#Askalibrarian popped up on my twitter feed one day from Penguin Random House @penguinrandom. It transpired that for one hour that day I could ask any question regarding books to a selection of librarians the world over, and where possible, they would recommend books to me. WOW!!!!!!!!
Straight away my mind went into overdrive. I wanted to make an enquiry that was both useful & intelligent 🙂
Here’s what I wrote ” Have a 12 yr girl….best classic please? She read Little Women & Secret Garden….what’s next?”
I was blown away with the response I got and straight away decided I needed to share all the names of the wonderful books I received…so here we go.
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Pub 1908)
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Pub 1962)
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton (Pub 1952)
- I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith (Pub 1948)
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri (Pub 1880)
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Pub 1976)
- All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (Pub 1951)
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Pub 1888)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggins (Pub 1903)
- Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (Pub 1964)
- A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (Pub 1909)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Pub 1943)
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Pub 1935)
- Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Pub 1932 +)
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Pub 1967)
A list assembled like this through the power of social media is, to me, a very special thing. It proves what a community the reading world is and shows how easy it can be for people in far reaches of the world to communicate & help out in such an amazing way.
I hope your child (or you yourself) finds one book in this list that becomes a classic on your bookshelf & in your heart.
Til next time
Mairéad
