I honestly don’t know how I missed it. I mean, I’ve always *meant* to read Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time, but I just never got around to it. So when I read a reference to it in the Ottawa Citizen earlier this week, it was top-of-mind when I was at the library yesterday and I picked it up. I asked the boys if they would mind pausing our current book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (which I think I’ve now read at least half a dozen times), to give this one a try. Simon especially was reluctant — he really loves the Harry Potter books. But he acquiesced and last night we read the first chapter of A Wrinkle In Time.
It was really hard to stop after just one chapter. I’m torn between sneaking it upstairs and devouring it myself or discovering it page-by-page with the boys. I felt the funniest echo through time, reading the perspective of oddball Meg who doesn’t quite understand why she doesn’t fit in with her mates. How have I never read this book before? Tristan and Simon agreed — they rated the book a “three plus” out of four after the first chapter, and agreed that Harry could wait until we figured out what a tesseract is and what happens next.
So it was a serendipitous sort of discovery to find in the Citizen (via Scholastic Books) a list of the top 100 children’s books of all time, with A Wrinkle In Time sitting prominently in the number 3 spot. Really, HOW have I missed it? And for the love of all things holy, what else have I missed?
Here they are, in case you’ve been missing out, too:
100. Animalia, Graeme Base
99. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, Paul Fleischman
98. First Words, Roger Priddy
97. The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey
96. Gossie, Olivier Dunrea
95. A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park
94. I Took the Moon for a Walk, Carolyn Curtis
93. We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, David Catrow
92. What Shall We Do With the Boo Hoo Baby?, Cressida Cowell
91. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, Catherine Thimmesh
90. Puss in Boots, Fred Marcellio
89. An Egg Is Quiet, Dianna Hutts Aston
88. Grumpy Bird, Jeremy Tankard
87. Rules, Cynthia Lord
86. Interrupting Chicken, David Ezra Stein
85. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume
84. No No Yes Yes, Leslie Patricelli
83. Yoko, Rosemary Wells
82. Ivy + Bean, Annie Barrows
81. Lincoln: A Photobiography, Russell Freedman
80. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
79. Llama Llama Red Pajama, Anna Dewdney
78. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Robert C. O’Brien
77. Hi! Fly Guy, Tedd Arnold
76. Peek-a Who?, Nina Laden
75. Holes, Louis Sachar
74. Owl Moon, Jane Yolen
73. Tea With Milk, Allen Say
72. Are You My Mother?, P. D. Eastman
71. Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
70. Blackout, John Rocco
69. The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, Joanna Cole
68. Counting Kisses: A Kiss and Read Book, Karen Katz
67. Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
66. The Maze of Bones, Rick Riordan
65. Birds, Kevin Henkes
64. My Truck is Stuck!, Kevin Lewis
63. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
62. Diary of a Worm, Dorren Cronin
61. The Lion & the Mouse, Jerry Pinkney
60. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Annie Kubler
59. Dear Juno, Soyung Pak
58. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, Kathleen Krull
57. The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket
56. Living Sunlight, Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
55. Smile!, Roberta Grobel Intrater
54. Through My Eyes, Ruby Bridges
53. The House at Pooh Corner, A. A. Milne
52. The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
51. Sylvia Long’s Mother Goose, Sylvia Long
50. Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan
49. Martin’s Big Words, Doreen Rappaport
48. Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
47. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Bill Martin, Jr.
46. Not a Box, Antoinette Portis
45. The Composition, Antonio Skármeta
44. Good Night, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
43. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis
42. What Do People Do All Day?, Richard Scarry
41. Matilda, Roald Dahl
40. Moo, Baa, La La La!, Sandra Boynton
39. Zen Shorts, John J. Muth
38. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney
37. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, Don and Audrey Wood 36. The Secret Garden, Francis Hodgson Burnett
35. Freight Train, Donald Crews
34. Swimmy, Leo Lionni
33. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
32. The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown
31. The Mitten, Jan Brett
30. My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Patricia Polacco
29. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
28. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems
27. Black on White, Tana Hoban
26. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin
25. The Giver, Lois Lowry
24. The Little Engine That Could, Watty Piper
23. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
22. Corduroy, Don Freeman
21. Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
20. Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
19. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, Mo Willems
18. When Marian Sang, Pam Muñoz Ryan
17. Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt
16. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
15. The Dot, Peter H. Reynolds
14. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
13. Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
12. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
11. Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
10. Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel
9. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
8. The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
7. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling (Also known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
5. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
4. The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
3. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
2. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
1. Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
The most surprising and delightful part of this list was mentioning it to Tristan and Simon, and telling them that A Wrinkle In Time was number three on the list. They were intrigued, and it warmed my bibliophile heart to see them pouring over the list, finding their favourites and discussing the ranking.
Did your favourites make the cut? I was surprised to see that If You Give A Mouse A Cookie didn’t make the list, and not a single Robert Munsch? What do you think of the list?
I think it’s a very American list 🙂
I wonder how they picked them – based on sales, perhaps? I absolutely LOVE Madeleine L’Engle and read every one of her books I could find. She has some for adults, too. Although I’ve read many of the books on the list, quite a few have been since having kids – maybe because they weren’t around when we were little. I love Peggy Rathmann (since you told us about The Day the Babies Crawled Away) and have just recently discovered Not a Box and Not a Stick which make my kids giggle their way right off the bed. 🙂
Personally, I don’t really care about where my favourites fit in, but I like the lists for giving me ideas. I used to get so many ideas from one of your bloggy links (madhatter) but haven’t been reading since she switched blogs – I really should.
Love so many on this list, including A Wrinkle in Time. Off the top of my head I would have loved to see the John Bellairs’s books, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg- all books I’ve reread as an adult- included on this list.
Enjoy!
Great list! I remember LOVING A Wrinkle in Time as a kid…but it has been so long that I’m not sure that I remember the story anymore. I’m looking forward to reading it again with my son.
No Dr. Suess on the list…how can that be???
We love Captain underpants. My kids like to don their underpants on their head and run around the house. The meer mention of the book and my son giggles.
It’s not that I disagree with this list, I just think it’s too short! Needs to be at least double the size since it’s “of all time”… I agree with Michelle re Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, and I would also include the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf… actually I wouldn’t know where to stop! 🙂
Only one I’d nuke is the Lemony Snicket book. I really struggle with the message it gives to kids – if you’re in distress and tell an adult, the adult won’t listen.
That said, I’m off to re-read The Giver – thank you for posting this!
We clipped this article out of the newspaper and are saving it for library and bookstore trips. There are so many great children’s books out there!