Top 100 Children's Novels

I was at home with a brand-new baby when the School Library Journal's Top 100 Children's Novels list came out in mid-April, so I'm definitely behind the curve on this one. However, I love me some lists, so it was fun to look this one over (filled with the help of multiple entries from J.K. Rowling, Roald Dahl and Judy Blume) and count how many I've read. I also loved this second-grade teacher's breakdown - with charts and graphs! - of the list. Book-nerdy fun. It's interesting that series books accounted for 61 of the 100 books and that a good percentage were written in the past 20 years or so.

Anyway, I've read 30 out of 100 of the children's novels. Which is just OK, I think, but also considering several were written after I was of age to read these types of books (Harry Potter notwithstanding). And several bring back fond memories: anything Ramona; The BFG (which I can't help but think about every time I write my initials ABFG); The Witch of Blackbird Pond (I forgot about that book!); and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (reading aloud in sixth grade.)

What about you? How many have you read?

For more fun, see last year's list of Top 100 Picture Books. I've also read about 30 of these, and we have a few on the shelf as we speak.

[Quick pet peeve note: Why does Blogger insist that "children's" is misspelled? Drives me crazy!]

Baby Books!

My girlfriends all gathered together this weekend for my baby shower. Part of the theme was books - go figure! Each guest brought along her favorite childhood book to give me (us, the baby). What a selection, and so many I was unfamiliar with, which just shows how many books there are out there and how different everyone's childhood is from everyone else's. Here's what I got:

The Monster at the End of This Book, Sesame Street (thanks Willikat!)

The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton

Pajama Time!, by Sandra Boynton (thanks CMS!)

Clifford the Big Red Dog, by Norman Bridwell

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown (a complete classic)

Me Too! and I Was So Mad, by Mercer Mayer (I read ALL of these books when I was little.)

Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh (the illustrations are beautiful)

The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams (thanks maega!)

Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever and What People Do All Day (Willikat again)

The Mitten, by Jan Brett

They all make me so happy!

The Babysitters Club

Cool news: Ann M Martin is a writing a prequel to The Babysitters Club. It takes place the summer before Kristy had her big money-making idea.

I loved these books. I think I read 30 of them at least, if not more, so I'm glad the series is getting another chance in the spotlight.

Edited to add: Whitney over at PopCandy also posted about this news. She even mentions the graphic novels, which look really cute!

For the Love of First Grade

When we were at the theater waiting for Half-Blood Prince to start, we saw a “first look” at the new animated movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It’s based on a children’s book by the same name. [Description from Amazon: “If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?”]

I loved this book as a child, however, most everyone I know has never heard of it. I gave it to my nephews for Christmas, and no one there had ever heard of it. The friends we were at the movie with had never heard of it either. I’ve had the same experience with other books and authors from my childhood: William Steig (he wrote Shrek, by the way, but also lovely books like The Amazing Bone and Dr. De Soto), James Marshall (Miss Nelson is Missing, Miss Nelson is Back - hilarious), Tomie dePaola (Strega Nona = love for me), Nancy Carlson (meeting her was an elementary school highlight) and so many more.

The one thing all these books have in common? My first grade teacher, Mrs. Larson. I’ve always held a special place in my heart for Mrs. Larson. I think her class is where I got my love for reading. Also writing. She had us write about our weekends every Monday and I loved those assignments (Over the weekend I…). She was encouraging. You always wanted to get your paper back with a little pop bottle drawn on it, because that meant she’d buy you one from the teacher’s lounge for doing such a good job. She was fun. I always wanted to make her proud.

I owe a lot to Mrs. Larson, perhaps more than any other teacher I had, and she taught first grade. First grade. It goes to show you how experiences when we’re young can truly shape us.

Do you have a teacher or another adult who shaped who you’ve become or who guided you toward who you are now?

Story by Phone

I just came across this really cool local idea today when I was reading a Star Tribune blog (the guest blogger is someone I've worked with before, so I'm always interested in what she has to say). StoryLineMN offers kids stories by phone. Just dial up the number, and kids can listen to a story read by local actors. Each month has a theme, and there's a new story each week. How cool is that? I even called up and listened to a story - and I'm not even the intended audience. As Lucie writes in her post, this is a great way to entertain kids when you need to get something done around the house.

Again: Why didn't I think of this? So simple, yet so brilliant. Plus, it promotes literacy! If there are any moms and dads out there who try it, let me know what you think.

Judy Blume

What can I say about Judy Blume? My most favorite book of sixth grade, Just as Long as We're Together - she wrote it. I think over the next few years, I read that book 10 times. The book that every 11-year-old girl should read, Are You There God, It's Me Margaret - she wrote it. The best books for little kids, The Pain and The Great One, Freckle Juice, Tale of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge - Judy Blume again. Seriously, generations have grown up with her books - the first was published in 1969. (She also writes for adults - I recently mentioned Summer Sisters in this post.)

There's a great story in our local paper about Blume. She talks about her writing, her three marriages, her father, her children, her fight against censorship and her philosophy of life. She's 70 years old, living in Key West most of the year, owning a local cinema with her husband and taking tap dance lessons (there's video of this if you're interested - lady can dance!). One of my favorite quotes from the article, Blume says, "When I started to write, I vowed I would never write books that kids would do book reports on. I wanted them reading me on window seats, under the covers with flashlights."

That's exactly what I did. I read them before bed, on the boat during the summer, in the car on long trips. She spoke to me as a young girl, as a new teenager. She knew what it was like to be (and demonstrated through her characters) teased by a brother, fighting with your best friends, confused by your body. She's truly a classic. Her books will never go out of style.

What about you? Are you a Judy Blume fan? Do you have a favorite book she's written? Were there other authors who spoke to you during your adolescent years?

[More notes: Judy Blume also makes a stop at our local Fitzgerald Theater next week, June 12, to talk about her new series of The Pain and the Great One books. You can also listen to a great interview with Blume on B&N's Meet the Writers. Her Web site is a kick, too, with her blog, her advice for writers and an archive of titles.]

Children's Books

When it comes to buying presents for my niece and nephews, I always head to the bookstore. They don’t need any more toys, they have lots of clothes, but you can never have too many books, right? At least that’s what I think. Buying books for them is so much fun. I sit on the floor at the bookstore and find myself feeling nostalgic - lost in my childhood. The Berenstain Bears, Curious George, Ameila Bedelia, Frog & Toad. Remember William Steig’s Doctor De Soto? What about James Marshall’s Miss Nelson is Missing? Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs? Tomie dePaola used to be one of my favorite authors. Nancy Carlson and all her books? I could go on and on - and I could go crazy, and broke, buying them all my favorite childhood stories.

It’s even more fun now that my niece is learning to read chapter books. I can’t wait to expose her to Ramona Quimby, Superfudge – anything Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, actually - and all the series I used to read: The Babysitter’s Club, the Mandie books by Lois Glayds Leppard, Ann of Green Gables, Encyclopedia Brown.

What books, authors, or series did you love as a kid?