30 books children should read - as chosen by threeinfluential British writers. The Royal Society of Literature
recently asked three top British writers to nominate
10 books they think children should have read by
the time they leave school.
J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman and Andrew Motion chose
an interesting, if somewhat high-brow, collection of books.
Here are their choices. I've highlighted the ones I've read.
J.K ROWLING
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The Tale of Two Bad Mice, Beatrix Potter
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
PHILIP PULLMAN
Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
Emil and the Detectives, Erich Kastner
The Magic Pudding, Norman Lindsay
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Coleridge
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens
First Book of Samuel, Ch 17
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
ANDREW MOTION
The Odyssey, Homer
Don Quixote, Cervantes
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Paradise Lost, John Milton
Lyrical Ballads, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot
WHO IS ANDREW MOTION?? ... OK, I'm back, and I've discovered that he is England's Poet Laureate. And a tad optimistic about the reading habits of the young.
Three pieces I played with yesterday. Above, playing with thread on a scrap piece of muslin.
Bayou Quilts: Children's Books This is what got me started on this subject. And Here is the Meme.
Black and white (love 'em) fabrics pieced into approximately 9 x 11 block that had no purpose or direction yet.Postcard from scraps.
Yesterday was self-indulgent play day with no laundry done, but The Stranger House by Hill finished (missed "fat Andy"), The Conjurer's Bird, by Martin Davies begun, and another chapter in Friedman's The World Is Flat.
Ok, when I first read this, I mis-read the beginning and thought these were lists of books "children should read" and starting thinking WTF??? at some of the choices, but then I looked again and saw the part about "by the time they've left school" and then thought, oh...ok, so JK is NOT advocating 9-year-olds reading "Wuthering Heights". Whew. :-D
ReplyDeleteBTW, I have my children's book meme almost ready to go and will be posting it tomorrow.
PS...Forgot to tell you how very much I LOVE that top piece with the red-haired girl diving toward the water!!!
ReplyDeleteI've written a post about my childhood reading. I cannot really remember most of it, probably because it was inappropriate. I am very glad that I developed the habit of reading from an early age, however.
ReplyDeleteWhat? You drew that with thread?? Talented person! And the black and white piece at the bottom doesn't have to have a direction - it will find its own way. It's so hard to find good black&white fabric when you need it. Postcard is nice, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd apart from missing Fat Andy, how was the book? Should I take it out of the library??
A fun and worthy day, who the heck needs laundry! I love the top piece with the diving (flying)girl. What a great idea to use children's books for inspiration. Jen
ReplyDeleteDebR: Revised the beginning in hopes of clarity :) and thanks for comment on the red-head!
ReplyDeleteOmega: My gosh! Who reads Pooh in Greek! Enjoyed your list.
Mary: Must find my Alice Walker-delicious prose.
Rayna: Thanks for nice comments and will write more about the new Hill later.
Scrapmaker: Who, indeed? Laundry can always wait! Thanks for comment on red-head.
i think i'm going to be a regular visitor to your site. i am a big fan of your quilts. you've done it again, because i love that floaty-woman!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Miriam! You gave me a cheerful awakening this morning!
ReplyDelete