1001 Children's books you must read before you grow up Preface by Quentin Blake

What a tempting title for a Teacher-Librarian who certainly has not yet ‘grown up’ 1001 Children's books you must read before you grow up.

How did I approach this 960 page book?
Well first of all I just flipped through the pages. Then as more and more of my personal favorites appeared I began to wonder who selected these 1000 titles? All is revealed on the last five pages. From Australia, for example, there are three very well respected book reviewers such as Ann James, Jo Goodman and Dr Belle Alderman. Other nations have also employed their very best people.

What is inside 1000 children’s books you must read?
Well there are 5 chapters organized by age Chapter 1 is ages 0-3, Chapter 2 is ages 3+; Chapter 4 is ages 8+ and Chapter 5 is ages 12+ (although I think many are really suitable for Upper Primary.) Within the chapters the books are organized chronologically by date of publication.

Which books do I love?

Many of these are part of our regular library program.
Chapter One Goodnight Moon, Each peach pear plum, The elephant and the bad baby, Elmer, Kipper and Owl babies

Chapter Two Eloise, Harry the dirty Dog, Where the wild things are, Corduroy, Morris’s disappearing bag, Peace at Last, Avocado baby, Possum Magic, Felix and Alexander, Winnie the Witch, Owl Moon, Frog is Frog, Lost and found, and Max

Chapter Three Caps for sale, Flat Stanley, The giving tree, Joseph’s Yard, John Brown, Rose and the midnight cat, The lighthouse keeper’s lunch, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, Jumanji, The Paper bag Princess, If you give a mouse a cookie, The Polar Express, My Place, Drac and the Gremlin, The true story of the Three little pigs by A Wolf, Henry and Amy, Fox, and Flotsam

Chapter Four The hundred dresses, Stuart Little, The little white horse, The lion the witch and the wardrobe, James and the giant peach, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, From the mixed up files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH, Conrad the story of a factory made boy, Bridge to Terabithia, Goodnight Mr Tom, Sarah Plain and Tall, Journey to Jo’burg, Redwall, The snow spider, Two weeks with the Queen, Bill’s new frock, Shiloh, The giver, 45 and 47 Stella Street, Clockwork, The view from Saturday, Fire bed and bone, Because of Winn Dixie, Mortal engines, Journey to the River Sea, The naming of Tishkin Silk, Utterly me, Clarice Bean, The tale of Despereaux, Wolf Brother, The invention of Hugo Cabret.

I was so happy to see so many of my favourite books and to see such a match with my Library Thing collection which I designed to reveal the 100 hidden treasures of a Primary School Library.

I highly recommend this fabulous book to anyone interested in books for children. Start with the end papers they are very special. Then go along to your library and borrow the books you read about - we have heaps of them in our school library! One more thing this is not just a book for the grown ups it would be a great resource for children too.