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amibunk's review against another edition
4.0
In this book, Anita Silvey lists her top picks for the 100 best books for children. Her suggestions are neatly organized in each age category. While the actual list was mostly (but not always) predictable, I found this to be a very interesting book because of the tiny, biographical blurbs of each selected author. This makes a nice reference book to have on hand.
heatherday916's review against another edition
4.0
I really just sort of skimmed this book, but promptly created a spreadsheet with a column for myself and each of my kids. What I liked best about this book was the scope of criteria Ms. Silvey applied in selecting her books. A good story is important, of course, but she also took true literary criteria into consideration. This means you'll see books with a variety of storytelling methods, books with multi-cultural themes, books that tackle challenging issues, and books that you've never heard of before. I consider myself well read but was dismayed to see how few of the books on this list are ones I've read (though two of my favorite books of all time are one the list!). I'm looking forward to introducing myself and my children to these books and discovering for myself how great they might be.
melissadegraffbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I thought it was an interesting idea to narrow down a list of only 100 books for children. There were a lot of titles I agreed with and a few that I didn't. There was some interesting background for each of the titles. I've read most of the books, but am interested to read the ones I've missed.
emiged's review against another edition
4.0
I'm always a little skeptical of a book that claims to have whittled down an enormous field of candidates to the "top 100" or "best 50" or whatever, but I think Ms. Silvey did a pretty good job here. She provides several paragraphs of background for each of the books, often with biographical information about the author and illustrator as well as brief commentary on the book itself and its impact. Plus, she includes a list called "Beyond the 100 Best" at the end of the book, so it will take you a while to run out of reading material.
I was reminded of many books I loved as a kid (The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, among others) and reached the limit on my library card checking them out so my kids can experience them too. And I discovered several gems that I haven't read before. My kids (especially the six-year-old) and I adored Tuesday by David Wiesner and my nine-year-old has read and re-read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka a dozen times. Some of the books on the list spoke to me (or my children) more than others, but it's a pretty safe bet that you'll find quite a few books on her lists that strike a chord with you.
So far we've worked our way through the board books, picture books, and books for beginning readers. And I've got 12 of the books she lists for young readers (ages 7 to 9) on hold at the library waiting for me to go get them. We still have a way to go to get through her list of books for middle readers (ages 8 to 11) and older readers (ages 11 to 12) and I think many of those will end up being our read-aloud bedtime books. The only question is which to read first...I can't wait!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
I was reminded of many books I loved as a kid (The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, among others) and reached the limit on my library card checking them out so my kids can experience them too. And I discovered several gems that I haven't read before. My kids (especially the six-year-old) and I adored Tuesday by David Wiesner and my nine-year-old has read and re-read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka a dozen times. Some of the books on the list spoke to me (or my children) more than others, but it's a pretty safe bet that you'll find quite a few books on her lists that strike a chord with you.
So far we've worked our way through the board books, picture books, and books for beginning readers. And I've got 12 of the books she lists for young readers (ages 7 to 9) on hold at the library waiting for me to go get them. We still have a way to go to get through her list of books for middle readers (ages 8 to 11) and older readers (ages 11 to 12) and I think many of those will end up being our read-aloud bedtime books. The only question is which to read first...I can't wait!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
booksnwhiskey's review against another edition
4.0
definitely agreed with the choices. i have read most of them as a child. i did not know some of them but will look for them. i did like the brief explanation of each book and why it made the list. it is also categorized to make it easy to know what type of book and what age group.
ageilbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. I’ve read most of these books to myself and can’t wait to introduce them to my children. But what I loved most was that it did not only include what the book was about but how the book came to be and also included information about the illustration. These authors and/or illustrators put so much love and work into these pieces it’s no wonder they ended up in a list of 100 Best Children’s Books.
jmeston's review against another edition
4.0
Skimmed, to be totally honest. Got some good reminders -- The Phantom Tollbooth!! Made a list for the 9 and 11 yr olds. Too many weepies in my opinion but lots of people like those books.
kcarella's review
5.0
It's interesting to read the history behind each of the classic children's books. I love seeing how individual editors discovered these classic books and how much they influenced the authors' final product. Really inspiring!
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