Top
ten? Such a cliché. Here are lists of some of my favorite books in various
genres. I’m not going to list big-name classics,
though of course many of those books are high on my overall lists. For example, Charlotte’s Web is wonderful, but you
all know that one, so I’ll give you slightly less famous fare or forgotten
classics that are dear to my heart. They’re books you may have missed, but just
might like very much. Because in between gardening and walking around with your umbrella in the almost-April rain, you know you're looking for a good book!
FANTASY
The Bronze King and two sequels by Suzy McKee Charnas
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (was Crown
Duel/Court Duel)
Gom on Windy Mountain and three sequels by Grace Chetwin
The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
Grimbold’s Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray
The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke
The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt
The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken
The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon
Taash and the Jesters by Ellen Kindt McKenzie
The Wicked Enchantment by Margot Benary-Isbert
SCIENCE FICTION
The
Bromeliad Trilogy and the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy by Terry Pratchett
Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein
The
Dragonback series by Timothy Zahn (Dragon
and Thief, etc., especially for preteen boys)
Fledgling and sequels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (see also the Liaden Universe
series for adults)
The Silver Crown by Robert C. O’Brien
Starswarm by Jerry Pournelle
MYSTERY & ADVENTURE
Alabama Moon by Watt Key
Down the Rabbit Hole and sequels by Peter Abrahams (see also his teen mystery/thriller, Reality Check)
The
Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer
Minerva Clark Gets a Clue and two sequels by Karen Karbo
CONTEMPORARY & HISTORICAL FICTION
Casson
Family books by Hilary McKay
The Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken
The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard
No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
They Loved to Laugh by Kathryn Worth (an old-fashioned coming-of-age story with Quakers)
Thursday’s Children by Rumer Godden
PICTURE BOOKS
Beware of Boys by Tony Blundell
Dogger by Shirley Hughes
Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon, illustrated by Charlotte
Voake
Julius the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes
Little Rabbit Foo Foo, retold by Michael Rosen, illustrated by
Arthur Robins
Not This Bear! by Bernice Myers
Suddenly! by Colin McNaughton
The Talking Eggs, retold by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated
by Jerry Pinckney
Thea’s Tree by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Janet Pedersen
Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
(best for 3- and 4-year-old boys)
What! Cried Granny: An Almost Bedtime
Story by Kate Lum, illustrated by Adrian Johnson
FOLKTALES & FAIRY TALES
“The
Boy Who Read Aloud” by Joan Aiken, from Classic
Fairy Tales to Read Aloud, ed. Naomi Lewis
Duffy and the Devil by Harve and Margot Zemach
Good Griselle by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David
Christiana
The Language of Birds, retold by Rafe Martin, illustrated by Susan
Gaber
Larky Mavis by Brock Cole
The Magic Fish-bone by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert
Florczak
The Magic Nesting Doll by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, illustrated by
Laurel Long
Mr. Semolina-Semolus, retold by Anthony L. Manna and Christodoula
Mitakidou, illustrated by Giselle Potter
Tatterhood and Other Tales, ed. Ethel Johnston Phelps
POETRY
All the Small Things and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth, illustrated by Natalie
Babbitt
Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of
Poetry, ed. Jane Yolen and
Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to
Poetry by X.J. Kennedy and
Dorothy Kennedy
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child’s Book of
Poems, ed. Beatrice Schenk
de Regniers et al., illustrated by nine Caldecott Medal artists
A Spider Bought a Bicycle and Other Poems for
Young Children, ed. Michael
Rosen, illustrated by Inga Moore
Swing around the Sun and Words
with Wrinkled Knees by Barbara Juster Esbensen
Tail Feathers from Mother Goose: The Opie
Rhyme Book (Little, Brown),
many different illustrators
Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of
Poems, ed. X.J. Kennedy and
Dorothy Kennedy, illustrated by Jane Dyer
Under the Moon and Over the Sea: A Collection
of Caribbean Poems, ed. John
Agard and Grace Nichols
PLUS A FEW YA FAVORITES
Changeover and Tricksters by Margaret Mahy
Dairy Queen and two sequels by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Dragon's Bait and Magic Can Be Murder by Vivian Vande Velde
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and sequel by Lish McBride
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (Book 3 in a series that must be read in order, starting with The Thief)
Northlander and The King Commands by Meg Burden
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Soul Enchilada by David McInnis Gill
Thief's Covenant and False Covenant by Ari Marmell
Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
So Happy Spring! (And don't say you can't find anything to read.)
