'A garden to be planted in, not a checklist to be completed.' Honestly, we need this reminder as adults just as much as kids do. We've turned reading into this performative productivity metric where we track our Goodreads goals and consume books like corporate tasks. Approaching a book for the pure, inefficient joy of wonder and moral imagination, without trying to optimize it or turn it into a takeaway, is a skill we grown-ups need to re-learn too.
My 6-year-old daughter has been read 25 of these. She's currently listening to me read The Odyssey (not a children's retelling either). Excellent list!
Great list. 👍 I would add the Chronicles of Prydain for children who are at least 9 or onwards. It’s a simple story, but the characters are so well-written and they grow on you, it’s a treat to go on this journey with them.
This is a great list, but I would be careful of assuming that these are the only books from which can draw useful morals and that these are the definitive ones "every child should encounter" and they "should" read by age 12. I started reading very early, long before formal schooling, and voraciously tackled book after book.
I never read hardly any of these.
Even as a small boy, I never cared for the fantasy genre (which is heavy on this list) and still don't today. That didn't stop me from developing my morals or hinder my understanding of our Western cultural history. Without these classics, my childhood reading of other kinds of books still influenced me to eventually earn my PhD and become a college literature professor for many years where it was my explicit job to teach morality and how to be a "literate, imaginative, morally serious human being." So, there probably isn't just one path. We can develop students' "moral imagination" in a variety of ways. While I respect the list, I think there is room for some other approaches as well.
Thank you. Well said. I disagree with Del Cross v that "A Wrinkle in Time" is the worst science fiction book ever written. Why not read both Jules Verne and L'Engle? My sons read both and they read early and voraciously and didn't need a "list".
Seriously, # 15 and 26 that far down? In favour of... hmm... collected by.. retold by... where's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by an American literary giant? Alice in Wonderland? London's White Fang? Am I crazy, I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and still these were the staples. Can't get through these 50 before the kid's 12th birthday? Why not? Either the title of the article is "should" or "it's okay if not", which is it? As much as I'm a fan of this Substack, this article caters to mediocrity.
Pretty solid, but whenever I see this kind of list I take issue with the phantom tollbooth. The world Juster conceived is ostensibly sensical, but in actuality is ruled by random idiom, and given the choice between a lesson and a cute enaction of literal world play he’ll pick the latter every time. Gives major moral whiplash.
A noteworthy attempt at this kind of list was made in 1922 by Charles Sylvester, the editor of the 10-volume set Journeys Through Bookland, occupying seven pages in the vol. 10 appendix. While the 150-odd suggestions have not all stayed within practical reach (try finding an intact and readable copy of Sir Walter Scott's Tales From a Grandfather, for instance), authors with multiple works in the list include James Baldwin, Charles Kingsley, Horace Scudder, Charles Lamb, Howard Pyle, and H. A. Guerber, plus the usual suspects Stevenson, Hawthorne, Dickens, Kipling – names to keep in mind when browsing antiquarian books. Of course there is a lot of crossover with the list presented here.
'A garden to be planted in, not a checklist to be completed.' Honestly, we need this reminder as adults just as much as kids do. We've turned reading into this performative productivity metric where we track our Goodreads goals and consume books like corporate tasks. Approaching a book for the pure, inefficient joy of wonder and moral imagination, without trying to optimize it or turn it into a takeaway, is a skill we grown-ups need to re-learn too.
My 6-year-old daughter has been read 25 of these. She's currently listening to me read The Odyssey (not a children's retelling either). Excellent list!
Thank you! Which translation are you reading here?
Fagles!
Thank you for this wonderful list, we love reading with our girls and they are definitely book lovers! I ordered several of these today;) big thanks.
Thank you!
What a list!!! Frog and Toad all the way! 💛
Outstanding list. Black Beauty was one of my favorites as a child.
Thank you!
I would add the Mary Poppins books by P.L.Travers!
Thank you for this. I hope I see the classics mentioned.
Great list. 👍 I would add the Chronicles of Prydain for children who are at least 9 or onwards. It’s a simple story, but the characters are so well-written and they grow on you, it’s a treat to go on this journey with them.
https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Prydain-Lloyd-Alexander/dp/1250000939/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D5X9UBQSR9L2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-CdmoqlUQUdMk7vCfH5tT5cICdPwuDYFTF7Z1vLbMqQ0zzKieq18QCEmBq8SPJf27ExZHgQj8qGWDKvffDC9PUHTB30e9M87P6zk5jinr8X2s4RGIOQO_D4yhJcS4Pt3v2E3m6LNNjq3sj-pRxG5A6NKG4baBfO9VliCZ5gAvHRBO7ICpBf5CX_fPsw03z58po_jtqGUgLYsN1dr4lQrtgCBw65pbcO1oy4vMFAlWBM.7wX3HPbkwYkZG96riT8Jt8NSMZDhr5_164eRhntcHUU&dib_tag=se&keywords=chronicles+of+prydain&qid=1779195523&sprefix=Chronciles+of+Pry%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1
Thank you! I haven’t heard of that one but will look into it.
You’re welcome. 👍
"The Boxcar Children", "Wherecthe Red Fern Grows" and "King of the Wind" are also outstanding.
Add The Rooster Rider to your list. #51. Available at Amazon.
On sale (Kindle edition only) for 20-27MAY26.
Aside from "A Wrinkle in Time" which is just about the worst science fiction book ever written, It's a good list.
I really wish that book were scrubbed from kids' reading lists. Much better Sci-Fi out there.
Indeed! Where is the Jules Verne and H. G. Wells?
Really. Verne is great for kids. Much better than L'engle.
This is a great list, but I would be careful of assuming that these are the only books from which can draw useful morals and that these are the definitive ones "every child should encounter" and they "should" read by age 12. I started reading very early, long before formal schooling, and voraciously tackled book after book.
I never read hardly any of these.
Even as a small boy, I never cared for the fantasy genre (which is heavy on this list) and still don't today. That didn't stop me from developing my morals or hinder my understanding of our Western cultural history. Without these classics, my childhood reading of other kinds of books still influenced me to eventually earn my PhD and become a college literature professor for many years where it was my explicit job to teach morality and how to be a "literate, imaginative, morally serious human being." So, there probably isn't just one path. We can develop students' "moral imagination" in a variety of ways. While I respect the list, I think there is room for some other approaches as well.
Thank you. Well said. I disagree with Del Cross v that "A Wrinkle in Time" is the worst science fiction book ever written. Why not read both Jules Verne and L'Engle? My sons read both and they read early and voraciously and didn't need a "list".
Seriously, # 15 and 26 that far down? In favour of... hmm... collected by.. retold by... where's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by an American literary giant? Alice in Wonderland? London's White Fang? Am I crazy, I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and still these were the staples. Can't get through these 50 before the kid's 12th birthday? Why not? Either the title of the article is "should" or "it's okay if not", which is it? As much as I'm a fan of this Substack, this article caters to mediocrity.
Pretty solid, but whenever I see this kind of list I take issue with the phantom tollbooth. The world Juster conceived is ostensibly sensical, but in actuality is ruled by random idiom, and given the choice between a lesson and a cute enaction of literal world play he’ll pick the latter every time. Gives major moral whiplash.
A noteworthy attempt at this kind of list was made in 1922 by Charles Sylvester, the editor of the 10-volume set Journeys Through Bookland, occupying seven pages in the vol. 10 appendix. While the 150-odd suggestions have not all stayed within practical reach (try finding an intact and readable copy of Sir Walter Scott's Tales From a Grandfather, for instance), authors with multiple works in the list include James Baldwin, Charles Kingsley, Horace Scudder, Charles Lamb, Howard Pyle, and H. A. Guerber, plus the usual suspects Stevenson, Hawthorne, Dickens, Kipling – names to keep in mind when browsing antiquarian books. Of course there is a lot of crossover with the list presented here.
congratulations pls have you publish your book on amazon kdp?