My top ten of British classic children's literature. These are the ten books all children should read. And own so that they can pass them on to their own children. OK, I admit this is subjective and these are just my personal favourites, so please treat this as an opportunity to come up with your own top ten. Most of the links here are to Puffin Classic editions. I like these as they have nicely sized, clear print and are relatively inexpensive. The very cheap editions are usually a false economy as they are much harder to read (especially if you have aging eyes like mine!).

"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again"

 

I have loved Narnia since before I can remember, so just had to put my favourite book of the series as my top choice. If you have never read the series yourself, I recommend starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was the first Narnia book C.S.Lewis wrote. The Magician's Nephew is sometimes listed as the first book as it comes first in chronology, although it was one of the later books to be written. I chose this edition as it has the same cover as the falling-apart copy I have had since childhood, though in a larger format with colour illustrations.

The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien

Classic fantasy adventure for children, and unlike its big brother The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit is short enough to read aloud to your children. (I do know some brave souls who have read aloud The Lord of the Rings, but it is beyond the call of duty!) Home-loving hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, leaves hearth and home to join an expedition of dwarves out to reclaim their treasure from a marauding dragon, and finds more adventures than he bargains for. I couldn't resist choosing a nice hard back edition for this book.

 

Winnie the Pooh by A.A.Milne

Winnie the Pooh is not Disney! The real Winnie the Pooh is a rich fantasy about a bear and his friends, written by the author for his young son Christopher Robin. The characters are far less saccharine than Disney's, with rich language and much humour. Unlike the spin-offs, this is not a book for pre-schoolers but best suited as a book to read aloud to children of six or over.

 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

During my own childhood I somehow managed to miss The Wind in the Willows, but have made up for that with my older daughter. We fell in love with pompous, wilful, silly Toad, who has to be one of the great literary characters of all time. One of my treasured memories is of driving round a theme park race track at full tilt with my daughter, shouting together "Poop, poop! It's the only way to travel ...". 

 

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

It was hard to choose between The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, but The Secret Garden won out because of its Yorkshire setting (I am half-Yorkshire) and because it is a classic tale of redemption. A sour, unloved girl returns from India after the death of her parents to live with her sad and bitter uncle. A nature loving boy and a secret garden combine to bring Mary truly alive. For the first time in her life she learns to think of someone beside herself, and her transformation is extended first to her cousin, and ultimately to her uncle. An beautiful book.

 

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Underneath the floorboards of a large house in Leighton Buzzard live a family of "borrowers", miniature people who live by borrowing what they need from the big people. Pod, Homily and their daughter Arietty lead a quiet but dull existence, until Arietty is "seen" by a boy who is staying in the house. Can the family stay, or must they leave their home to escape from the attentions of the "human beans"?

 

Five Children and It by E.Nesbit

A summer in the country looms long and uninteresting for the children - until they find a sand fairy, and discover that "it" can grant wishes. The children discover that wishes are not always all they are cracked up to be. For starters, you have to be extremely careful what you wish for. The sand fairy is none too impressed when it has to rescue the children from the predicaments in which they have landed themselves. Magic and the law of unintended consequences make this my favourite of E.Nesbit's books. 

 

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

The ultimate boating adventure. Four children spend a Lake District summer holiday camping out on an island and sailing their boat Swallow, only to discover they are sharing the island with the Amazons. For reviews of the whole series of Ransome's books, visit Swallowdale. 

 

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

If Swallows and Amazons is the ultimate boating adventure, this is the ultimate adventure with boats ... and pirates ... and treasure. Young Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map in the possession of a dead lodger, and joins an expedition to search for the treasure. Unfortunately, some of the ship's crew are not what they seem. Can Jim and his friends be successful? Or will the pirates get there first, led by that archtypal pirating character, Long John Silver?

 

Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie

A hard decision for my final choice. I plumped for Peter Pan because it is a classic, more so than some of the other books I considered. Parts of the book are rather abstract and hard to follow, but it is worth persevering for the gem of a story. Peter Pan, the boy who never wants to grow up, takes the Darling children, Wendy, Michael and John, to Neverland. Like Treasure Island, the book has one of the greatest of pirate characters in Captain Hook. It also has fairies, Indians, lost boys and a family who engage a dog as a nurse for their children. One of the greatest imaginative feats of children's literature.