The New York Public Library compiled its first ever list of the best 100 children’s books. Their coordinator or Youth Collections, Jeanne Lamb, and their supervising librarian, Elizabeth Bird, selected the books, all of which are from the past century of literature.
The list features favorites such as: Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Lowry’s The Giver, and Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham. All of the titles are wonderful examples of children’s books and the NYPL is of course a wonderful beacon of literature, but I would like to know a bit more about how exactly they selected these books. Was there a certain criteria? How did they go about eliminating books from this list?
With that said, are there any books that you adored as a child (or even reading to your child) that was not featured on the NYPL list? For example, I would have definitely included: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Were you disappointed to not find your favorite on the list?
Mrs. Sendul: Reader, Librarian, Educator 