On the Shelf

The Greatest Children’s Books…Ever

Since the Two Rivers Reading Club is in full swing, it seems like a good time to take a look at a recent poll by BBC Culture on the “greatest children’s books ever”. BBC Culture polled 177 book experts from 56 countries, to come up with its “top 100” list. Here are the books from that list that can be found in the Downieville Library (along with the placement number from the list):

• Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak (1)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (2)
• Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren (3)
• The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Expéry (4)
• The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien (5)
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (7)
• Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne (8)
• Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White (9)
• Matilda, by Roald Dahl (10)
• Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (11)
• Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen (12)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling (13)
• Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (17)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl (18)
• Heidi, by Johanna Spyri (19)
• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown (20)
• The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi (21)
• The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (25)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling (28)
• The Three Robbers, by Tomi Ungerer (30)
• The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats (31)
• Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by Brothers Grimm (37)
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter (38)
• Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson (50)
• Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers (51)
• The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame (63)
• The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss (67)
• Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell (77)
• The Wizard of Oz, by Frank Oz (85)
• Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (87)
• Danny, the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl (92)
• The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs (93)
• The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams (96)
• The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket (97)
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie (100)

Two Rivers Reading Club — A Reminder

Speaking of the Two Rivers Reading Club — the summer reading program for children at the Downieville and Sierra City libraries — this is a reminder that there are just over 6 weeks left in the program. Downieville School starts up again on August 23, and the reading program ends the day before — on Tuesday, August 22.

So far, there are at least 22 children participating in the Club — but there is still time for more to join! The program is open to all children from those who were in eighth grade last year and younger. What do the children benefit from this program? There are rewards given for each of the five levels of reading achievement. And, as the Downieville teachers reminded us, children who read over the summer come back to school with better retention than those who don’t. And, of course, children get the opportunity to explore some wonderful worlds between the covers of some amazing books.