Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe tops children's books poll
Fascinating poll result from The Daily mail.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis's fantasy novel first published 58 years ago, has been crowned the ultimate children's book.

Despite making its author JK Rowling richer than the Queen and sparking a worldwide publishing phenomenon, Harry Potter came a relatively lowly sixth place in the survey.
CS Lewis's 1950 tale of four children who enter the fantastical world of Narnia through a wardrobe beat contemporary favourites such as Harry Potter and The Gruffalo.

The top 50 children's books included much-loved classics such as the Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, the Secret Garden and the Railway Children.
But second place in the poll was taken by a picture book said to have sold a copy every minute since it was published in 1969, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Timeless classics, including the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Enid Blyton's Famous Five adventure books made up the top five
Third place was claimed by Enid Blyton's Famous Five Series, begun in 1942 and consisting of 21 books, but counting as one entry for the purposes of the poll, followed by A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh.
The best-loved author emerged as Roald Dahl, who boasts six books in the top 50. His most popular was The BFG, in fifth place.
The single JK Rowling title in the list, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, was sixth.
The remainder of the top ten was The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton; The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame; Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.
The poll of 4,000 respondents was conducted by the charity Booktrust, which runs the Governmentbacked Bookstart initiative giving free packs of books to children.
Viv Bird, director of Booktrust, said: "It's wonderful to see the enduring popularity of these books which are loved by generation after generation."

:: Top 50 Best Children's Books

1. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
3. Famous Five, Enid Blyton
4. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne
5. The BFG, Roald Dahl
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
7. The Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
8. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
9. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
10. The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson
11. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
12. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
13. Matilda, Roald Dahl
14. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
15. The Cat in the Hat, Dr Seuss
16. The Twits, Roald Dahl
17. Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves
18. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
19. The Malory Towers series, Enid Blyton
20. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
21. The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
22. Hans Christian Fairy Tales, H.C. Andersen
23, The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
24. The Witches, Roald Dahl
25. Stig of the Dump, Clive King
26. The Wishing Chair, Enid Blyton
27. Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell
28. The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith Kerr
29. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jan Brett
30. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
31. A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond
32. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
33. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
34. Aesop's Fables, Jerry Pinkney
35. The Borrowers, Mary Norton
36. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
37. Meg and Mog, Jan Pienkowski
38. Mrs Pepperpot, Alf Proysen
39. We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen
40. The Gruffalo's Child, Julia Donaldson
41. Room on a Broom, Julia Donaldson
42. The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy
43. Miffy, Dick Bruna
44. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
45. Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown
46. The Snail and the Whale, Julia Donaldson
47. Ten Little Ladybirds, Melanie Gerth
48. Six Dinners Sid, Inga Moore
49. The St. Clare's series, Enid Blyton
50. Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting how few of these books are recent, less than a handful from the last 10 years. So I wonder what makes a classic, and who voted? And are today's books up to the standards of these best-loved titles?

Anonymous said...

I agree - I rather think this is a list compiled by nostalgic adults -and not the audience for whom this genre is written! (namely children)