Editorial Anonymous's Best Lists

Okay, as long as I posted Stacy Whitman's list, I might as well point to the one over on Editorial Anonymous.

Anonymous posted "required reading" lists for picture books, for Middle Grade and for Young Adult. S/he started with the obvious point that s/he couldn't remember all the good or even excellent ones, and closes with this point:

Let us also say for the record that people who are interested in Children's Lit in a pure sense can concentrate on catching up on the classics.

But those people interested in being published now should read one book that's topping the charts now for every classic they read. (Which "chart" you use should vary. Read the bestsellers; read the Mocks; read the books that get four starred reviews and sell 3,000 copies; flip through the books that Target carries.)

Having just finished reading Steven King's On Writing, and posting a quote from him over on White Flow, I'll remind writers that reading and keeping up with what's published is part of the job. He ends the memoir with a list of roughly 100 novels he had read in the prior four years. Yep, that's one every two weeks.

Stacy Whitman, Sorted Midgrade Fantasy List

Okay, this list is from over on Stacy Whitman's site. I tried to sort it and put it over there, but livejournal removed all the formatting from the comment, making it unreadable.

Jan 6 Noon Update - Stacy has now provided the list in book name order.



The below lists are sorted by author, with a semicolon at the end of the author list and usually an asterisk attached to a series.

Here's Stacy's Jan 3 list, formatted :

Lloyd Alexander - The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron* ;
M.T. Anderson - Whales on Stilts* ;
Blue Balliet - Chasing Vermeer;
J.M. Barrie - Peter Pan & Wendy;
Sarah Beth Durst - Into the Wild* ;
Franny Billingsley - The Folk Keeper, Well Wished;
Jeanne Birdsall - Penderwicks;
Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi - The Spiderwick Chronicles* ;
L.M. Boston - Children of Green Knowe* ;
Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm* ;
Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland;
Gail Carson Levine - Ella Enchanted,
The Princess Tales (Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep etc.)* ;
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl* ;
Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone* ;
Kevin Crossley-Holland - The Seeing Stone* ;
Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*, James & the Giant Peach, The Witches;
Kara Dalkey - Little Sister* ;
James Dashner - The 13th Reality* ;
John David Anderson - Standard Hero Behavior;
Silvana de Mari - The Last Dragon;
Joseph Delaney - The Last Apprentice* ;
Kate DiCamillo - The Tale of Despereaux;
Edward Eager - Half Magic;
David Farland - Of Mice and Magic;
Susan Fletcher - Dragon's Milk* ;
L. Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* ;
Cornelia Funke - Inkheart* ;
Neil Gaiman - Coraline;
Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows;
Shannon Hale - Princess Academy;
R.D. Henham - Red Dragon Codex* ;
Russell Hoban - The Mouse and His Child;
Jennifer Holm & Hamel - The Stink Files* ;
Erin Hunter - Warriors* ;
Brian Jacques - Redwall* ;
Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth;
P.B. Kerr - Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure;
Dick King-Smith - Babe: The Gallant Pig;
Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm - Babymouse* ;
Madeleine L’Engle - A Ring of Endless Light, A Wrinkle in Time*, Many Waters;
Derek Landy - Skulduggery Pleasant* ;
Trenton Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society* ;
C.S. Lewis - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* ;
David Lubar (ARC, to be published this August) - My Rotten Life: Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie;
Jodi Lynn Anderson - May Bird and the Ever After;
George MacDonald - The Light Princess, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie;
D.J. MacHale - Pendragon* ;
Anne McCaffrey - Dragonsong* ;
Robin McKinley - Beauty;
S Morgenstern - The Princess Bride;
Brandon Mull - Fablehaven* ;
E. Nesbit - Five Children and It* , The Story of the Treasure Seekers* ;
Garth Nix - Mister Monday/Keys to the Kingdom* ;
Mary Norton - Bedknobs and Broomstick, The Borrowers* ;
Phillippa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden;
Tamora Pierce - Protector of the Small* ;
Daniel Pinkwater - The Hoboken Chicken Emergency;
Elizabeth Pope - The Perilous Gard;
Terry Pratchett - The Wee Free Men* ;
Sarah Prineas - The Magic Thief;
Philip Reeve - Larklight* ;
Lynne Reid Banks - The Indian in the Cupboard;
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief* ;
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter* ;
Brandon Sanderson - Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians* ;
Justin Somper - Vampirates* ;
Paul Stewart & Chris Riddel - Hugo Pepper* ;
P.L. Travers - Mary Poppins* ;
Megan Whalen Turner - The Thief* ;
E.B. White - Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little*, The Trumpet of the Swan;
Carole Wilkinson - Dragon Keeper* ;
Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle*, The Chrestomanci Chronicles*, The Dalemark Quintet*, The Power of Three;


And here's the ones Stacy collected out of the Comments :

Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams - Danny Dunn books (SCI FI)* ;
Tom Becker - Darkside;
Pseudonymous Bosch - The Name of This Book Is Secret;
Ruth Chew - What the Witch Left, The Wednesday Witch, The Secret Tree House* ;
Roald Dahl - Matilda;
Lois Duncan - A Gift of Magic;
Michael Ende - The Neverending Story;
John Flanagan - Ranger's Apprentice* ;
Eva Ibbotson - various;
Carol Kendall - The Gammage Cup* ;
Elizabeth Knox - Dreamhunter/Dreamquake;
Jane Langton - Hall Family Chronicles* ;
Ingrid Law - Savvy;
Christopher Lincoln - Billy Bones;
Dean Lorey - Nightmare Academy;
Georgess McHargue - Stoneflight;
Jenny Nimmo - Charlie Bone* ;
Bertrand R. Brinley - The Mad Scientists' Club* ;
Adam Rex - The True Meaning of Smekday;
Rick Riordan et al. - The 39th Clue* ;
Peter S Beagle - The Last Unicorn;
Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow - A Wolf at the Door, In The Dark of the Woods, Swan Sister;


I reserve the right to come back and put it in a table or something, but that's good enough for now.