5 Stars
64. Are you There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume 1970- 4/5 Stars
65. Watership Down by Richard Adams 1972- 5/5 Stars
66. A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith 1973- 5/5 Stars
67. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende 1979- 5/5 Stars
68. *Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg 1981- 5/5 Stars
69. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend 1982- 4/5 Stars
So that's my list. For 2020, I have not made a list of titles as I am going to to be busy taking an on-line course and writing a play :) Maybe I will finally tackle the Harry Potter series in the Fall. Wish me luck!
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