on the bookshelf

(originally posted April 2006)

Favourite Children’s/Teen Books - a list of over 140 books compiled for my birthday - Thank you everyone!

Charlotte’s Web - E. B. White
The Wheel on the School - Meindert DeJong
Anne of Green Gables (any “Anne” book) - L.M. Montgomery
The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Pat of Silverbush and Mistress Pat - L.M. Montgomery
My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead by Mary O’Hara.
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
White Fang by Jack London
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly
Pookie the Flying Rabbit - Ivy Wallace
Old Yeller - Fred Gibson
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Frog and Toad - Arnold Lobel
Morris the Moose - B. Wiseman
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Agatha Christie mysteries
Grace Livingston Hill romances
The Five Little Peppers and the Five Little Peppers Midway
Beautiful Joe - Margaret Marshal Saunders
Peace Greenfield trilogy - Ruth Alberta Brown
Tabitha trilogy - Ruth Alberta Brown
Emily of New Moon series by L M Montgomery
Jane of Lantern Hill by L M Montgomery
Nancy Drew series - Carolyn Keene
Cherry Ames - Helen Wells and Julie Tatham
Rabbit Hill - Robert Lawson
The Hardy Boys - Frank W Dixon
Hitchock’s suspense books for young people
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Sue Barton series - Helen Wells and Julie Tatham
Wells without Water - author?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM - Robert C. O’ Brien’
King of the Wind - Marguerite Henry
Lord of the Rings trilogy - J R Tolkien
Winnie the Pooh - A A Milne
The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie - George MacDonald
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr
Any books by Shel Silverstein
Any books by Maurice Sendak
The Black Stallion Books - Walter Farley
The Bobbsey Twins - Laura lee hope
Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
Any books by Rosamund Du Jardin
Hardy Boys books
The Little House by Virginia Lee burton
The Tuckers - Jo Mendal
The Happy Hollisters - Jerry West
Honey Bunch and Norman - Helen Louise Thorndyke
Little Britches series - Ralph Moody
Books by Judy Blume
Books by Eleanor Farjeon,
Books by Eleanor Estes,
Books by Rumer Godden - especially An Episode of Sparrows
Andrew Lang’s fairy tales
Scott Corbett’s books: The Lemonade Trick, The Limerick Trick, etc.,
Encyclopedia Brown books - Donald Sobel
Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom - L. M. Alcott
The Door In The Wall and other Marguerite de Angeli books
Freddy the Pig series - Walter Brooks
Strawberry Girl and other Lois Lenski books
Gone-Away Lake, The Melendy family series and others by Elizabeth Enright
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Island of the Blue Dolphin and others by Scott O’dell
Biographies—Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, J. C. Penney, George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Abigail Adams, Annie Oakley to mention a few.
Half Magic and other books by Edward Eager,
The Railway Children and other books by Edith Nesbit
Swallows and Amazons series - Arthur Ransome
Billy and Blaze books - CW Anderson
The Tim books - Edward Ardizzone
The Phantom Toll Booth - Norton Juster
Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle
Trixie Belden - Julie Campbell and under the pseudonym Kathryn Kenny
The Campfire Girls series - Jane L Stewart
Miracle on Maple Hill - Virginia Sorenson
The Country Child - Alison Uttley
The Beanie Malone series - Lenora Mattingly Weber
The Betsy-Tacy series - Maud Hart Lovelace
All of a Kind Family series - Sydney Taylor
The Big Wave - Pearl S Buck
The Sky is Falling trilogy - and other bookss by Kit Pearson
Look Through My Window and other books by Jean Little
The Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
The Star of Kazan - Eva Ibbotson
The Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess, The Lost Prince - Frances H. Burnett
The Grandma’s Attic series - Arleta Richardson
Heidi - Joanna Spyri
Wind in the Willowws - Kenneth Grahame
Billabong series - Mary Grant Bruce
Good luck to the Rider series - John Marsden
Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton Porter
Recollection Creek by Fred Gibson
Bunnicula - Deborah and James Howe
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - EL Konigsburg
Mrs. Pickerell books - Ellen MacGregor
Henry and Ribsy and all the Ramona books - Beverly Cleary
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Windy Foot series Frances Frost
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield
The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin
What Katy Did and others by Susan Coolidge
Kidnapped - Robert L Stevenson
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Maida books by Inez Haynes Irwin
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle
Ballet Shoes, etc., by Noel Streatfield
The Five books by Enid Blyton
Baby Island - Carol Ryrie Brink
The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare
Stevie Diamond Series by Linda Bailey
Captain Underpants Series by Dav Pilkey
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! series from Scholastic Book
Island, Dive, Bruno and Boots series - Gordon Korman
Calico Bush - Rachel Field
Adopted Jane - Helen F Daringer
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates - Mary Maples Dodge
Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh
The Good Master by Kate Seredy
The Borrowers series - Mary Norton
Call It Courage - Armstrong Sperry
B is for Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood
The Belgian Twins and other international twin series - Lucy Fitch Perkins
Baby, Sarah Plain and Tall and other books by Patricia MacLachlan
Pippi Longstocking and other Astrid Lindgren books
The Great Brain series - John Fitzgerald

Storytime....

Islandsparrow — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:53:00 +0000

(originally posted March 2006)
OK - cuddle up…

I am going to tell you a story about my love of books and how that led me into trouble…

But before you begin to read, be warned!

This is definitely a “give and take”. I’m giving you a story and if you read it, I’m going to ask you for something. My birthday is coming up on March 31, so consider it my birthday gift…

OK?

Deal?

Read on…

My favourite gift has always been books - my sister (10 years older) understood this and always gave me a stack of second-hand books for each birthday - they were my favourite gifts! My Mom and Dad always brought me home a book from every trip they took. I adored books - I loved to find a cozy corner and read to my heart’s content. It’s not surprising that I am a half-time teacher-librarian in a grade 1-9 school. I get paid to work with children and their books - what could be better??

Confession time….

When I was about 11, my parents went away on a trip and a close neighbour came in to take care of my brother and me. Dad left our weekly allowance money for us in an envelope - a dollar for me and a dollar fifty for my older brother.

It was a Saturday morning and I happened to be browsing through our local 5 and 10 store when I saw a copy of Five Little Peppers Midway. I couldn’t believe it - one of my favourite books was Five Little Peppers and there was the sequel, right before my eyes!

There was only one problem - the book cost $2.50.

Oh! I wanted that book…

Now, I reasoned that my brother would not mind lending me his allowance for such a worthy cause. But, I hesitated to ask … that seems to have been the tragic flaw in the whole plan.

Instead, I “borrowed” the money without his permission and bought the book.

At first I was ecstatic! I clutched my copy of Five little Peppers Midway close to my heart! Finally, I would learn what happened next to Polly, Jasper, Ben, Joel, Davie and little Phronsie.

But as I drew closer to home, doubts began to grow in my mind - maybe my brother wouldn’t be so happy about this purchase. His reading tastes were more in the line of Marvel comics and the Hardy Boys - besides I “remembered” that he was planning to go to the Saturday afternoon matinee.

The book grew heavier and heavier. My feet began to drag more and more slowly.

When I came in the doorway of our split-level home, he was standing at the top of the stairs.

“Where is my allowance?”

He didn’t look happy.

I did the only sensible thing.

I ran.

As fast as I could, down the stairs, to the basement playroom where there was a lock on the door.

He tore after me, but fear gave me wings and I made it - breathless - panting - but safe behind a locked door!

He pounded on the door - “Open up!” he yelled.

I wouldn’t. There was no parent to protect me and our neighbour was out shopping.

He tried another tactic. The windows to our playroom were at ground-level. We often went in and out of them, just for fun, instead of using the door. So he ran outside to get in through the window.

I stood on the couch and held the window shut with all my might. He tried and tried to pull it open on the outside. Finally, in frustration, he slammed his fist against the window.

It was like a scene from a movie - played in slow motion. I saw the crack spread across the pane and then a piece of glass started to fall. I looked up at my brother.

“Oh !” I said. “You’re in big trouble now!” (note the irony)

Then I noticed the look of horror on his face. He was staring down at my hand. I looked down and saw the blood spurting up. I started to scream.

I don’t have much memory of what happened after that. Only, that somehow, the door was unlocked and my brother wrapped a towel around my hand and hustled me over to the neighbour’s house. She took me to the doctor and seven stiches later, (the glass went right through my hand) I was home.

My brother and I were quite chastened by the whole incident. He felt badly for what happened to me and I felt badly because if I hadn’t taken his money, it never would have happened. We both agreed it would be better not to tell the whole story to our parents. (pre-Christian days)

We gave an edited version that was the truth, but not the whole truth. “I was trying to shut the window and it fell in on my hand…” accompanied by lots of tears and a bandaged hand. No questions - lots of sympathy - probably some guilt because they weren’t home. We were relieved - and the curious thing was that I actually never told Mom the whole story until I was an adult.

Even more curiouser and curiouser (as Alice would say) I never knew what happened to my copy of The Five Little Peppers Midway. It disappeared.

Anyway….that’s my confession. The incident cured me of taking without asking, however it didn’t dampen my ardour for books - I still love them. I love to visit the library. I love storytime with my primary grades, talking about books with my students and especially, ordering new books!

One of my favourite Internet past times is finding out what you love to read - especially your favourite children’s books. I devour those lists! I open up another window with my local library account and copy and paste your favourites into the request screen.

And now my request…

(No - I don’t want a copy of The Five Little Peppers Midway!! :)

I’m just asking for your comments.

Please tell me your favourite children’s book.

Even better, a list of your favourite children’s books.

I love, love, love to read lists of favourite books and I really want to know your favourites.

If that Neocounter thingamajig is really working I have had 62 visitors since 11 pm on Friday night!! But where are my comments??

I know it’s not “De-lurking Day” but hey!! be nice to me - it’s almost my birthday!

and if this cranky-looking lady doesn’t work….

How about this sweet girl?