01 | March | 2007 | Bibliotica

Thirteen Rec ommendations from Bibliotica
13 Children’s Books You Have to Experience

Fletcher and Zenobia Edward Gorey and Victoria Chess combined their talents to come up with a magical tale of adventure and friendship. I bought a copy for $60 at a used bookstore several years ago, to replace the copy I lost in one of many moves. If you ever have a chance to read this – take it.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst’s classic tale of a kid’s awful day. The cadence of the language will make you want to read it out loud. Often.
Where the Wild Things Are Is there anything more classic than this bedtime tale of monsters and mayhem? Maurice Sendak is amazing!
In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) Another Sendak offering. This is a great trip through a kid’s imagination.
Ghosts I Have Been Meant for older kids (I think I was eight or nine when I read it, but even ten-year-olds would like it) this book is spooky in the same way that campfire tales are spooky. And Blossom Culp is quite the character.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Claudia and James run away from home and hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art – where they decide to solve the mystery of a statue’s real origins.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass For adults, I recommend the annotated version, but any version of the original tale will do – so NOT what Disney animated.
Madeline, Reissue of 1939 edition So quintessentially French and utterly precocious. Not to be missed.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Books of Wonder) If you enjoyed the movie, but haven’t read the book, you’re missing a lot. And then, there are the other 14 books in the series…
The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh From the first *bump* to the last “Oh, bother,” this should be required reading. Pooh before he was Disnified.
A Child’s Garden of Verses He might be better known for Treasure Island, but Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection of poetry is charming and effervescent. I’m never sure if my favorite is “The Swing” or “My Shadow.”
Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings Sometimes creepy, sometimes funny, always worth a second look.
The Chronicles of Narnia (Box Set) It may be cheating a bit to include a boxed set, but really, all the Narnia books are wonderful, not just The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe