The Places You Will Go

My Essential Reads

I've decided to post my lists of essential reads for children and teens. These lists differ slightly from my list of personal favourite reads (not posted - maybe another day) because many of the books I keep coming back to are out of print and I want the lists here to contain only books that are readily available, either in local bookstores or online, or even in school and public libraries.

Also, I've decided to keep the lists that appear here relatively short. There are so many great books out there that keeping to 10 titles for each category was very difficult, even painful (because I had to leave out several titles that I like in order to present lists that are more widely representative of the wide range of fiction available).

Lastly, I was going to include an Essential Fantasy list, but you can figure that out for yourselves from the sidebars on Diana Wynne Jones and other fantasy writers.

(And Liz, if you're looking for recommendations ...)

Anyway, here goes ...

Picture/Board Books
1. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr

2. Horns to Toes and In Between by Sandra Boynton

3. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffer

4. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

5. Granpa by John Burningham

6. William's Doll by Charlotte Zolotow

7. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

8. Arnold by Mick Inkpen

9. Archie Hates Pink by Barbara Nascimbeni

10. The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter

Essential Classics
1. Uncle Cleans Up by J. P. Martin

2. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls

3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

6. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

7. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

8. The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

9. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield

10. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Liz Tai's Essential Reads

These are Book Maniac's 30 favourite books. Book Maniac is really Elizabeth Tai, a sub editor for the Star 2 section in the Star newspaper. You'll also have seen her book reviews in both Star 2 and Star Mag.

Liz and I have known one another for about two or three years but it's only recently that we've become friends.

I'd say we have a love of books in common. And we also like watching TV!!

Anyway, here's her list.

Liz Tai's Essential Reads

1. The Bible (I like the Living translation)

2. Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand, Fool's Fate, Golden Fool

3. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

4. Phillip Yancey's What's so amazing about Grace?

5. Phillip Yancey's Dissapointment with God

6. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

7. Jane Austen's Emma

8. Marion Zimmer Bradley: all of her Darkover books

9. Francine Rivers's Mark of the Lion : A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, As Sure As the Dawn (Vol 1-3) [Set in AD 70 during the height of the Roman empire. If you love Ben Hur, this is for you!]

10. C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia

11. William Zinsser's On Writing Well

12. Michael Connelly's City of Bones

13. Michael Conelly's The Poet

14. Michael Conelly's The Narrows

15. Michael Conelly's Concrete Blonde

16. Shakespeare's Hamlet

17. Charles Dickens's Great Expectations

18. Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha

19. Salam Pax's Diary of a Baghdad Blogger

20. Victor Hugo's Les Misreables

21. James Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small (actually, everything by him.)

22. Dave Barry's Dave Barry Does Japan

23. Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods

24. George Eliott's Middlemarch

25. Nick Hornby's About a boy

26. J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun (just heart-breaking!)

27. Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, The Last Command .. and the second book which I can't remember
the name!

28. Dan Kimball's The Emerging Church

29. Su Tong's Rice

30. Su Tong's Raise the Red lantern

Propelling What???

I recently posted on Girlsown, the book mailing list I belong to, about noticing a change in the text of Enid Blyton's The Mystery of the Missing Necklace. The new edition has Fatty saying that he would award his second-best pen to whoever sees through his disguise, but in the original text, the prize is his second-best "propelling pencil".

I wondered why the publishers felt it necessary to change this detail. Well, obviously they felt that people wouldn't know what a propelling pencil is, but, as I said in my post:

I would have thought it was a chance to learn something new!

Katherine Considine, one of the list members, responded with the following post, which I thought said it all:

Yes, that's one of my main bugbears when it comes to updating things in books. I grew up with a hardcover of Missing Necklace, so it certainly said "propelling pencil", and never once did it lessen my enjoyment of the story, or confuse me, or anything like that. I didn't know what a propelling pencil was. In fact, I still didn't until about five minutes ago. So what? If I'd remembered to ask my mother, or to look it up, I would have known, but to me it was just "one of those things that people had in an Enid Blyton story".

There were lots of those, including Shillings and half-crowns, treacle (which you do get here but we never had!), sou'westers, goloshes, and lots of other things, and they really never bothered me! In the same vein I'd think that it would be interesting for children in the US to learn about the Philosopher's Stone - after all, it's not that hard a word, and it is an actual term that was already in use - it's not like JKR made it up!

A propelling pencil, by the way, is a kind of mechanical pencil. A length of lead is encased in a plastic or metal tube and whenever the point gets blunt, one twists the pencil to get a freshly sharpened bit of lead.

Should Children's Literature be Cleaned Up?

Jean Ure, in her email, mentioned how Enid Blyton, if she were writing today, wouldn't get away with a character called Fatty. I mentioned this to my husband, Martin, and we had a giggle, but agreed that we'd prefer if Fatty remains Fatty in the new editions (and so he does!).

I haven't seen it myself but I've heard of revisions in Blyton's books. Don't know if it's a myth about Noddy no longer saying he feels "queer" or being mugged by Golliwogs, but the Three Golliwogs have definitely had their names changed: from Nigger, Golly and Woggie to Wiggie, Waggie and Wollie.

I don't think these revisions are really neccessary. In our house, we don't practise censorship of reading material (apart from the obvious and blatantly racist and sexist, and pornographic). Once I caught myself stapling the pages of one of the Jane and Peter books together, but I took the staples out after I'd had a think. The conclusion I came to was that even though I felt the books enforced sexual stereotypes, I could use them to bring up the topic with my kids.

If Enid Blyton's books have to be revised, why stop there? Books by Shakespeare, Dickens and a whole lot of other classics would need to be censored and rewritten too. The fact is racist or sexist values depicted in many books simply reflect the times they were written in. E. Nesbit was an active socialist, but her children's books contain several less than flattering remarks about Jews. And even though C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian, the way he depicts the Arab race (or a people very like the Arabs) in his Narnia books doesn't reflect this at all (or maybe it does!)!

So, when I come across anything in a children's book that is racist, sexist or classist, or, in any way, goes against the values I'm trying to raise my kids with, I make a mental note to talk to my boys about it when (and if) they read the book.

So far, so good. Elesh can deliver a speech about the dangers of sexual stereotyping, and we have had several chats about racism.

Do you believe in censoring or revising children's literature? Share your thoughts by clicking on "comments".

Picture Book of the Month: The Big Pets

May 2004

The Big Pets

By Lane Smith

Publisher: Puffin Books

This book is haunting, hypnotic and soothing all at the same time. A little girl explores the mysteries of the night with her giant cat and meets other kids with their giant pets: dogs frolic in bone gardens and cats float through an entire milky way. Lane Smith's drawings are beautiful, atmospheric and dreamy. I wouldn't mind most of the pictures in here on the walls of my house!

Edward's Essential Reads

This list was sent to me by Edward Gomez.

Edward is a sub-editor at Galaxie Magazine where he also does book and music (CD) reviews. He is also a music (CD & equipment) reviewer for the Star newspaper. And, best of all, he is my son, Ekath's GodPa!!

EDWARD'S ESSENTIAL READS

1. Roots - Alex Hailey

2. The Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

3. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

4. The Lion, The Witch And The Wadrobe - C.S. Lewis

5. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

6. The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

7. The Godfather - Mario Puzo

8. Dream Brother: The Lives And Music Of Jeff And Tim Buckley - David Browne

9. Heavier Than Heaven - Richard Cross

10. The Wind In The Willows - Kenneth Grahame

11. Psmith In The City - P.G. Wodehouse

12. Diary Of A Nobody - Charles Grossmith

13. Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K. Jerome

14. The Slow Train To Milan - Lisa St. Aubin De Teran

15. Imaginary Homelands - Salman Rushdie

16. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

17. The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul - Douglas Adams

18. The Prophet - Khalil Gibran

19. Animal Farm - George Orwell

20. The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley

21. Little Men - Louisa M. Alcott

22. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland - Lewis Caroll

23. Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Caroll

24. Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

25. Lord Of The Flies - William Golding

26. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

27. The Buddha Of Suburbia - Hanif Kureshi

28. Love In A Blue Time - Hanif Kureshi

29. Beowulf - Anon (Edited by Seamus Hinney)

30. Candide - Voltaire

31. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Wiliams Bianco

32. Dune - Frank Herbert

33. If You're Speaking To Me Your Career Must Be In Trouble - Joe Queenan

34. The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams

35. Master And Man - Leo Tolstoy

36. Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice

37. The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice

38. Dear And Glorious Physician - Taylor Caldwell

39. Man Of Nazareth - Anthony Burgess

40. The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

41. Dubliners - James Joyce

42. Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote

43. Winnie The Pooh - A. A. Milne

44. The House At Pooh Corner - A. A. Milne

45. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

46. The Jungle Books - Rudyard Kipling

47. The Crucible - Arthur Miller

48. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carre

49. The Looking Glass War - John Le Carre

50. The B.F.G. - Roald Dahl

Book List Mania

Life in a My Bowl of Cherries' Deb, visiting Book Maniac's Book Gobbler blog, asked about an official list of 100 books everyone should read. I think it's impossible to have a real "official" list as that would be like dictating people's reading habits and tastes. Still, that doesn't stop various agencies from coming up with lists of favourite books and must-read titles. Most are voted on by the public and we look at them and say: "Why ****? It's crap!" or "Where's xxxx? How dare they leave it out!" So you see ...

If you're interested in finding out what books the world can't live without (apparently), here are a few lists you can check out:

BBC Big Reads

Young Adult Library's lists of the best young adult books.

Children's Literature Web Guide's lists for best books of the year.

The Random House Modern Library 100 Best Books of the 20th Century Fiction

Do you have your own list? Email it to me and I'll post it.

Jean Ure Emailed Me!

You could have knocked me down with a feather when I saw the email from Jean Ure in my inbox. It's an honour it is to be told by anyone that your blog is enjoyed, but when it's someone whose books you've read and loved and reviewed, the feeling is too, too thrilling for words.

Jean Ure's email is reproduced below.

Hallo, Daphne! Someone just emailed me a copy of your review of me and Jacqueline Wilson and from then I went on to have a look at your blog, which I greatly enjoyed. I'd forgotten all about the Enid Blyton Mystery books! A year or so back I wanted to give the overall title of The Weekenders to four books now called The Girlfriends series, but my publishers vetoed it as being "too Enid Blytonish". I believe I must have had the Mystery books in mind, because weren't the kids in those called something like The Put em Rights? Or am I fantasising? Mind you, Ms Blyton wouldn't get away with "Fatty" these days! Anyway, I'm so pleased you gave a nice review to Family Fan Club as I was a bit nervous about Collins reissuing it in the same series as Skinny Melon, etc. Watch out for Secret Meeting, due out in June! Very best wishes, Jean

Puss in Boots Gets a Revamp!

Took my son, Elesh, and my niece, Lydia, to see Shrek 2 this weekend past. We loved it (laughed like hyenas) and agreed that the best thing about the film was Puss-in-Boots.

When we got home I showed the kids Tony Ross’s version of the classic fairytale and their eyes went as round as saucers ... as round, in fact, as Puss’s eyes in the film. Believe me, I’ve been trying to read Elesh the story for the last five years at least, but somehow or other, it’s never happened. So, for a while there, he and Lydia thought this Puss character was a brilliant new creation. In fact, Puss is probably the Godfather of all literary cool cats. Even so, Elesh read the Ross book last night and liked it well enough, but I think he prefers Puss with a sword and a Spanish accent!

One of the reasons why I enjoy the Shrek movies so much is the references to fairytales and nursery rhymes. It’s cool seeing all these classic characters out of context and carrying on with their lives – I think it’s a good idea that the movies depict Red Riding Hood’s granny-impersonating wolf is the same one who harasses the three little pigs. I think the nightie and mob cap really suit him!

Hopefully, if our children enjoy Shrek and Shrek 2, they will be encouraged to find out more about the original wolf, Pinocchio, the three blind mice, the gingerbread man and so on. These fairytales and nursery rhymes seem to have taken a backseat what with all the competition they’re getting from lost clown fish, sci fi action figures, one-eyed green monsters etc. It looks like you don’t stand a chance in the 21st century until you get featured in a movie and have your own merchandise!

The Mystery of the Ugly Book Covers

For my birthday (in April) I received, amongst other things, a RM50-book voucher, which I spent on a few Enid Blyton Mystery books. A few years ago I completed my collection of her Adventure books (they're the ones with Kiki the Parrot), but I am still short of a few Famous Fives, and I need at least five more titles to complete the Mystery series.

The Mystery books feature The Five Find Outers and Dog. The leader of the pack is Fatty. Then there's Pip and Bets, Daisy and Larry, and Buster (Fatty's dog). The Find Outers solve mysteries that take place in or near the town of Peterswood, where they live. They're aren't as widely travelled as the kids who go adventuring (that lot always end up in the most exotic locations) or the Famous Five (they like hiking and camping in the English countryside).

To my delight, the Mystery books were recently reissued by Egmont Books. Unfortunately, these new editions come with really ugly covers! Still, as I only have two tattered and torn copies of the old Red Dragon paperbacks, these reissues are most welcome. Anyway, I can always wrap them in brown paper!

You can buy the Mystery books at all good bookshops for RM13.90.