The top 100 books for kids

Chapters has put out a list of the top books for kids as chosen by irewards members. In our house we have 79 of the top 100, some that belonged to me as a child and most that have been purchased since Taylor was a baby. Working in a book store definitely had its benefits, the shite pay not being one of them.

Included in this list are only 12 books by Canadian authors. At number 4 is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. This book freaks me out, frankly. Rocking a teenage boy in your arms? Weird. Rocking your elderly mother in your arms, almost as weird. I suppose I should look past that and just appreciate the meaning of the book, but sorry I can't.

My all time favourite Canadian book is on this list, Pierre Berton's The Secret World of Og. I don't know why this book is not in this house, but it isn't. Who knows what ever happened to my childhood copy. Taylor took it out of the library yesterday, though I suppose she is probably a bit too old for it now. Did anyone ever watch the cartoon as a child? It used to be on as a Saturday morning special on ABC. I watched it everytime and never grew tired of it. It wasn't until years later that I found out that og meant young. Sneaky of old Pierre there, using Irish to trick all us North Americans.

What I don't like about this list is that some picks are given over to series, such as the number one choice, the Chronicles of Narnia and number 41 The Baby-sitters Club, which is probably over 100 books by now. Yet Laura Ingalls Wilder is on there for both Little House on the Prairie and Little House in the Big Woods, which is essentially a series. So why not do one or the other? Surely not everyone thinks Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is in the top 100. I don't think a single Baby sitters club book should be in there, it's much like putting in Sweet Valley High, books that I read but certainly wouldn't consider worthwhile literature.

Anyway, it's an interesting list, there's a suprising amount of poetry on it. Take a gander at it, if you happen to be bored senseless. If you're smarter than I am you may be able to pull up the actual list, all I could get was what they have in stock so it looks as though Kristy's Great Idea is the number one book.Those babysitters would take over the world if they could.