Best Kids Books Ever!

Nicholas Kristoff from The New York Times has a column today about what he considers to be the best kids books ever. Here are his top 10:

1. Charlotte's Web
2. The Hardy Boys series
3. Wind in the Willows
4. The Freddy the Pig series
5. The Alex Rider series
6. The Harry Potter series
7. Gentle Ben
8. Anne of Green Gables
9. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
10. Little Lord Fauntleroy

Um. Ok. So Nick Kristoff is obviously in a whole different generation than me. While I appreciate the classics he has on here (who doesn't love Charlotte's Web?) I think he is really missing some crucial titles and authors....like....

1. Anything by Roald Dahl. My favorites are The Witches, Matilda, George and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The BFG. Wonderful imagination and storytelling and the most creative set of characters.


2. The Little House on the Prairie Series. How could Kristoff have missed these books! I had to read the whole series when I was in 4th grade and fell in love with them. Especially Laura Ingalls. I wanted to live in a log cabin in the woods and play with a blown up pigs bladder, eat smoked meat, and run around barefoot all summer.

3. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson. This book was one of my favorites growing up. I even did a 20 minute long book report presentation on it...the longest in the class. I liked it's setting, mostly, which while it takes place in Maryland off of the Chesapeake Bay was a lot like Maine.

4. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This book started my fascination with the stories of Jews during WWII. This book is about the evacuation of Jews from Denmark -- a country many of us don't think of when we look back at that time in history.

5. Holes by Louis Sachar. What a hilarious book! My friend Jill teaches this book in her 4th grade class and to this day I still like it. It was made into a pretty good movie, too, but read the book first!

What would your top five list look like?