Around 100 countries celebrate World Book Day and Thursday 5th March is World Book Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland; other countries celebrate on 23rd April. It was originally organised by UNESCO in 1995 to promote reading, as well as publishing and copyright, and has certainly stood the test of time. Booksellers hold promotions and schools hold ‘dress as a favourite book character’ days.
In honour of the day I have listed my A to Z of favourite books, from wonderful picture-based books to intriguing tales for the early teen years:
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll
Bear Called Paddington, A: Michael Bond
Charlotte’s Web: E. B. White
Dogger: Shirley Hughes
Emil and the Detectives: Erich Kästner
Frog and Toad Are Friends: Arnold Lobel
Goodnight Mister Tom: Michelle Magorian
House at Pooh Corner: A. A. Milne
Iron Man: Ted Hughes
Jolly Postman, The: Janet & Allan Ahlberg
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: Roger Lancelyn Green
Little Bear Lost: Jane Hissey
Meg and Mog: Helen Nicholl
Nothing Ever Happens Here: Sarah Hagger-Holt
Owl Service, The: Alan Garner
Peace at Last: Jill Murphy
Queen’s Nose, The: Dick King-Smith
Revolting Rhymes: Roald Dahl
Smith: Leon Garfield
Tracy Beaker, The Story of: Jacqueline Wilson
Uncle: J. P. Martin
Very Hungry Caterpillar, The: Eric Carle
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: Michael Rosen
X – Jessica’s X-Ray: Pat Zonta
You Must Be Layla: Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Za-za’s Baby Brother: Lucy Cousins
As a very subjective guide I have used font emphasis to denote age ranges:
Normal = 0-5 years; Italic = 6-8 years;
Bold = 9-11 years; Bold Italic = 12-13 years
Please add your favourites – mine is no way exhaustive. I would have included The Magic Pudding, many, many Roald Dahl, The Thirty Fifth of May, etc. I decided to list just one from each favourite author, and to try to have a spread from the age range covered.
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Thank you for reading.
marilyn unmasked 