In this final look at the Booktrust’s list of 100 books children should read before they turn 14 the books are aimed at 12 – 14 year olds, the cut off point imposed by Booktrust as “beyond that, children tend to progress to more adult literature”. I may come back to this idea in a later post, but for now will concentrate on the list.

This is the full list, with the books I’ve read made bold.

– Watership Down by Richard Adams
– Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
– Forever by Judy Blume
– The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
– Junk by Melvin Burgess
– Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy
– The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
– The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
– Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
– The Owl Service by Alan Garner
– Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
– The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
– Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
– The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
– The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
– Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet
– Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
– The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
– Witch Child by Celia Rees
– Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
– Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
– How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
– Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
– I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
– The Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkien

For this final list I have read 17 out of the 25, similarly to yesterday’s 9-11 years list there are 4 books that have been on my need to read list for some time. There are a couple of books I’ve never heard of, ones I must definitely investigate.

It’s interesting that in comparison to the three other sections of the list this is the one with more modern and recent releases than the other lists. There are only a small handful of books that were already relatively old when I was a child, compared with much bigger portions of previous lists. I read some of the books on this list when I was in the target demographic but have read far more of them since, some due to their publication dates and some because they just weren’t in my awareness.

Like all of the lists there are books I’m surprised to see, and books I’m surprised not to see. I think this is the list I am probably most curious to see the voting results for, once the public have chosen a favourite. I think it’s probably the hardest to predict out of all four lists.

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.

Today my attention is shifted to the 25 books aimed at 6-8 year olds that Booktrust have included on their list of 100 books children should read before they’re 14.

Again, here’s the list in full with the books I’ve read in bold type.

– The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
– Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
– A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond and Peggy Fortnum
– The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley
– Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Scott Nash
– Clarice Bean, That’s Me by Lauren Child
– That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton
– The BFG by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
– The Story of Babar by Jean De Brunhoff
– My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards and Shirley Hughes
– Asterix the Gaul by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
– Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch
– Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (translated by Elizabeth Portch)
– The Queen’s Nose by Dick King-Smith
– The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith and Mike Terry
– Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
– Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (translated by Tina Nunnally)
– Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne and E H Shepherd
– The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
– The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
– Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
– The Arrival by Shaun Tan
– Charlotte’s Web by E B White and Garth Williams
– Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
– Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake

This time I’ve read 15 out of the 25, and of the ones I’ve read virtually all of them were books I read myself as a child – the notable expection being Shaun Tan’s excellent The Arrival which I’ve only recently read. Of the books I have read there are a few that I read repeatedly as a child – I re-read most books by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl a fair few times, and my mom became so fed up of my repeated borrowing of Milly-Molly-Mandy from the library that she bought me my own copy.

I’m a little surprised that there are so few books published in the last decade or so on the list. I personally haven’t read many books in that time period aimed at the 6-8 year old reader, but my Beaver Scouts all bring exciting looking books with them to sleepovers so I’m aware they exist – I think I’d better start borrowing some of them so I can judge them myself.

Are there any books you’d have expected to see on this list?

Today I’m going to look at the 25 books for 0-5 year olds selected by Booktrust for their list of 100 books every child should read before they’re 14.

Here is the list in full, I’ve bolded all of the books I’ve read.

– Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
– The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
– The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
– Gorilla by Anthony Browne
– Would You Rather? by John Burningham
– Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
– The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
– I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
– Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole
– Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd
– Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
– Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
– Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears by Emily Gravett
– Where’s Spot by Eric Hill
– Dogger by Shirley Hughes
– Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
– The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
– I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
– Not Now, Bernard by David McKee
– Meg and Mog by Helen McNicholl and Jan Pienkowski
– We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
– I Want My Potty! by Tony Ross
– Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
– The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
– The Elephant and the Bad Boy by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs

I’ve read 17 out of the 25, which is actually a few more than I’d expected. I think this reflects the relatively broad nature of the list – there are plenty of books here that were around when I was younger so I either read them as a young child myself, or to younger family friends. Of the books I haven’t read I had heard of most of them, I just haven’t come across them on one of my visits to the picture book section of the local library.

What do you think of the list? Are there any surprise inclusions or omissions?