Top 100 Children's Books

I found this via Bookscout. This is the School Library Journal's list of the Top 100 Children's Books. The ones I've read are in bold. To be honest, I'm not actually sure how accurate my bolding is. There were more than a few that I couldn't remember if I had read or not. I'm not going to say that I'll read everything on this list that I haven't yet, but I'll definitely use it as a guide for children's books to choose from in the coming year.

According to my bolding, I've read slightly more than half.

100. The Egypt Game – Snyder (1967)

99. The Indian in the Cupboard – Banks (1980)

98. Children of Green Knowe – Boston (1954)

97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – DiCamillo (2006)

96. The Witches – Dahl (1983)

95. Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren (1950

94. Swallows and Amazons – Ransome (1930)

93. Caddie Woodlawn – Brink (1935)

92. Ella Enchanted – Levine (1997)

91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Sachar (1978)

90. Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan (1985)

89. Ramona and Her Father – Cleary (1977)

88. The High King – Alexander (1968)

87. The View from Saturday – Konigsburg (1996)

86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling (1999)

85. On the Banks of Plum Creek – Wilder (1937)

84. The Little White Horse – Goudge (1946)

83. The Thief – Turner (1997)

82. The Book of Three – Alexander (1964)

81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Lin (2009)

80. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman (2008)

79. All-of-a-Kind-Family – Taylor (1951)

78. Johnny Tremain – Forbes (1943)

77. The City of Ember – DuPrau (2003)

76. Out of the Dust – Hesse (1997)

75. Love That Dog – Creech (2001)

74. The Borrowers – Norton (1953)

73. My Side of the Mountain – George (1959)

72. My Father’s Dragon – Gannett (1948)

71. The Bad Beginning – Snicket (1999)

70. Betsy-Tacy – Lovelace (1940)

69. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart ( 2007)

68. Walk Two Moons – Creech (1994)

67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Coville (1991)

66. Henry Huggins – Cleary (1950)

65. Ballet Shoes – Stratfeild (1936)

64. A Long Way from Chicago – Peck (1998)

63. Gone-Away Lake – Enright (1957)

62. The Secret of the Old Clock – Keene (1959)

61. Stargirl – Spinelli (2000)

60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi (1990)

59. Inkheart – Funke (2003)

58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken (1962)

57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary (1981)

56. Number the Stars – Lowry (1989)

55. The Great Gilly Hopkins – Paterson (1978)

54. The BFG – Dahl (1982)

53. Wind in the Willows – Grahame (1908)

52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)

51. The Saturdays – Enright (1941)

50. Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1960)

49. Frindle – Clements (1996)

48. The Penderwicks – Birdsall (2005)

47. Bud, Not Buddy – Curtis (1999)

46. Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls (1961)

45. The Golden Compass – Pullman (1995)

44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Blume (1972)

43. Ramona the Pest – Cleary (1968)

42. Little House on the Prairie – Wilder (1935)

41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare (1958)

40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum (1900)

39. When You Reach Me – Stead (2009)

38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling (2003)

37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor (1976)

36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret – Blume (1970)

35. HP and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling (2000)

34. The Watson’s Go to Birmingham – Curtis (1995)

33. James and the Giant Peach – Dahl (1961)

32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – O’Brian (1971)

31. Half Magic – Eager (1954)

30. Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne (1926)

29. The Dark Is Rising – Cooper (1973)

28. A Little Princess – Burnett (1905)

27. Alice I and II – Carroll (1865/72)

26. Hatchet – Paulsen (1989)

25. Little Women – Alcott (1868/9)

24. HP and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling (2007)

23. Little House in the Big Woods – Wilder (1932)

22. The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo (2003)

21. The Lightening Thief – Riordan (2005)

20. Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt (1975)

19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Dahl (1964)

18. Matilda – Dahl (1988)

17. Maniac Magee – Spinelli (1990)

16. Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh (1964)

15. Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo (2000)

14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling (1999)

13. Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson (1977)

12. The Hobbit – Tolkien (1938)

11. The Westing Game – Raskin (1978)

10. The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster (1961)

9. Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery (1908)

8. The Secret Garden – Burnett (1911)

7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)

6. Holes – Sachar (1998)

5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Koningsburg (1967)

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Lewis (1950)

3. Harry Potter #1 – Rowling (1997)

2. A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle (1962)

1. Charlotte’s Web – White (1952)

My Kids, Right Now

In general, though, not right this minute. Right this minute they are watching Chuck, excepting Silas, who is hanging out with me in the playroom.

Saren has been talking about rats a lot lately. As in, she wants to own some, as pets. She recently had her first babysitting job and is planning on putting that money toward rat stuffs, plus any more that she may get in the near future. She checks on and waters our garden every day and tends to the tortoises. Other than that she spends a lot of time online, playing games and talking to friends.

Harper had a dream the other night that has inspired her to start a new story. She likes to play out her stories before and during the writing of them so there's a lot of that going on, with lots of ideas and inspiration pouring out of her. The dream had to do with a cat who had all kinds of crazy colors all over it and that cat has become her main character. She bought a white stuffed cat at the thrift store and altered it with fabric markers so that it would look like the cat from her dream. She's doing a lot of drawing as well, mostly of cats. She's planning a Webkinz party for Webkinz Day this week.

Irina plays, plays, plays. She's always carrying something around, like a couple of Barbies, or some play food, or a toy cell phone. She's so funny to listen to when she's pretending to talk on the phone. Whenever we go somewhere she has this random bunch of stuff she has to bring with her. It can't be something normal like a stuffed animal or a little purse filled with play money. Yesterday it was a wooden tray with three matchbox cars on it and an empty wipes box. I love how both Harper and Irina can just completely lose themselves in pretend play, whether it's with Barbies or stuffed animals or it's them playing the parts themselves. They're so full of stories.

Silas is loving to dance even more. He likes to climb up onto the coffee table and turn on the radio and just bounce away. Whenever he finds something he can manipulate to make music, he's thrilled. The Barbie that sings when you push the button on her back, the radio, the electronic drumsticks, the keyboard, all are favorites of his. His dancing has become more bouncy and joy-filled now, rather than serious and halting, as in the video I put up before. He's eating a ton as well. He insists on eating anything I'm eating and always has real food when we do. Neither Harper or Irina were this interested in anything but breastmilk until they were over 12 months and even then it was gradual. He also differs from them in that it seems like he'll eat anything. He likes avacado! No one in this family will eat avacado but me. I hope it lasts.

Here are some pictures.

11 months, turtles, etc.

Silas is one month away from being a year old today. Absolutely insane.



Also today: our neighbor came by and left us a box with about 25 Barbies in it that had belonged to his daughter PLUS accessories (um, thanks?), and we picked up two teensy desert tortoises from one of Pat's coworkers. They're going to be living with us now and this makes me very nervous because from everything I have read on google, we're bound to do it all wrong and they will be dead within the week.









The other day we did a little craft that I found via the Crafty Crow, using paper towels and watercolor paints. It made a neat tie dye effect and the finished product looks pretty in the window.



We also made some homemade play-dough, which we have of course done before, but I have never tried a cooked play-dough recipe and it was so much smoother and just really nice.



We also planted a very small garden and every day I wake up and look at it and wonder at the miracle of those plants still being alive even though I am their main caretaker. I'm sure it won't last. This here might one day reach tomato-dom if the whole thing doesn't die off before then! Very exciting!



These are actual strawberries! They're only as big as my pinkie nail, but still!



I should point out that all the plants we currently have in our garden were bought as plants, not seeds. I'm sure they would have never made it this far if it had been otherwise.

Harper has a video up for a Webkinz contest and if you go watch it, she will get more views and might win some cool stuff! Here it is!

In conclusion,



and

Easter

Friday we had an egg hunt with the Life Learners, Saturday we had an egg hunt with the aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents at Valley of Fire, and Sunday we just did baskets and a quick egg hunt inside the house (it was windy). I know I'm slow with my blogging lately. I'm in a blog lull. I'm sure it will pick up later. Pictures!

They were playing duck, duck, goose here and Irina went around saying, "Duck, duck, duck, goose, goose, goose, duck, duck, duck, etc." and then ran around the circle two or three times.

Where is it?

Silas's first egg hunt!

Dancing Boy

My dad gave Silas a toy CD player (with four buttons that play four different songs) for Christmas and it recently came out of the box it had been hiding in since the move. Silas became very interested in it. At first he would press the buttons over and over with no regard for what happened afterward, but soon it became apparent that he was listening to each song before pressing the button again. Then I noticed that he was sort of moving back and forth every time he listened to a song. It took me a bit to realize it, but he's dancing! I want to laugh when he does it, but he looks so serious about it, I think it would be disrespectful.

As of yet, he's got no rhythm, but he's got the idea.