Children's books - The Snow In The Summer or So-So

Fifty books, and other surveys

A survey has ranked fifty greats of children's literature. Where we've read the books, our thoughts are included.

  1. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis - As read to class in Primary 5, and we read the remaining six volumes before reaching the First Form. In fact, the mid-80s paperbacks are still on our bookshelves, a little yellowing, but still readable. And with properly artistic covers, none of this modern rubbish.
  2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
  3. Famous Five, Enid Blyton - Which we read at a prodidigious pace during Primary 6 and 7. Six plots into twenty-one books never worked, and the Secret Seven was always that bit classier.
  4. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne - One of the first books we got out of the library, probably about Primary 3.
  5. The BFG, Roald Dahl
  6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling - We started reading Philosopher's Stone. Twice. Never got more than about a third of the way through without getting bored with the relentless, breathless over-characterisation. Could be a good series if we were convalescing.
  7. The Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
  8. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
  9. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll - Part of the First Form Reading List - a list of about fifteen titles, of which we were expected to read six during the year.
  10. The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson
  11. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter - Never read this, much to some people's surprise.
  12. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl - Bought a paperback version for £1.25 one summer, bent its spine, and all the pages fell out.
  13. Matilda, Roald Dahl
  14. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
  15. The Cat in the Hat, Dr Seuss - Did the author - though not sure it was that specific tome - in nursery and Primary 1.
  16. The Twits, Roald Dahl
  17. Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves - Growing up in the era when Arthur Lowe's definitive telling was on the television, this was a must-do.
  18. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens - In-class reading in the First or Second Form. Thanks to the teachers' strikes of that era, we didn't find out the conclusion until January.
  19. The Malory Towers Series, Enid Blyton
  20. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
  21. The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
  22. Hans Christian Fairy Tales, H.C. Andersen - Told by other cultural interpreters.
  23. The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
  24. The Witches, Roald Dahl
  25. Stig of the Dump, Clive King - On the Book List in or around Primary 6, but never got round to it.
  26. The Wishing Chair, Enid Blyton
  27. Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell
  28. The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith Kerr
  29. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jan Brett
  30. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl - Read to the class in Primary 5.
  31. A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond - We read a lot of the Paddington anthologies, though don't think we ever bothered with the original book.
  32. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
  33. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
  34. Aesop's Fables, Jerry Pinkney
  35. The Borrowers, Mary Norton
  36. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
  37. Meg and Mog, Jan Pienkowski
  38. Mrs Pepperpot, Alf Proyson - At one point, we had all five volumes of the little lady who shrinks to the size of a pepper pot. Grand for Primary 2 readers.
  39. We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen
  40. The Gruffalo's Child, Julia Donaldson
  41. Room on a Broom, Julia Donaldson
  42. The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy
  43. Miffy, Dick Bruna
  44. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
  45. Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown
  46. The Snail and the Whale, Julia Donaldson
  47. Ten Little Ladybirds, Melanie Gerth
  48. Six Dinners Sid, Inga Moore
  49. The St. Clares Series, Enid Blyton
  50. Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey

And we received the following question from a survey house...

Look at the following list of world leaders, and tick all those you have a positive | negative impression of.

Do we gain marks for knowing who these people are? And bonus marks for knowing which two are out of office?

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