In this third post looking at Booktrust’s list of the 100 books children should read before they’re 14 the focus moves to books aimed at 9-11 year olds, a book demographic I particularly enjoy.

Here’s the list in full, books in bold are the ones I’ve read.

– The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
– Skellig by David Almond
– Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden
– Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
– Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce
– The Witches by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
– Matilda by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
– Flour Babies by Anne Fine
– Once by Morris Gleizman
– The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé
– Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
– Stig of the Dump by Clive King
– The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis
– Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
– Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
– A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay
– The Borrowers by Mary Norton
– Truckers by Terry Pratchett
– Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
– Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J K Rowling
– Holes by Louis Sachar
– The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
– Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
– The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien

With 18 out of 25 books read from this list, this is the list I’m most familiar with (just). Of the 7 books I haven’t read 4 have been high on my radar for quite some time – I just haven’t got to them yet. Of the books I have read there are some titles that were real favourites when I was young, 6 or 7 of them would appear on my most re-read books list. I’m very pleased to see some far more recent “classics” appear on the list, and thrilled that last year’s Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals winner A Monster Calls has a very justified inclusion.