As I was drinking my Sunday afternoon tea, I found a link to an interesting New York Times article via the A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy blog.
The NYT Op-Ed columnist gives a list of the best kids books ever. Thirteen books to get kids away from the computer and get them reading.
Lizzie Burns from the Tea Cozy blog post, What Does Best Mean? states that one person’s “best” book isn’t going to be the universal “best” book for everyone. I totally agree. Everyone has a book that they love that they think is the best. It’s called personal taste.
The reasoning behind the columnist creating this list pricked up my ears:
In educating myself this spring about education, I was aghast to learn that American children drop in I.Q. each summer vacation — because they aren’t in school or exercising their brains.
This is less true of middle-class students whose parents drag them off to summer classes or make them read books. But poor kids fall two months behind in reading level each summer break, and that accounts for much of the difference in learning trajectory between rich and poor students.
Looking at his best book ever list, only a few of them are contemporary—being published in the last 5-10 years. Not saying that just because the other books are “classic” doesn’t mean they don’t hold merit, but a reluctant reader or a “poor kid” may not want to read something that doesn’t reflect their world.
I noticed this list also lacked diversity as well. But anyway, like already mentioned, my “best” list and his “best” list are not going to match book for book. This list is based on his background and experience, and so his list of best books ever is relative to his own taste.
My best book list would be totally different.
For my list, I would have more contemporary novels that could possibly bridge that gap for reluctant readers. Getting a kid or teen to read opens up opportunities to expose them to other types of reading. But first you have to get them to open up a book.
To see the full list, read the Op-Ed piece, The Best Kids’ Book Ever. You can also read what others think are the best books ever on the columnist’s blog, On the Ground.
