Little Willow ([info]slayground) wrote,
@ 2006-06-09 17:03:00
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Current mood: creative
Current music:The Choice by Jonatha Brooke
Entry tags:booklists, books

Booklist: American Children's Books Written in the Last 25 Years
A Fuse #8 Production is working on a Top 25 American Children's Books Written In the Last 25 Years list. (Thanks to Kelly at Big A little a for the link.)

Some of my favorite books were disqualified because they came out more than 25 years ago. For example, I couldn't include The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin because it was published in 1978. Sorry, Ellen. Sorry, Turtle. My classics were eliminated by both the timeline and the nationality requirements. Sorry, Charles*, but you're British; Michael Ende, you're German. (* = See comments on this post.)

I have selected books written by an American between 1981 and 2006 that I have read countless times. I listed my selection from easiest read/youngest audience to most difficult content/oldest audience. Without further ado, here are my picks:

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
Judy Moody by Megan McDonald
The Doll Hospital by James Duffy
The Ghost Wore Gray by Bruce Coville
The Dancing Cats of Applesap by Janet Taylor Lisle
The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn
The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy - I can't find a biography/point of origin. Anyone?
The Young Wizards series (8 books so far) by Diane Duane


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Footnote
[info]slayground
2006-06-10 12:05 am UTC (link)
* That's right, I distinguish between Lewis Carroll (a pen name, not a nickname) and Charles Dodgson (the real person). When I have to list the author for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, I will say Lewis Carroll, because that is the name under which they were published. However, when talking about the author's life, when telling people how much I love his Alice works (and when defending his completely innocent relationship with Alice Liddell), I refer to him as Charles.

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[info]bliccy
2006-06-10 01:11 am UTC (link)
Apparently I can't type simple html tonight! Yeesh!

My favorite is still Mandy - Julie Andrews Edwards. :)

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[info]slayground
2006-06-10 01:12 am UTC (link)
It's all right.

I have not read her novels. I have read some of her picture books, including Little Bo, which is about a cat. :)

Listening to Chris' new songs on MySpace. . .

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[info]bliccy
2006-06-10 01:14 am UTC (link)
Hee hee, I did that today! They're much...peppier than I would have anticipated considering his divorce and how emo he tends to get.

I'm hoping to make his concert at the Crystal at the end of the month! I feel so special he decided to play here first, yay! :)

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[info]slayground
2006-06-10 01:25 am UTC (link)
Does the album title have its roots (pun intended) in folktales, folk songs, something? I was almost disturbed by it until I considered that it could be a saying or a reference with which I am unfamiliar.

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[info]bliccy
2006-06-10 02:10 am UTC (link)
I'm not familiar with the term, but Google did give me a lot of results for Tom Brosseau, who has a song by that title. He's also ticketing his new "band" as How to Grow a Band...and all of the info on that site is like if Chris was on shrooms, which considering he's already hyperactive, is scary. :)

Yeah the title does have a weird, derogatory ring to it...hopefully he'll talk about the meaning behind it eventually.

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[info]slayground
2006-06-10 02:10 am UTC (link)
There are gimmicks, and then there are bad ideas. :)

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[info]37piecesflair
2006-06-10 02:38 am UTC (link)
But, Pullman's British.

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[info]missmomoko
2006-06-10 05:46 am UTC (link)
yeah that's what I thought too!

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[info]slayground
2006-06-10 07:19 am UTC (link)
Drat. I thought I edited that out. (I combined the lists of all of my favorite juvenile books first, then had to take out folks/titles that didn't qualify.)

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[info]dianoraek
2006-06-21 12:15 am UTC (link)
Catching up on your blog after being on vacation, and oh my gosh does this stir up memories! I totally forgot about The Westing Game. I used to love that book. And Mary Downing Hahn's Wait 'Til Helen Comes was another favorite of mine. I'm pretty sure I read The Doll In The Garden, but I can't remember it very well. I see from Amazon that MDH has been writing up until the present; are her newer books the great ghost stories like she used to tell?

This entry has made me remember a book that I read in the 4th grade that I loved, and I can't remember who it's by, although it seems like it's in the vein of MDH's books. The main character was a girl named Zoe, and she could go back in time by going down a certain set of stairs in her house, where she encountered another young girl. I'm shaky on the details, since it's been so long. Do you recognize it?

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[info]slayground
2006-06-22 04:58 am UTC (link)
Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your vacation.

I aspire to write something as smart and well-conceived as The Westing Game.

I can think of another story with a similar concept: Three Lives to Live by Anne Lindberg.

Have you read books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder?

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