Top 10 Books for Schoolchildren

[arctic]

Asked by the Royal Society of Literature to nominate their top 10 books for schoolchildren, here's what these writers responded:

JK Rowling
Author of the Harry Potter series
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
David Copperfield Charles Dickens
Hamlet William Shakespeare
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Animal Farm George Orwell
The Tale of Two Bad Mice Beatrix Potter
The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
Catch-22 Joseph Heller


Philip Pullman
Author of the His Dark Materials trilogy
Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson
Emil and the Detectives Erich Kästner
The Magic Pudding Norman Lindsay
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak
The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens (or other good anonymous ballads)
First Book of Samuel, Chapter 17 (the story of David and Goliath)
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare
A good collection of myths and legends
A good collection of fairytales


Andrew Motion
Poet laureate
The Odyssey Homer
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Hamlet William Shakespeare
Paradise Lost John Milton
Lyrical Ballads Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth
Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Portrait of a Lady Henry James
Ulysses James Joyce
The Waste Land TS Eliot

what's on your list?

 

[The waveguide]

Oh, have those got out of their minds!??! Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes for school children?! One should be a rather miserable child with a very complicated childhood to read those at the school age. BTW, what was the school age? 10 to 14 or 14 to 18?
Or those writers just tried to be "cool" and to look "educated"?
My parents made me to read the Anna Karenina when I was 14, so I still hate them for this. I will never forget them. Anyways I was reading in between the Harry Harrison's "Stainless steel rat" series and much of Asimov's book, which helped me to survive those hard times...

So, as to me, I would suggest for school-aged children (12 to 16 probably) to read the Harry Harrison, Terry Pratchet and Asimov. And to read the Joseph Heller's "God Knows" instead of First Book of Samuel, Chapter 17 (the story of David and Goliath) and Saramago's " The Gospel According to Jesus Christ", both in order to have a healthy view on some religion items.

 

[G4G]

Some of those books are enought to put kids off reading for life.
I was made to read Kes, Narnia and the Bible, and that almost did it for me. Love them now though. Well, Kes and Narnia at least....

 

[abecedarian]

"Schoolchildren" is such a broad term isn't it? The writers' should have made lists of top ten suggestions for at least three age groups: 8-12, 12-14, and 14-18..but that wouldn't have been a nice and neat for an article.

Here's my 8-12 list, but bear in mind I hate to be limited to 10:

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Dahl (on other titles)
2. Selected Bible stories (Song of Solomon would NOT be on this list!)
3. Heidi-Spryi
4. Treasure Island-Stevenson
5. Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin-Marguerite Henry+ other titles
6. Chronicles of Narnia(since we now have all 7 in one volume)
7. D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
8. Carry On Mr.Bowditch-Jean Lee Latham
9. Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet-Eleanor Cameroon( series)
10. The Autobiography of Bill Peet

This is also assuming the kids will be reading more great books besides these

 

[blueboatdriver]

Can't imagine trying to read Ulysses at 8-12 years old can you?

Mind you can't bring myself to start it at age 40......yet!

 

[abecedarian]

Can't imagine trying to read Ulysses at 8-12 years old can you?

Mind you can't bring myself to start it at age 40......yet!

Ha! I'm 44 and it scares me Given to an 8-12 year old, it MIGHT serve as a nice doorstop!

 

[blueboatdriver]

Ha! I'm 44 and it scares me Given to an 8-12 year old, it MIGHT serve as a nice doorstop!

Too high for that

 

[blueboatdriver]

Too high for that

Sorry, thought you said 'doorstep'

 

[abecedarian]

Sorry, thought you said 'doorstep'

LOL Of course, a girl might look at Ullysses and see "Barbie bed"

 

[angerball]

If I'd had to read some of those books when I was a school kid, I doubt I'd be reading today.

I'd recommend anything by Roald Dahl, SE Hinton, maybe the Harry Potter series. I mean, they don't have to read classic literature; the idea is to get them to want to read, and to enjoy it.