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The best children’s books of all time

Booktrust, the British reading charity, conducted a survey of 4000 in Great Britain, to determine the best children’s books of all time. Leading the list is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Princeby J.K. Rowling, placed sixth.

Here are the top ten:

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

Famous Five, Enid Blyton

Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

The BFG, Roald Dahl

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

The Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson

The Booktrust press release makes the following observations:

“At Booktrust we want everyone to enjoy reading, whether it be returning to old favourites or encouraging people to try something new. The final 50 are a fascinating mix of classic and contemporary titles which offers something for everyone. ” The best loved author in the poll is Roald Dahl – who has an astonishing SIX books listed in the top 50 best. Enid Blyton has five books in the top 50, whilst Julia Donaldson has four. The poll cited that four out of five parents read their children a bedtime story every night, for an average of 22 minutes a time. And just over half of parents questioned said they started reading books to their children when they were six months old – whilst 18 per cent read stories to their baby bump before the child was born.

Read the entire list of 50 books here.

The Guardian blog “Comment is Free” is having an interesting discussion of the list here.

Would the list be different in the United States? What do you think belongs onthe list?
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