We might work up the energy to fit in a trip to the beach tomorrow afternoon, but even that feels like an unreasonable effort when it's this hot and sticky.
There's a lot to love about summer - pretty summer dresses for one!
I also love after dinner strolls to get an ice cream, swimming and gin & tonics,
The smells of summer can be lovely too - the frangipani trees are simply delightful right now & my roses are onto their third or fourth flush.
So, what to do with this hot, humid day? How can I feel productive yet use the minimum amount of energy possible?Make a list of course!
After working my way through the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list a few weeks ago, I decided to devote this weekend to the kids version - 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up by Julia Eccleshare.
The goodreads list (faithfully compiled by Angela) that I used to find the books below, seems to have 1008 books on it, so I'm not quite sure how that works.
I've strolled through the pages of books to pull out the ones I've read. Most of these books were childhod favourites of mine.
Most of the picture books were read (multiple times!) during my 18 yrs of preschool teaching.
I also separated out the Australian books. Tempting as it is for most Australians to claim New Zealanders as our own (especially when they do well!), I have left Lynley Dodd and Margaret Mahy in the international list.
At this stage, I haven't added the various fairy tales listed on the goodreads page as I'm not sure if it's that particular version of the tale that is recommended or if it's just the tale as told by anyone you can get your hands on.
I'm also not sure of books like The Magic Wishing Chair and The Magic Faraway Tree - is it all three books or just one of them? Is it just the first Thomas the Tank Engine and Famous Five book or the whole collection? All of the Mr Men books of just Mr Tickle?
Perhaps someone with a copy of the book could let me know :-)
YA/Teen:
Fellowship of the Ring #1
The Golden Compass #1
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire #4
The Hobbit
Chocky
Lord of the Flies
Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time
Sally Lockhart #1 The Ruby in the Smoke
The Edge of the Cloud #2
Across the Barricades #2
The Catcher in the Rye
Junior Readers:
Anne of Green Gables
Winnie-the-Pooh
When We Were Young
Now We Are Six
Bridge to Terabithia
Watership Down
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlotte's Web
The Secret Garden
James and the Giant Peach
Wheel on the School
Five on Treasure Island #1
Heidi #1
I am David
My Friend Flicka #1
The Silver Sword
Black Beauty
Carrie's War
The Boy in the Striped Pyjama's
Stuart Little
Tom's Midnight Garden
Harriet the Spy
What Katy Did? #1
The Railway Children
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Prince Caspian
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Little House in the Big Woods #1
Little House on the Prairie #2
Farmer Boy #3
Emil and the Detectives
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
The Bobbsey Twins #1
When the Wind Blows
The Borrowers #1
Milly Molly Mandy
The Enchanted Wood/Magic Faraway Tree
Coles Funny Picture Book #1
Flotsam
The Happy Prince
Oh The Places You Will Go
Danny the Champion of the World
Danny the Champion of the World
Picture Books:
Miffy
The Cat in the Hat
The Best Nest
Green Eggs and Ham
Go Dog Go
Pat the Bunny
Are You My Mother?
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Dear Zoo
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Maisy Goes to School
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
The Baby's Catalogue
Where's Spot?
Where's My Teddy?
Hairy Maclary From Donaldson Dairy
Slinky Malinki
Crocodile Beat
Rosie's Walk
Goodnight Moon
Morris' Disappearing Bag
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
Each Peach Pear Plum
Peace At Last
Mr Gumpy's Outing
Thomas the Tank Engine
Ernest and Celestine
Bedtime For Frances
The Little Engine that Could
The Jolly Postman
The Polar Express
The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch
Come Away From the Water Shirley
The Paper Bag Princess
Where the Wild Things Are
Alfie Gets in First
Blueberries For Sal
The Cow Who Fell in the Canal
The Little House
Elmer
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Madeline
Corduroy
Story of Babar
Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck
Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher
Tale of Peter Rabbit
Handa's Surprise
Ox-Cart Man
The Duck in the Gun
Dogger
The Snowman
Father Christmas
The Three Pigs by David Wiesner
The Trus Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Clifford the Big Red Dog
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
Meg and Mog
Mog the Forgetful Cat
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Eloise
Not Now, Bernard
Flat Stanley
Elephant and the Bad Baby
The Giant Jam Sandwich
The Boy Who Grew Flowers
A Lion in the Meadow
Frederic
You're All My Favourites
Beegu
Wolves
Zen Shorts
The Sea Monster
Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers
Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present
The Snowy Day
Caps For Sale
Millions of Cats
The Night Before Christmas
Lost and Found
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs
Olivia
The Gruffalo
The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it was None of His Business
Guess How Much I Love You
Can't You Sleep Little Bear?
Winnie the Witch
Love You Forever (this one makes me cry every time!)
Old Bear
Angelina Ballerina
Mr Tickle
Gorilla
A Walk in the Park
The Avocado Baby
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
The Aussies:
Mr Archimedes Bath
One Woolly Wombat
Max
Window
Are We There Yet?
Fox
Stellaluna
Drac and the Gremlin
My Place
Storm Boy
Animalia
The Quinkins
Seven Little Australians
Blinky Bill
John Brown Rose and the Midnight Cat
Tashi #1
That mean I have read 201/1001 so far.
Movies I've seen (but have yet to read the book):
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events
101 Dalmations
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Mary Poppins
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
The Never Ending Story
Lassie Come Home
Twilight
Books on my TBR pile:
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Journey to the River Sea
Journey to the River Sea
Peter Pan
Pippi Longstocking
The Jungle Book
The Tale of Despereaux
A Little Princess
The Wind in the Willows
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Robinson Crusoe
Read...you can't start early enough!
ReplyDeleteIs Alan Blabey on the list? I think his books are hilarious!
Sadly the 1001 list was created in 2009 prior to the publication of most of Blabey's books.
DeleteBut I agree, he keeps on getting better. Pig the Winner is great fun too if you can find it over there yet.
None of his books are in the children's library...
DeleteI may just order some of his books, then give them to the my neighbor.
She runs her own 'day-care' at home! Kids always like to look at pictures!
Someday when I have more time, I need to go through this list to see what I've read - and what I need to. Always fun to do! It's interesting to see how many more recent titles are on the list - and yet they already feel like classics.
ReplyDeleteWow. Way to spend the time to make a list of those books! I often think of going through this list. I used to pick books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, but found many of them too erudite and not to my liking. Of course, there are some amazing ones in there too, but I decided to focus on Harold Bloom's Canon instead - since I'm more familiar with most of those classics. Also, I know a lot of the books in 1001 books are winners of awards, and I do pay attention to those lists, as well. The children's version of this list is amazing, and I wish I could read all of them.
ReplyDeleteOh My Gosh - How did I miss this post?? 199/1001 is a decent tally. I've been slogging away since 2009 and am only up to 290/1001. As for the books you mention particularly- it's just the first Famous Five and not the whole series, and just The Adventures of the Wishing Chair not the whole series, and it's only Mr Tickle. Somewhat surprisingly to me The Magic Faraway Tree isn't in the list- it's by far a better book than the Wishing Chair. There are two Rev Awry books - The Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that I run a Yahoogroup for reading all 1001 books? You're more than welcome to join us. We read two books a month, and are currently reading Michael Morpurgo's Why the Whales Came.
https://au.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/1001childrensbooksyoumustread/info
An excellent post - lots of ideas here for my son.
ReplyDeleteHe is two and I was surprised recently when I turned on the TV and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was on and he really enjoyed it! I think it was to do with the theatrical elements of it - a bit like a stage play. He loves his Cbeebeis pantos and plays!
I never liked The Never Ending Story - the white dog (horse) stuck in the mud really upset me when I was 10. The lesser known Peanut Butter Solution also freaked me out but I watched that many times.