The Laureates' Selection

Listening to the radio while driving to work on Tuesday, I heard Anne Fine talking about a selection of favourite children's books created by all 5 of the children's laureates. The story in the media seemed largely focused on the fact that only five of the 35 books chosen were written in the last 20 years. The implication seemed to be that, as with many things, modern is bad and old is good. Fine's view was that their choice wasn't surprising but nor did it imply that modern children's literature is bad: she and the other laureates were asked to select their favourite children's books and this was obviously going to bias them towards books which had made the biggest impressions on their childhood.

I enjoyed reading their list, not because I think it is a list of the best 35 books ever written for children but because I invariably choose my next book to read based on recommendations from other people, and they seem like suitably well qualified recommenders! There will be plenty of opportunities for Leo to read modern literature, but I do hope he also reads and enjoys many of the books on their list.

For what it's worth, the list included some of my childhood favourites: The Box of Delights by John Masefield, Five Go to Smuggler's Top by Enid Blyton, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It's prompted me to go and reread Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild and to seek out Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner because I loved Lotte & Lisa by him. I'm off to Amazon right now...