Turkish Delight

I had a lot of favorite classes in college. It is kind of hard to say that any one of them was better than the other, especially when you're talking about such amazing professors teaching you about different books of the Bible. Not every college graduate can say they got to study the book of Matthew at 7:00 a.m. every morning with Mark Scott (the only way that class could have been better was if it had been at 10:00 a.m. instead of so dadgum early). And it didn''t get much better than spending two whole semesters studying the early church in the book of Acts with Mark Moore. And, while I hated grammar, I didn't really mind breaking down sentences if I got the chance to listen to Jackina Stark give a devotional beforehand. 

Out of all of these wonderful classes, Children's Literature climbs to the top of my list. The lovely, Aubri Casey, was my professor. Her class syllabus was full of creative assignments that were way more fun than writing ten page exegeticals. In Children's Lit, I got to create book covers, design a bulletin board, and even write and illustrate my own children's book! Among our assignments each week was to read five children's books, one of them being novel-ish sized. It felt so good to get cozy on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, put down Jack Cotrell's gigantic Romans Commentary, and replace it with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. 

{photo found here}

I love children's books! When I walk into Barnes and Nobles, I naturally gravitate towards the children's section. Tyler says I have to wait until we have a child before I can actually buy one...party pooper. 

The School Library Journal held a poll result to compile the top 100 children's novels. You can find the finished list here. I thought it would be fun to go through and see how many I've read, so I've highlighted the ones I've read in green. Really, it's not that impressive. I haven't even read the top 10. Maybe I shouldn't have wasted so many summers days at Grammy and Papa's reading lame-o Goosebumps books. Pathetic. I have got a lot of work to do if I'm going to check each of these of my list.

#1 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

#4 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

#5 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
#6 Holes by Louis Sachar

#7 The Giver by Lois Lowry

#8 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#9 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
#10 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
#11 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

#12 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

#13 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

#14 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
#15 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
#16 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
#17 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

#18 Matilda by Roald Dahl

#19 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

#20 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

#21 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan
#22 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
#23 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

#25 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

#26 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

#27 A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

#28 Winnie-the Pooh by A.A. Milne

#29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland /Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
#30 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
#31 Half Magic by Edward Eager
#32 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

#33 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

#34 Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
#35 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling
#36 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
#37 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
#38 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
#39 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
#40 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

#41 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

#42 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#43 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
#44 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
#45 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

#46 Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

#47 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
#48 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
#49 Frindle by Andrew Clements
#50 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
#51 The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
#52 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
#53 Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
#54 The BFG by Roald Dahl
#55 The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
#56 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

#57 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

#58 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
#59 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
#60 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
#61 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
#62 The Secret of the Old Clock (The Nancy Drew mysteries) by Caroline Keene
#63 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
#64 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
#65 Ballet Shoes by Noah Streatfeild
#66 Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
#67 Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
#68 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
#69 The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
#70 Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
#71 A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
#72 My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
#73 My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

#74 The Borrowers by Mary Norton

#75 Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
#76 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
#77 City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
#78 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
#79 All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
#80 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
#81 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
#82 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
#83 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
#84 Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
#85 On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#86 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
#87 The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
#88 The High King by Lloyd Alexander
#89 Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary

#90 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

#91 Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
#92 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
#93 Caddie Woodlawn by C. R. Brink
#94 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
#95 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
#96 The Witches by Roald Dahl
#97: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
#98 Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

#99 The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

#100 The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 

I loved Bridge to Terabithia as a twenty-one year old college student; reading it on the couch in our crummy rental house in Joplin. I can vividly remember Sarah Plain and Tall being the highlight of the third grade. I remember my mom reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond to my brother and I on the couch. I would sit and watch her lips move and be fascinated as she turned the words on the page into a story that was so real in my imagination. I love anything by Francis Hodgson Burnett. I read The Secret Garden for the second time last summer while we were cooped up in our non-air-conditioned duplex, waiting to move into our first home. 

I feel like I've read some of these books, because I've seen them in movie form. I know, that's cheating, but movies are good too! A Little Princess was the first movie I cried at - she had to endure so much and the love between father and daughter is so powerful. I watch Little Women at least five times a year and I bawl every time, because it makes me miss my family so badly and because I absolutely hate it when Jo refuses Laurie...ugh!

What is your favorite children's novel?