Cathy at 746 Books is hosting her 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Cathy writes:
One summer.
Three months.
93 Days.
20 books.
Are you in?
When I was working, summer was my big reading time. I used that (much-needed) time to catch up on my kid reading.
Now I'm retired. I am always able to easily read 3-7 books a week.
So let me up the challenge a bit.
As some of you know, I've been trying to read all 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. As of today, I am at 715 books read. That leaves me with 286 books to go.
I propose to try to read 20+ books from my list this summer.
It sounds like an easy task, reading children's books. But the truth is that I've read almost all of the easy books---the picture books, the short chapter books, the books widely available here in the US. What I'm left with are the big books (12+), the books I can't find at the library or even Amazon, books I can't find in English, books that (honestly) don't really appeal to me.
I will not let these problems stop me from my quest. Here is the list of books that will guide my reading this summer.
| Title (288/1001) | Author | |
| 0-3 | 3/37 | |
| 18 | Little Spook's Baby Sister | Inger Sandberg |
| 29 | Bunny Bath | Lena Anderson |
| 37 | Julian the Rabbit | Nicoletta Costa |
| 3+ | 6/124 | |
| 41 | Jolly Aunt, The | Lothar Meggendorfer |
| 78 | What Does the Mouse Think on Thursday | Josef Guggenmos |
| 81 | Wonderful Tree, The | Ulf Lofgren |
| 93 | Uppo the Bear | Elina Karjalainen |
| 126 | Fire-Engine Lil | Janet McLean |
| 157 | Tatu and Patu in Helsinki | Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen |
| 5+ | 32/220 | |
| 162 | Traditional Chinese Folktales (Classic of Mountains and Seas) | Unknown |
| 163 | Tales of Otogizoshi | Unknown |
| 183 | Adventures of Maya the Bee, The | Waldemar Bonsels |
| 184 | Josephine and Her Dolls | H.C. Cradock |
| 188 | Rupert the Bear | Mary Tourtel |
| 204 | Little Red Engine Gets a Name, The | Diana Ross |
| 205 | Tweet Tweet | Ludmila Podjavorinska |
| 206 | Tales and Legends | Javier Villafane |
| 212 | Apoutsiak | Paul-Emile Victor |
| 221 | Marlaguette | Marie Colmont |
| 224 | Detectives in Togas | Henry Winterfeld |
| 227 | Toad Who Wanted to Be A Star, A | Oscar Alfaro |
| 236 | Orange Cow, The | Nathan Hale |
| 238 | Old Master Q | Wong Chak |
| 239 | Robber Hotzenplotz, The | Otfried Preubler |
| 245 | Dreams of the Toad, The | Javier Villafane |
| 249 | Dailan Kifki | Maria Elena Walsh |
| 252 | Cion Cion Blue | Pinin Carpi |
| 255 | Kangaroo for All | Gloria Fuertes |
| 265 | Hodja From Pjort | Ole Lund Kirkegaard |
| 273 | Companions, The | Lygia Bojunga Nunes |
| 291 | Cat that Lived a Million Times | Yoko Sano |
| 320 | Hound of the Mound and the Frog of the Bog | Ana Maria Machado |
| 338 | Little Bird, The | Paro Anand |
| 345 | Moka the Cow | Agostino Traini |
| 347 | Sea at the End of the Forest, The | Pinin Carpi |
| 348 | My Kingdom for a Horse | Ana Maria Machado |
| 359 | Love Book, The | Pernilla Stalfelt |
| 364 | Biggest Kiss in the World, The | R. Chavez Castaneda |
| 367 | Constable Sniffler | Asko Sirkia |
| 368 | Girl and the Jackdaw Tree, The | Riitta Jalonen |
| 380 | In Mr. Thunder's House | Guido Quarzo |
| 8+ | 122/349 | |
| 385 | Robinson the Younger | Johann Heinrich Campe |
| 392 | Morality Tales | Rafael Pombo |
| 402 | Nobody's Boy | Hector Malot |
| 403 | Simple National Slovak Tales | Pavol Dobsinsky |
| 404 | Uncle Remus Stories | Joel Chandler Harris |
| 406 | Bevis* | Richard Jefferies |
| 414 | Moonfleet* | J. Meade Faulkner |
| 415 | Black Corsair, The | Emilio Salgari |
| 418 | Queen of the Caribbean | Emilio Salgari |
| 419 | Sussi and Biribissi | Collodi Nipote |
| 424 | Captain Storm | Emilio Salgari |
| 425 | Becassine | Jacqueline Riviere |
| 426 | Paul Street Boys | Ferenc Molnar |
| 430 | Wonderful Adventures of Nils, The | Selma Lagerlof |
| 433 | Extraordinary Adventures of Massagran | Josep Maria Folch i Torres |
| 435 | Adventures of Gian Burrasca, The | Vamba |
| 447 | What Celia Says | Elena Fortun |
| 450 | Kubula and Kuba Kubikula | Vladislav Vancura |
| 451 | Red U: A Story for Lads, The | Wilhelm Matthiessen |
| 455 | Night in the Galactic Railroad | Kenji Miyazawa |
| 460 | Pony for Jean, A | Joanna Cannan |
| 463 | Pigeon Post | Arthur Ransome |
| 464 | Adventures of the Wishing Chair, The | Enid Blyton |
| 465 | Far-Distant Oxus, The | K. Hull and P. Whitlock |
| 470 | Circus is Coming, The | Noel Streatfeild |
| 474 | Traveller in Time, A | Allison Uttley |
| 478 | Swish of the Curtain, The | Pamela Brown |
| 483 | Brendon Chase | B.B. |
| 485 | Wind on the Moon | Eric Linklater |
| 488 | Lucky Luke - Arizona 1880 | Morris |
| 489 | Little White Horse, The | Elizabeth Goudge |
| 490 | Mistress Masham's Repose | T.H. White |
| 494 | Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School | Frank Richards |
| 496 | Hurrah for St. Trinian's | Ronald Searle |
| 497 | Fantastic Antonita, The | Borita Casas |
| 498 | Autumn Term* | Antonia Forest |
| 504 | Princess Who Had Magic Fingers, The | Maria Luisa Gefaell |
| 505 | Adventurous Tales of Machu Picchu | Ciro Alegria |
| 506 | Tales of Uncle Rabbit | Euclides Jaramillo |
| 507 | Kimba | Osamu Tezuka |
| 509 | Little Onion | Gianni Rodari |
| 512 | Astro Boy (Mighty Atom) | Osamu Tezuka |
| 513 | Marcelino, Bread and Wine | Jose Maria Sanchez Silva |
| 514 | Jennings and Darbishire | Anthony Buckeridge |
| 515 | Down with Skool! | Geoffrey Willams |
| 523 | Minnow on the Say | Philippa Pearce |
| 524 | Hundred Million Francs, A | Paul Berna |
| 527 | Warden's Niece, The | Gilliam Avery |
| 528 | Thorn Castle | Istvan Fekete |
| 529 | Gaston | Andre Franquin et. al. |
| 531 | Warrior Scarlet | Rosemary Sutcliff |
| 532 | Mort and Phil | Francisco Ibanez |
| 534 | Boy, the Swallow and the Cat, The | Miguel Bunuel |
| 537 | Bonny Pit Laddie, The | Frederick Grice |
| 538 | Knight's Fee | Rosemary Sutcliff |
| 539 | Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver | Michael Ende |
| 543 | Fantomette | Georges Chaulet |
| 544 | Six Companions | Paul-Jacques Bonzon |
| 550 | Garden, The | Jiri Trnka |
| 552 | Little Pot Boiler, The | Spike Milligan |
| 553 | How the Whale Became | Ted Hughes |
| 558 | White Stone, The | Gunnel Linde |
| 560 | Adventures of Rupert the Toad, The | Roy Berocay |
| 562 | Shy Violet | Giana Anguissola |
| 566 | Little Fox, The (Vuk the Fox Cub) | Istvan Fekete |
| 568 | Telephone Tales | Gianni Rodari |
| 569 | King of Copper Mountains, The | Paul Biegel |
| 573 | Hedgehog Tree, The | Antonio Gramsci |
| 576 | Goalkeeper's Revenge, The | Bill Naughton |
| 578 | Tales of the Rue Broca | Pierre Gripari |
| 582 | Doraemon: Gadget Cat from the Future | Fujiko Fujio |
| 585 | Little Captain, The | Paul Biegel |
| 594 | Efrem the Knight | Mino Milani |
| 596 | Stradbroke Dreamtime | Noonuccal Oodgeroo |
| 598 | Chlorophyll from the Blue Sky | Bianca Pitzorno |
| 600 | Crusade in Jeans | Thea Beckman |
| 602 | Fib, The | George Layton |
| 603 | Conrad: The Factory-Made Boy | Christine Nostlinger |
| 604 | Granny | Peter Hartling |
| 608 | Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, The | Gene Kep |
| 611 | Little Man Dressed in Gray, The | Fernando Alonso |
| 612 | Kaziranga Trail, The | Arup Kumar Dutta |
| 614 | Fray Perico and His Donkey | Juan Munoz |
| 620 | Nothing to be Afraid Of | Jan Mark |
| 621 | Jules's Rat | Peter Hacks |
| 629 | Schoolboy Jia Li | Qin Wenjun |
| 631 | Max and Sally | Milos Macourek |
| 636 | Mouth Open, Story Jump Out | Grace Hallworth |
| 638 | Tomb Raiders | Odile Weulersse |
| 639 | Pirate's Heart | Benno Pludra |
| 640 | Storm | Kevin Crossley-Holland |
| 643 | Valley of the Fireflies, The | Gloria Cecilia Diaz |
| 645 | Gargling With Jelly | Brian Patten |
| 646 | Hounds of the Morrigan, The | Pat O'Shea |
| 651 | Quirky Tails | Paul Jennings |
| 653 | Thief in the Village, A | James Berry |
| 656 | Pit Pony | Joyce Barkhouse |
| 658 | Hayflower and Quiltshoe | Sinikka and Tiina Nopola |
| 659 | Merryll of the Stones | Brian Caswell |
| 663 | Painted House, The | Montserrat del Amo |
| 668 | Last Giants, The | Francois Place |
| 669 | Almost Everyone Could Topple | Toon Tellegen |
| 672 | Mole Always Turns up on its Own, A | Hanna Johansen |
| 673 | Bed and Breakfast Star, The | Jacqueline Wilson |
| 674 | Way Home | Libby Hathorn |
| 675 | Stories to Fernando | Ema Wolf |
| 676 | Halinka | Mirjam Pressler |
| 677 | Watch Out for the Cat | Silvana Gandolfi |
| 678 | Poordog the Starved | Graciela Montes |
| 681 | Clockwork | Philip Pullman |
| 687 | Matthias and Grandpa | Roberto Piumini |
| 688 | Toby | Graciela Beatriz Cabal |
| 692 | My Girragundji | Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor |
| 693 | Sterkarm Handshake, The | Susan Price |
| 694 | Dog with the Yellow Heart, The | Jutta Richter |
| 702 | Day I Learned to Tame Spiders, The | Jutta Richter |
| 705 | Father Grew Wings in Spring | Tomi Kontio |
| 707 | Papunya School Book, The | Nadia Wheatley |
| 709 | Rupert the Rapper and Aunt Deep Freeze | Sinikka and Tiina Nopola |
| 714 | Barrumbi Kids | Leonie Norrington |
| 720 | Three Fairy Tales | Gustavo Martin Garza |
| 725 | Rabbit and Coyote | Beatriz Donnet |
| 12+ | 123/270 | |
| 731 | Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno | Giulio Cesare Croce and A. Banchieri |
| 734 | Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, The | Raspe, Rudolf Erich |
| 741 | Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar |
| 742 | Captain Fracesse | Theophile Gautier |
| 744 | Good Little Devil, The | Comtesse de Segur |
| 750 | Fifth Form at St. Dominic's, The | Talbot Baines Reed |
| 751 | With Clive in India | George Alfred Henty |
| 753 | Heart: An Italian Schoolboy's Journal | Edmondo De Amicis |
| 756 | Treasure in Silver Lake, The | Karl May |
| 757 | Eclipse of the Crescent Moon | Geza Gardonyi |
| 758 | Tigers of Mompracem, The | Emilio Salgari |
| 761 | Jolanda, Daughter of the Black Corsair | Emilio Salgari |
| 765 | Jock of the Bushveld | Percy Fitzpatrick |
| 766 | Mystery of the Yellow Room, The | Gaston Leroux |
| 768 | War of the Buttons, The | Louis Pergaud |
| 770 | Cave Children, The | Alois Theodor Sonnleitner |
| 772 | In Medeleni | Ionel Teodoreanu |
| 775 | Ede and Unku | Alex Wedding |
| 777 | Children from Number 67, The | Lista Teszner and Kurt Held |
| 778 | Missing From Saint-Agil | Pierre Very |
| 780 | Happy Return, The | C.S. Forester |
| 782 | Cue for Treason | Geoffrey Trease |
| 783 | Red Zora | Kurt Held |
| 784 | We Couldn't Leave Dinah | Mary Treadgold |
| 787 | Woods of Windri | Violet Needham |
| 788 | Otterbury Incident, The | Cecil Day-Lewis |
| 790 | Metropolis | Osamu Tezuka |
| 791 | Path, The | Miguel Delibes |
| 792 | Big Tiger and Christian | Fritz Mühlenweg |
| 794 | Wool-Pack: A Tale of Adventure, The | Cynthia Harnett |
| 795 | Sons of the Great Bear, The | Liselotte Welskopf-Heinrich |
| 796 | Adventures of the Ingenious Alfanhui | Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio |
| 805 | Captain Thunder | Victor Mora |
| 806 | Neitah: A Girl in the Far North | Edith Klatt |
| 808 | Cherry Kids, The | Constantin Chirita |
| 810 | Baron in the Trees, The | Italo Calvino |
| 813 | Marianne Dreams | Catherine Storr |
| 822 | Tangara | Nan Chauncy |
| 823 | Friedrich | Hans Peter Richter |
| 826 | Twelve and the Genii, The | Pauline Clarke |
| 827 | Time of Trial | Hester Burton |
| 829 | Pastures of the Blue Crane | H.F. Brinsmead |
| 830 | Stowaway of the Ulysses, The | Ana Maria Matute |
| 832 | Min-Min, The | Mavis Thorpe Clark |
| 845 | Edge of the Cloud | K.M. Peyton |
| 846 | Oscar at the South Pole | Carmen Kurtz |
| 848 | Lark and the Laurel, The | Barbara Willard |
| 849 | Grover | Vera and Bill Cleaver |
| 850 | I'm the King of the Castle | Susan Hill |
| 852 | Winter in Wartime | Jan Terlouw |
| 853 | No Way of Telling | Emma Smith |
| 854 | Across the Barricades | Joan Lingard |
| 857 | Stories from the Year One Thousand | Tonino Guerra |
| 858 | Spirit Wind, The | Max Fatchen |
| 862 | Friends, The | Rosa Guy |
| 866 | Nobody's Family is Going to Change | Louise Fitzhugh |
| 867 | Trouble with Donovan Croft, The | Bernard Ashley |
| 868 | Who Does This Kid Take After? | Eva Janikovsky |
| 870 | Twopence a Tub | Susan Price |
| 872 | Machine Gunners, The | Robert Westall |
| 874 | Crisis on Conshelf Ten | Monica Hughes |
| 875 | October Child, The | Eleanor Spence |
| 879 | Thunder and Lightnings | Jan Mark |
| 880 | First of Midnight | Majorie Darke |
| 881 | Underground to Canada | Barbara Smucker |
| 885 | Tulku | Peter Dickinson |
| 887 | My One-Legged Friend and Me | Anna-Liisa Haakana |
| 889 | Sentinels, The | Peter Carter |
| 891 | Scarecrows, The | Robert Westall |
| 892 | Agnes Cecilia | Maria Gripe |
| 896 | Nausicaa | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 897 | Handles | Jan Mark |
| 898 | Parcel of Patterns, A | Jill Paton Walsh |
| 899 | Talking in Whispers | James Watson |
| 901 | Brother in the Land | Robert Swindells |
| 905 | Johnny, My Friend | Peter Pohl |
| 908 | Ghost Drum, The | Susan Price |
| 910 | Strollers | Lesley Beake |
| 911 | Cloud, The | Gudrun Pausewang |
| 912 | Alex | Tessa Duder |
| 913 | Devil's Arithmetic, The | Jane Yolen |
| 914 | Pack of Lies, A | Geraldine McCaughrean |
| 915 | Caperucita in Manhattan | Carmen Martin Gaite |
| 918 | Strange Objects | Gary Crew |
| 919 | Redwork | Michael Bedard |
| 920 | Rocco | Sherryl Jordan |
| 921 | Visits, The | Silvia Schujer |
| 922 | Dear Nobody | Berlie Doherty |
| 923 | Listen to my Heart | Bianca Pitzorno |
| 924 | Memoirs of a Basque Cow | Bernardo Atxaga |
| 926 | There Will Be Wolves | Karleen Bradford |
| 929 | Titeuf | Zep |
| 931 | Heart's Delight | Per Nilsson |
| 933 | Some of the Kinder Planets | Tim Wynne-Jones |
| 934 | Rowan of Rin | Emily Rodda |
| 935 | Gathering, The | Isobelle Carmody |
| 936 | Gold Dust | Geraldine McCaughrean |
| 937 | Dougy | James Moloney |
| 938 | Stone Cold | Robert Swindells |
| 939 | Foxspell | Gillian Rubenstein |
| 941 | Switchers | Kate Thompson |
| 942 | Whispers in the Graveyard | Theresa Breslin |
| 944 | Jump into the Other World, A | Bruno Tognolini |
| 945 | When the World Was Still Young | Jurg Schubiger |
| 949 | Gifting, The | Sophie Masson |
| 951 | Deadly, Unna? | Phillip Gwynne |
| 952 | River Boy | Tim Bowler |
| 953 | Pig-Heart Boy | Malorie Blackman |
| 958 | Stony Heart Country | David Metzenthen |
| 960 | Not Chicago, Not Here | Kirsten Boie |
| 961 | Postcards From No Man's Land | Aidan Chambers |
| 963 | Wind Singer, The | William Nicholson |
| 965 | Witch Child | Celia Rees |
| 966 | Oh, Boy! | Marie-Aude Murail |
| 968 | Coram Boy | Jamila Gavin |
| 969 | Refugee Boy | Benjamin Zephaniah |
| 971 | I Am Polleke | Guus Kuijer |
| 979 | Four Sisters | Malika Ferdjoukh |
| 980 | Slaves of Quentaris | Paul Collins |
| 989 | Boat in the Forest, A | Paola Mastrocola |
| 991 | Memories of Indhun: The Resistance | Laura Gallego Garcia |
| 998 | Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling | David Cornish |
| 1000 | Silver Jaguar, The | Herman Scholz |
Add your link to sign up here to join the 20 Books of Summer.
Good luck with this challenge! I hope that you end up enjoying the 20 books that you decide to read from this list.
ReplyDeleteI've hardly ready any of these, but can highly recommend The Mystery of the Yellow Room, although I don't really think of it as a children's book. I read the Bunter books as a child and thought they were mildly funny, but I fear they will have dated pretty badly. The Jennings and Darbishire books on the other hand are delightful! I loved them as a child and still do - Stephen Fry recorded some of them as audiobooks a few years ago and I had fun revisiting them. Hope you enjoy whichever ones you get to!
ReplyDeleteAlmost every one of these sounds obscure to me. Good luck searching out - and getting through - the difficult ones. Perhaps you will find a gem, one that will become one of your all-time favourites!
ReplyDeleteThe Baron In The Trees is one of my absolute favorite books. You should read that ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I think of Baron Munchhausen as a children's book, though there's no reason a 12+ couldn't read it, I suppose. It's a pretty wild ride.
I haven't read the Henty on your list, but he tends to be rah-rah British empire, but is otherwise OK, I thought.
I'm curious about Salgari and Karl May but haven't read either.
Happy reading!
Sounds doable for you. You are indomitable.
ReplyDeleteIndomitable.
DeleteWhat a great list of children's literature! (I just got the Nils books by Lagerlof, so I'm excited about that).
ReplyDeleteFascinating list -- I'll look forward to your reviews. On the list: Robber Hotzenplotz is familiar because my grandchildren have read it, and I've been meaning to read it. They have puppets of some of the characters from the story. Also familiar to me: the author Antonio Gramsci, but he's famous for politics, not literature.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I love this plan of yours.
ReplyDeleteWow, you've made so much progress on this challenge! I think the only one of these I recognise is Witch Child, which I've heard good things about.
ReplyDeleteSome of the books on this list are also available in German!
ReplyDeleteI also love to read!
I hope you have fun reading them.
ReplyDeleteWell, there you go... my own favourite book as a child is on the list, Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce. Oh, how I loved that book and still have a copy. Good luck with your challenge!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your quest to find and read the books you are still looking for. I read a lot of children's books and read them to my students and children, but a lot of these books, I have not heard of. I hope you enjoy whatever you are able to get your hands on.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get hold of the requisite number in time! I recognise quite a few of the UK ones in the 8+ and 12+, let me know if you need me to look out for any for you!
ReplyDeleteI'm in. Summer starts with a road trip to California and back so I should get three audiobooks completed. Then there is a the sit outdoors and read moments. I'll be off to a good start. Sorry I am so late to respond to your comment on my Friday post. Fridays I watch my grandson and now that he is mobile I don't have much chance to do anything other than keep an eagle eye on him all day. Exhausting.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! I think it's wonderful that you've been doing this reading plan and have fun with the 20 Books of Summer. I may try to join in to :)
ReplyDeleteLots of good choices on this list, including one that I stopped halfway through because I got distracted. If I can find it and finish it, I will send it to you!
ReplyDeleteI should create a list like this. It would certainly include The Little White Horse but it is very sentimental so not everyone would like it. I certainly enjoyed it as a child, however.
Constance
It's so great that you are going for all 1001 books! I have total faith that you will read 20 of these over the summer!
ReplyDeleteI spotted a few Australian titles in the older list, but the rest are unknown to me. I loved Across the Barricades and the Flambards book, but like the Aussie titles in the list, all quite dated now. Pastures of the Blue Crane is set in the area of northern NSW where my dad grew up and where we used to spend our summer holidays visiting grandma. Good luck with the book search :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Deb, I prepared this little post just for you after reading your lists - I hope it helps you decide. Bron xo
ReplyDeleteMy 1001 books
What a list!
ReplyDeleteWhile I admire your summer goal, I am going to stick to working on my general 2021 goals this summer.