I don’t do this very often, but I’m adding something to my yearly goals. I have a whopping 49 goals already for 2023, but this is a good one:
Time recently published a list of the 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time.
As I clicked through the list, I discovered that I have not read many of them (including the first book on the list, “Where the Wild Things Are”) and don’t recall many others.
It’s time to correct this.
When I started teaching elementary school, I discovered that I knew very little about children’s literature. I grew up in a home bereft of books, so as my classmates in college spoke about children’s classics with great familiarity, I found myself utterly lost.
The first book I ever read to a class of students – during my first week of student teaching – was “Tikki Tikki Tembo” written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent. It’s an incredibly difficult book to read, especially if you’ve just been handed it to read on day one.
It didn’t exactly instill confidence in me.
I tried to catch up on my knowledge of children’s literature, and once I had children of my own, many of these books found their way into the mountain of books that fill our home, but still, I haven’t read many, and some of those that I know I read have left my memory entirely.
So this will be the year that I read the 100 best children’s books of all time, at least according to Time.
Thankfully, I work in an elementary school with a robust library, so gaining access to most of these books will not be difficult.
If you’d like to join me on the journey, I think it will be fun.
