So, over Christmas there were lots of good things on the tele, festive films, Christmas specials, the Queen's speech. But for me the must-watch program over the Christmas period was Channel 4's 'Britain's Favourite Children's Books'. Keen to see which of my favourite children's classics would make it onto the list I settled down with a cup of tea at 6:30 on Boxing Day to watch David Walliams countdown the top 50 children's story favourites, as compiled by The Times. Starting with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic swashbuckling tale 'Treasure Island', the list did not disappoint. Featuring much loved tales such as 'The Wind in the Willows' and 'Alice in Wonderland', and favourites of my childhood, 'The Story of Tracy Beaker' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' I enjoyed revisiting books that sparked my love for reading. I was also intrigued by more modern additions to the list like Neil Gaiman's 'Fortunately, the Milk' and 'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness. The list was a nice mix of modern and classic literature, well known and less well known, and of this I was pleased.
If, like me, you are keen to see what Britain's top 3 children's books were you can watch the countdown here ! If you can't be bothered, then I shall tell you, and I hope you won't be disappointed! I certainly wasn't!
There is nothing worse than watching a countdown of something and number one being a result you would never have picked! So half expecting no.1 to be something I would consider trash I crossed my fingers....
No.3..... 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'! Yes, good choice Britain! Though in hindsight I was surprised it hadn't ranked higher.
No.2.... 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'. Again, a good choice. I've never read it but it certainly deserves to be up the top.
No.1...... 'Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner'. Relief! My favourite bear of all time! 'Winnie the Pooh' was as much a part of my childhood as 'The Gruffalo' is for children these days. In fact the audiobook, read by Alan Bennett, was on a continuous loop most of the time!
Afterwards I searched the list online and found that it was actually a list of 100 children's books considered national favourites. With the New Year fast approaching I rashly made the resolution to read them all! But unlike the resolutions you make to go to the gym or eat less cake, this one was going to be easy to keep (she says now.... Come back in a few weeks and we'll see.....!)
I love children's literature, it's my passion! I'm drudging through the last year of my degree with the hope to do an MA in children's literature afterwards, so the thought of reading all these books is keeping me sane! I'm looking forward to re-reading books that I've loved and creating new favourites along the way. I'll be writing my thoughts on each book here, so if you want to take the journey with me please come back soon.
So, first up is no.100 'The Adventures of Tintin, Tintin in America'.
For the whole list have a look here.
XxX
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