{"id":27547,"date":"2023-05-30T11:53:36","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T10:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?p=27547"},"modified":"2023-05-30T14:47:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:47:05","slug":"selecting-my-top-childrens-books-for-the-bbc-one-hundred-top-childrens-books-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/05\/30\/selecting-my-top-childrens-books-for-the-bbc-one-hundred-top-childrens-books-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Selecting my top children\u2019s books for the BBC \u2018One Hundred Top Children\u2019s Books\u2019 list"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC Culture emailed me in early March 2023 to ask me to participate in a poll they were holding among experts on children\u2019s literature worldwide in order to compose a list of the top one-hundred children\u2019s books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Their request was to nominate our own \u2018top ten\u2019 according to particular guidelines, including the books having to be for children of 12 and under, of any genre, from anywhere in the world and chosen according to any of several possible criteria, including personal taste, enjoyment or aesthetic criteria.<\/p>\n

As the Director of the University of Reading\u2019s Graduate Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media (CIRCL)<\/a> and the M(Res) in Children\u2019s Literature, choosing my top ten books raised the kind of complex and fascinating questions and issues we think about with students.<\/p>\n

Our courses are not about what most people (both inside and outside of academia) expect: the M(Res) was founded as the MA in Children\u2019s Literature in 1984 by the late Mr Tony Watkins and was the first master\u2019s degree in children\u2019s literature in the UK (and probably the world) to be accredited as a degree in English Literature instead of as a degree in Education or Library Studies, as had always been the case previously.<\/p>\n

The CIRCL courses study children\u2019s literature within the context of cultural studies and literary and critical theory, thinking about childhood and children\u2019s reading as being constructed differently in different historical periods and according to different cultural, ethnic, religious, political or personal perspectives.<\/p>\n

\"A
Books about children’s literature and culture by Kar\u00edn Lesnik-Oberstein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I chose my own \u2018top ten\u2019 based on a mix of criteria<\/a>: books that are personal favourites but which are at the same time widely regarded as having cultural or historical significance, even in terms of controversy.<\/p>\n

My top choice, Laura Ingalls Wilder\u2019s Little House in the Big Woods,<\/em> is regarded as one of the most famous accounts of the colonial history of the United States, but has also been viewed as racist in its portrayal and lack of portrayal of Indigenous Aboriginal peoples. But that is precisely why I wanted to include it as, in my view, its importance also lies in its being involved in such difficult but crucial discussions.<\/p>\n

My second choice, Anne of Green Gables,<\/em> has been read worldwide and has played a key role in disseminating ideas of Canadian colonial identity, gender and landscape. Mark Twain, the American author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer<\/em> and Huckleberry Finn<\/em> famously wrote of Anne that she was \u2018the dearest most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice\u2019.<\/p>\n

Much less known from an Anglophone perspective is my fifth choice, Annie M.G. Schmidt\u2019s Jip en Janneke<\/em> (1953), which in The Netherlands is not only the best known children\u2019s book (and series) but a true national cultural icon. The illustrations for the book by Fiep Westendorp remain widely used on merchandise to the present day.<\/p>\n

Jip en Janneke<\/em> can be said to be as significant on the national level as my fourth choice, Astrid Lindgren\u2019s Pippi Longstocking<\/em>, is internationally, where Pippi is widely admired as an example to free and independent women and girls everywhere.<\/p>\n

My seventh choice, Shirley Hughes\u2019s Dogger<\/em>, is included as a tribute to the genre of the picture book, while my eighth choice, Rosemary Sutcliffe\u2019s Eagle of the Ninth<\/em> is a classic example of a historical novel for children.<\/p>\n

My tenth choice, Mildred D. Taylor\u2019s Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry<\/em>, is included as only one of many possible examples of classic writing about African-American culture and history.<\/p>\n

Professor Kar\u00edn Lesnik-Oberstein<\/a> is Director of the Graduate Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media and the M(Res) in Children\u2019s Literature in the Department of English Literature at the University of Reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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