Tuesday, November 26, 2013

100 best books to read before you're 14

Poll conducted by Booktrust shows JK Rowling's wizard still has nation's young readers bewitched

Winner on paper …
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

He "captured the imaginations of a generation of readers" and now Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has been chosen as the nation's favourite children's book, with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in second place and The BFG by Roald Dahl at number three.


More than 24,000 readers voted for their favourite from the 100 best books to read before you're 14 list, covering books from the past century, which was compiled by the children's reading charity Booktrust. The list was split into four groups of 25 books for varying age ranges.


The Very Hungry Caterpillar came top in the 0-5 age group, and Roald Dahl's The BFG won the 6-8 year group. The two most popular books overall, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and The Hunger Games, won in the 9-11 and the 12-14 categories respectively.


While classic storytelling won out with younger readers, film franchises appeared to have influenced the older age groups – nine of the books in the top 10 have been adapted for cinema.

"Harry Potter has captured the imaginations of a generation of readers who have grown up in love with Harry or Hermione, want to be friends with Ron, and are truly terrified by Voldemort," said Booktrust's head of arts, Claire Shanahan. "Even when up against heavyweights such as Dahl and Tolkien, Rowling's creation remains the nation's firm favourite."


Booktrust's criteria when compiling the list of 100 best books were great stories, high-quality writing and illustration, popularity, the book's capacity for broadening readers' horizons, innovation and originality – and standing the test of time.


The list of 25 best books for 0-5 year-olds includes I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child, and Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea; while The Arrival by Shaun Tan and Asterix the Gaul by René Goscinny are among the 25 best books for 6-8 year olds.


The 9-11 year-old list includes Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Stig of the Dump by Clive King and Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful; and in the 12-14 year old age range are titles such as Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights.

Booktrust also asked readers which books were missing, and has listed those that "didn't make our final cut, but that you told us were your favourites".



The top 10 best books to read before you're 14
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The BFG by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne, illustrated by EH Shepherd
The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
Charlotte's Web by EB White
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis

1 comment:

Mark Hubbard said...

If they're going to include Hunger Games, then given also the predominance of fantasy I'd want Anthem in there ;)