I�m still waiting on summer reading recommendations from some of you, but in the mean time, here�s a list pirated from ABDMom. Below is the NEA�s (that�s the National Education Association, not the National Endowment for the Arts) top 100 children�s books. Titles in bold old I have read myself. Those in I have read with AJ. Those in both categories are both bolded and italicized.

Many of my favorite books are on here, including the one that is the source of my online persona. But, as ABD Mom pointed out, there are some notable omissions. She mentioned the Betsy-Tacy books, which I adored. But there are many others: Carol Ryrie Brink�s Caddie Woodlawn, Frances Hodgson Burnett�s The Little Princess, Beverly Cleary�s Henry Huggins, Walter R. Brooks� Freddy the Detective. Marjorie Flack�s The Story of Ping and the Angus books, Dodie Smith�s The 101 Dalmatians (so much better than the Disney version), the Nancy Drew books (I had an old set of the originals from the 1930s that were my grandmother�s), Arlene Mosel�s Tikki Tikki Tembo, Rudyard Kipling�s Just So Stories, Mary Norton�s The Borrower, Lucretia Hale�s The Peterkin Papers, Little Babaji (a wonderful book that takes the good parts of the old Little Black Sambo tale and leaves the racist remarks out), Margaret Sydney�s The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, the wonderful works of E.L. Konigsberg (my favorites were �Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me Elizabeth� and �A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver,� a fantastic book about Eleanor of Aquitaine), he Harry Potter books, Noel Streatfeild�s �Shoes� series (especially Ballet Shoes), Encyclopedia Brown. Most of these (and many on the list below) were things my own mother had read that she passed on to me -- the family legacy of children�s literature.

Still, the NEA�s list is a pretty good one. I was amazed at not only how many I�d read, but how many we have in this house somewhere.

1. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
2. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (this is reportedly the first book I ever read by myself)
4. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
5. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
6. Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch (this book makes me cry) (this book creeps me out)
7. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
9. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
10. The Mitten by Jan Brett
11. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
12. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
13. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
14. Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
15. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
16. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
17.Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss (Ok, so I read this as an adult, but it was pre-Pistola. This is currently one of the two books she demands at bedtime)
18. Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
19. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
20. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
21. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
22. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
23. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
24. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
25. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (I own a copy of this in Latin. How much of a geek am I>)
26. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
27. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
28. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder29. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
30. The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (I�ve read them all, but AJ�s just heard a few so far)
31. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
32. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (I think I read this one as an adult)
33. Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
34. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (This, along with My Side of the Mountain, was a bible for me when I was a kid. I used to have fantasies about wilderness abandonment. Yeah, I was a weird kid.
35. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
36. The BFG by Roald Dahl (I have never read this one, but I�ve read most of his other kids books)
37. The Giver by Lois Lowry
38. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
39. James and the Giant Peach: A Children's Story by Roald Dahl
40. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
41. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
42. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
43. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
44. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
45. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
46. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
47. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (I read it every Christmas Eve. I know I�ve written an entry about this at some point, but I�m too lazy to look for it)
48. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
49. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
50. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
51. Corduroy by Don Freeman (This is probably on AJ�s top 10 list
52. Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
53. Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
54. Matilda by Roald Dahl
55. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
56. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (I can�t wait to read about Henry Huggins and Ramona with AJ)
58. The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
59. Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
60. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (Hey, wasn�t the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe already on this list somewhere?)
61. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
62. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
63. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (Another of my childhood favorites. There was a wonderful animated film made of this that I�d love to see again.)
64. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (I gave this to AJ
65. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
66. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
67. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
68. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
69. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
70. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (I liked the Emily books even better than the Anne books)
71. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
72. Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus
73. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
74. The Cay by Theodore Taylor
75. Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
76. Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
77. Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown
78. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
79. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
80. Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
81. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
82. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
83. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
84. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
85. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (well, duh!)
86. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
87. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
88. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
89. Stuart Little by E. B. White
90. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
91. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
92. The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
93. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
94. Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
95. Heidi by Johanna Spyri (I liked Cornelli better, but it�s hard to find)
96. Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
97. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
98. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
99. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
100. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

[Second entry today� click back to see how AJ deals with screaming 7 year old girls]

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