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Home , Charlotte Zolotow, Katherine Paterson, Leo and Diane Dillon, Ludwig Bemelmans, Meindert DeJong, Ted Lewin

Hamline MFAC January 2016

RECOMMENDED OLDER BOOKS Below are some recommended older works of children’s literature written in English, all published before 2001. Some of these books were not published for children, though most of them were. We think they all have a lot to offer for understanding writing for young audiences. Reading these books is recommended, but not required. The list should prove useful as you select topics for your critical essays, and as you look to deepen your understanding of craft in particular areas.

This list has two missions. 1. The first and primary mission is to expose you to older books that the faculty judges useful to read as a writer. Each provides some insight into making books for children. Some of these stories are outdated now in terms of certain craft elements and politics. Our country’s history of diversity and representation has been (and continues to be) problematic. Yet we still feel these stories useful for writers to know and think about. They are brilliant in their ways.

2. The second mission is to deepen our students’ understanding of the history of children’s literature written in English. That means these books supplement the required historical and critical readings with primary source material, and will complement the lectures surveying the history of children’s literature that Kerlan librarian Lisa Von Drasek will be giving in our program starting in July 2016. To be a master of any subject, one must understand its past, and we want this reading list to help you start thinking about our current representations, storytelling practices, and ideas of childhood by charting some of our history.

Still, in selecting works for the students to read, we chose not to make a list of the most influential, most controversial or most groundbreaking works. Instead, we kept history in mind while prioritizing the first mission – books that we think will deepen your craft.

A note on content: Writers write about what haunts them. They write about their wounds. Fiction writers, in particular, depend on tension and conflict as the drivers of plot. Some of the books we have chosen may cause distress for some readers, especially if the reader is a trauma survivor. If this description applies to you, please do what you can to take care of yourself so that you can engage effectively with the required reading and participate in class. If you need specific expertise to help you deal with your response to the reading, you can contact Hamline Counseling and Health Services (651-523-2204). If you would like to know in advance about the content of any books on the list, contact Emily Jenkins, Swati Avasthi or Laura Ruby (the book list committee members) and one of us will orient you.

Recommended Older Books: Picture books and Early Readers 1902 The Tale of Peter Rabbit () 1928 Millions of Cats (Wanda Gág) 1930 Angus and the Ducks (Marjorie Flack) 1931 Herbert the Lion (Claire Turlay Newberry) 1936 The Story of Ferdinand (Munro Leaf) 1938 Andy and the Lion (James Daugherty) 1939 () 1941 Make Way for Ducklings (Robert McClosky) 1942 The Little House ( Lee Burton) 1942 The Runaway Bunny (, illus. by Clement Hurd) 1943 Many Moons (James Thurber, illus. by Louis Slobodkin) 1944 The Park Book (, illus. by H.A. Rey) 1945 The Carrot Seed (Ruth Krauss) 1948 Song of the Swallows (Leo Politi) 1952 A Hole is to Dig (Ruth Krauss, illus. by ) 1955 Crow Boy (Taro Yashima) 1955 Eloise (Kay Thompson, illus. by Hilary Knight) 1956 Bronzeville Boys and Girls (Gwendolyn Brooks, 1956, illus. by Faith Ringgold in 2015) 1956 Harry the Dirty Dog (Gene Zion, illus. by Margaret Bloy Graham) 1957 Little Bear (Else Holmund Minarik, illus. by Maurice Sendak ) 1957 The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss) 1957 The Doubtful Guest () 1959 The Moon Jumpers (Janice May Udry, illus. by Maurice Sendak) 1960 One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (Dr. Seuss) 1961 The Three Robbers () 1961 Go, Dog, Go! (P.D. Eastman) 1962 The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats) 1963 Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) 1967 Frederick (Leo Lionni) 1967 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Bill Martin, Jr. illus. by Eric Carle) 1968 Corduroy (Don Freeman) 1970 Frog and Toad are Friends (Arnold Lobel) 1970 A Story, A Story (Gail E. Haley) 1971 Rosie’s Walk (Pat Hutchins) 1971 Mr. Gumpy’s Outing (John Burningham) 1972 Anansi the Spider (Gerald McDermott) 1972 George and Martha (James Marshall) 1972 William’s Doll (Charlotte Zolotow, illus. by William Pène DuBois) 1973 She Come Bringing Me that Little Baby Girl (Eloise Greenfield, illus. by John Steptoe) 1975 Jambo Means Hello (Muriel L Feelings, illus. by Tom Feelings) 1975 Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (Verna Aardema, illus. by Diane and Leo Dillon) 1977 Miss Nelson is Missing! (Henry Allard, illus. by James Marshall) 1978 Oh, Were They Ever Happy! (Peter Spier) 1979 Freight Train (Donald Crews) 1979 Ben’s Trumpet (Rachel Isadora) 1982 A Chair for My Mother (Vera B. Williams) 1980 The Paperbag Princess (Robert Munsch, illus by Michael Martchenko) 1983 Gorilla () 1986 Brave Irene (William Steig) 1986 Flossie and the Fox (Patricia McKissack, illus. by Rachel Isadora) 1968 The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (Karla Kuskin, illus. by Mark Simont) 1969 Stevie (John Steptoe) 1970 Whose Mouse Are You? (Robert Kraus, illus. by Jose Aruego) 1973 Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs (Tomie dePaola) 1979 The Ox-Cart Man (Donald Hall, illus. by Barbara Cooney) 1984 Bea and Mr. Jones (Amy Schwartz) 1986 A Weekend with Wendell (Kevin Henkes) 1985 King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub (Audrey Wood, illus. by Don Wood) 1985 Imogene’s Antlers (David Small) 1985 The Relatives Came (Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Stephen Gammell) 1987 The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (Judith Viorst, illus. by Erik Blegvad) 1987 Owl Moon (, illus. by John Schoenherr) 1987 Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? (Martin Wadell, illus. by Barbara Firth) 1988 Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (John Steptoe) 1989 The Talking Eggs (Robert D. San Souci, illus. by ) 1989 The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (Jon Sciezska, illus. by Lane Smith) 1990 More, More, More, Said the Baby (Vera B. Williams) 1991 Tar Beach (Faith Ringgold) 1992 Voyage to the Bunny Planet (Rosemary Wells) 3 books, now a collection 1992 Too Many Tamales (Gary Soto, illus. by Ed Martinez) 1993 Baseball Saved Us (Ken Mochizuki, illus. by Dom Lee) 1993 Peppe the Lamplighter (Elisa Bartone, illus. by ) 1993 All Pigs are Beautiful (Dick King-Smith, illus. by Anita jeram) 1994 John Henry (Julius Lester, illus. by Jerry Pinkney) 1994 Smoky Night (Eve Bunting, illus. by David Diaz) 1994 Meet Danitra Brown (Nikki Grimes, illus. by Floyd Cooper) 1996 Hush! A Thai Lullaby (Mingfong Ho, illus. by Holly Meade) 1996 Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (Kevin Henkes)

Recommended Older Books: Middle Grade and its Precursers 1864 The Light Princess (George McDonald) 1868 Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) 1888 The Wonder Clock (Howard and Katherine Pyle) 1898 The Reluctant Dragon (Kenneth Grahame) 1902 Five Children and It (E. Nesbit) 1904 Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) 1924 Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne) 1932 The Dream-Keeper and Other Poems (Langston Hughes) 1932 Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder) 1936 Ballet Shoes (Noel Streatfield) 1937 The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) 1939 Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Richard and Florence Atwater) 1940 Betsy-Tacy (Maud Hart Lovelace) 1945 The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes) 1947 Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry) 1950 The Thirteen Clocks (James Thurber) 1950 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) 1951 All-of-a-Kind Family (Sydney Taylor) 1952 Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) 1954 Half Magic (Edward Eager) 1956 The House of Sixty Fathers (Meindert DeJong, illus. by Maurice Sendak) 1958 The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare) 1958 Tom’s Midnight Garden (Phillipa Pearce) 1959 My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George) 1961 The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster) 1962 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken) 1963 (Madeline L’Engle) 1963 The Book of Three () 1964 Harriet the Spy (Louise Fitzhugh) 1964 The Pushcart War (Jean Merrill) 1966 Zlateh the Goat and other Stories (Isaac Beshevis Singer) 1967 Smith (Leon Garfield) 1967 From the Mixed –Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler (E.L Konigsburg) 1967 The Game (Zilpha Keatly Snyder) 1968 Ramona the Pest (Beverly Cleary) 1968 To Be a Slave (Julius Lester, illus. by Tom Feelings) 1970 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Judy Blume) 1972 Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien) 1972 Freaky Friday () 1972 Small Poems (Valerie Worth) 1973 The Slave Dancer () 1973 The House with the Clock in its Walls (John Bellairs) 1973 Summer of My German Soldier (Bette Green) 1974 M.C. Higgins, the Great (Virginia E. Hamilton) 1974 Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein) 1975 Dragon Wings (Laurence Yep) 1975 Ludell (Brenda Wilkinson) 1976 What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? (Jean Fritz) 1977 Bridge to Terebithia () 1977 The Hoboken Chicken Emergency (Daniel Pinkwater) 1978 The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) 1979 Words by Heart (Ouida Sebestyan) 1980 The Road from Home: The True Story of an Armenian Girl (David Kherdian) 1982 The BFG () 1982 The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley) 1982 Witch Week by 1983 The Sheep-Pig, aka Babe (Dick King-Smith) 1983 Alanna: The First Adventure (Tamora Pierce) 1983 The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (Jack Prelutsky, illus. by Arnold Lobel) 1985 Sarah, Plain and Tall (Patricia MacLachlan) 1985 Journey to Jo’burg (Beverly Naidoo) 1985 The People Could Fly (, illus. by ) 1985 The Agony of Alice (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor) 1986 Nargun and the Stars () 1987 Hatchet (Gary Paulson) 1987 The Gold Cadillac (Mildred Taylor) 1987 The Whipping Boy (Sid Fleishman) 1988 Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (Paul Fleischman) 1988 Devil’s Arithmetic (Jane Yolen) 1989 Lincoln: A Photobiography (Russell Freedman) 1989 Number the Stars (Lois Lowry) 1990 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi) 1990 Dealing with Dragons (Patricia Wrede) 1991 The Moon and I (Betsy Byers) 1992 Flour Babies (Anne Fine) 1993 The Giver (Lois Lowry) 1994 The Ear, The Eye and the Arm (Nancy Farmer) 1994 The Secret of Platform 19 (Eva Ibbotson) 1994 Catherine, Called Birdy (Karen Cushman) 1995 The Good Liar (Gregory Maguire) 1996 The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 (Christopher Paul Curtis) 1997 Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) 1997 Dog Friday (Hilary McKay) 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling) 1998 Skellig () 1999 Seesaw Girl (Linda Sue Park) 2000 Because of Winn Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)

Recommended Older Books: Young Adult and Its Precursers 1932 Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons) 1948 I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith) 1951 The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 1963 It’s Like this, Cat (Emily Cheney Neville) 1967 The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) 1967 The Contender () 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. LeGuin) 1968 The Pigman () 1972 Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack (M.E. Kerr) 1973 A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich (Alice Childress) 1973 The Princess Bride (William Goldman) 1974 The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier) 1974 Down a Dark Hall (Lois Duncan) 1974 The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (Paula Danziger) 1975 Forever (Judy Blume) 1975 El Bronx Remembered (Nicholasa Mohr) 1980 (Katherine Paterson) 1980 Mom, the Wolf Man and Me (Norma Klein) 1981 The Scarecrows (Robert Westall) 1982 Dicey’s Song (Cynthia Voigt) 1982 Annie on My Mind (Nancy Garden) 1982 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Age 13 ¾ (Sue Townsend) 1983 The Grounding of Group Six (Julian F. Thompson) 1984 The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros) 1984 Interstellar Pig (William Sleator) 1985 Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) 1987 The Goats (Brock Cole) 1988 Scorpions (Walter Dean Myers) 1989 Weetzie-Bat () 1990 Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli) 1993 Make Lemonade (Virginia Euwer Wolff) 1993 Magic Circle (Donna Jo Napoli) 1993 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Chris Crutcher) 1996 Rats Saw God (Rob Thomas) 1996 Smack (Melvin Burgess) 1995 Sabriel () 1995 Am I Blue? (Marion Dane Bauer) 1994 I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This () 1997 Out of the Dust (Karen Hesse) 1997 Blood and Chocolate (Annette Curtis Klause) 1998 The Skin I’m In (Sharon G. Flake) 1999 Stardust (Neil Gaiman) 1999 Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Louise Rennison) 2000 Poetry Like Bread (Martin Espada) 2000 The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot)