Children's Classics

[boricuaqueen327]

Can you list as many children's classics as possible? I am working on a proposal for a community service project for my class and want to do a book drive. TIA!

[zibster321]

these were some of my favorites and still are:

the Ramona series (beverly cleary)
walk two moons (sharon creech)
the secret garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
ballet shoes and the other 'shoes' books (noel streatfeild)
any of the roald dahl books
mrs. piggle-wiggle series (betty macdonald)
from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler (e.l. konigsburg)
the midnight fox (betsy byars)
stuart little, charlotte's web, the trumpet of the swan (e.b. white)
half magic and all his other books (edward eager)
harriet the spy (louise fitzhugh)

obviously not an all-inclusive list, but those are some that i absolutely love and think kids will always love

[Oriole]

What age groups?

General
Dr. Suess
Astrid Lindgren
A. A. Miln
Brothers Grimm
Andersen
Fairy Tales and Myths (just about any from anywhere)
Greek and Roman Mythology
Roald Dahl

Specific
Peter Pan
Alice in Wonderland
Puddington Bear
Bambi
Wizard of Oz
The Hobbit
Teh Nutcracker
Secret Garden
Jungle Book
Mary Poppins
Black Beauty

[Thalia the Muse]

to these great suggestions I would add:

A Little Princess
National Velvet
King of the Wind
Misty of Chincoteague
My Side of the Mountain
Julie of the Wolves
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Little House series
Caddie Woodlawn
Just-So Stories
Johny Tremaine
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series
The Halloween Tree
Treasure Island
Kidnapped
Five Children and It
The Finn Family Moomintroll
The Gammage Cup (OK, a minor classic - I just love it)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Anne of Green Gables
Anything by Elizabeth Enright
The Great Brain
A Wrinkle in Time
the Narnia series
Strawberry Girl
The Wheel on the School
Summer of My German Soldier
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Whipping Boy

[kirstenb]

Some others:

Little Women
Charlotte's Web
Judy Blume books
Old Yeller
How the Red Fern Grows
Pippi Longstocking
Betsy-Tacy series
Bridge to Terabithia
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
The Hobbit
Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Call of the Wild


For younger kids:

Polar Express
Stone Soup
Tiki Tiki Tembo
Madeline
Eloise
Strega Nona
Corduroy
Arthur series (I love Arthur!)
Amelia Bedelia
Caps For Sale
The Giving Tree

[boricuaqueen327]

thank you all! the age group will probably be fifth or sixth grade.

[Viola]

My first thought was Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore, because I read it as a child, but I guess it's not a book written for children.

I read all the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder numerous times through the years, and the Black Stallion books when I was younger, but that was more 2nd or 3rd grade, although I continued to read them for years also.

The various Lassie books. Well, I only read a few Lassie books, I guess but there were a bunch of Lad books. I read Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight in third grade, but I think it would work for 5th graders. We have a bunch of my husband's dog books by Alfred Payson Terhune, and a bunch by Thornton Burgess like Old Mother Westwind. Some others on our shelf from when we were kids:The Wind in the Willows, The Yearling, Finn the Wolfhound, Ben and Me, Cockleburr Quarters, In Place of Katia, Blitz (a story of a firehouse horse, I read this over and over), Sounder. Oh, and I loved Gentle Ben and Kavik the Wolf Dog. My husband has a bunch books by an author named Willard Price about these boys who take all these adventures to various places in the world. My daughter is reading them now and seems to like them.

[Thalia the Muse]

Oh, how could I have forgotten The Wind in the Willows?

[boricuaqueen327]

I love that book! I read it so many times and would sometimes pick up the book just to stare at the cover which I thought was gorgeous.

[Ms Apricot]

Originally Posted by boricuaqueen327

Can you list as many children's classics as possible? I am working on a proposal for a community service project for my class and want to do a book drive. TIA!

Well, I'm not sure of your definition of "classic", but here's what comes to mind:

Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol)
Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)
Frank L. Baum (Wizard of Oz)
C.S. Lewis (Narnia)
J.R.R. Tolkein (Lord of the Rings)
Francis Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy)
Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons, others)
Enid Blyton (The Famous Five series, The Secret Seven series)
Edith Nesbitt (Five Children and It)
Tove Janssen (Moomintroll books)
Kate Douglas Wiggin (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm)
Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn)
Jack London (Call of the Wild)
Anna Sewell (Black Beauty)
Mary O'Hara (My Friend Flicka)
Eric Knight (Lassie Come Home)
Johanna Spyri (Heidi)
L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables and sequels, Emily of New Moon and sequels, others)
Laura Ingalls Wild (Little House books)
Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, others)

others to consider (maybe "modern classics"?):
Diana Wynne Jones
Kenneth Oppel
Neil Gaiman
Madeleine L'Engle

Reading level is always iffy - I think a lot of Gr. 5/6 kids today just don't have the attention span for some of these "classics".