Children's Book Meme

This meme went around months ago but I never did it. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic tonight, though, and thought it would be fun to do this. These are the National Education Association's top 100 Books. I've bolded the ones I remember reading when I was growing up, and added comments where I felt like it.

1. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White [I also watched the animated video of this story about a million times when I was a kid]
2. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg [I still read this one every Christmas]
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
4. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
5. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak [When Shane was a baby and Mom was busy with him, Dad got into the habit of getting me and Chelsea ready for bed every night and reading our bedtime story (every night he wasn't closing the restaurant, anyway). Then once Shane was older, Dad still kept his role as Bedtime Story Reader. We'd all pile into one of our beds, alternating rooms every night, and Dad would sit in the middle and read. This was one of our favorites 'cause Dad would do funny voices during the whole "and they gnashed their terrible teeth" part]
6. Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch [My third grade class read this story aloud at a Mother's Day Tea]
7. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
9. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls [We had to read this in 5th grade, and I remember everyone cried, even some of the boys, which was a big deal in 5th grade]
10. The Mitten by Jan Brett
11. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown [My favorite when I was really little]
12. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
13. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis [I kind of can't believe I have never read this]
14. Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
15. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson [I was sure I read this book in 4th or 5th grade, but then the film version came out a few months ago and nothing in those previews triggered any memories of what I thought this book was actually about. So they either changed the story entirely for the purposes of the movie, or I'm remembering another book and thinking it's this one]
16. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
17. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss [I was actually pretty much an adult when I read this book for the first time since it was a high school graduation gift from my student council sponsors]
18. Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
19. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
20. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
21. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
22. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
23. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle [I did a book report on this in 6th grade. I remember I made a poster with all the imaginary planets on it, but now I can't actually remember the story, or if I even liked it]
24. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor [I had this book but never read it]
25. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss [I don't think I've ever actually read the book, just seen the animated version, but I think that's the entire book so I'll count it]
26. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
27. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
28. Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
29. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
30. The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
31. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner [Shane went through a Boxcar Children phase]
32. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan [I still love this book, it's beautifully written]
33. Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
34. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell [Another one we had to read in 5th grade]
35. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
36. The BFG by Roald Dahl
37. The Giver by Lois Lowry [I know I read this to get Accelerated Reader points in 7th grade (did everyone do AR, or was that just an El Paso thing? Or even just something at my particular middle school?) and I know that this book really freaked me out for some reason, but now I can't remember it well enough to recall why it scared me]
38. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
39. James and the Giant Peach: A Children's Story by Roald Dahl [All Roald Dahl books freak me out. I couldn't even finish reading The Witches when I was a kid because it terrified me. As for all of his other books, my feelings about Roald Dahl books are the same as my feelings about Tim Burton movies: I appreciate them and think that they're good art/literature, and I even kind of like them, but I can't fully enjoy them because they just make me feel weird. It's a primal feeling I can't even articulate, but they bother me somehow]
40. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
41. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
42. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien [This gets halfway highlighted because I started this but never finished it. I've never made it through an entire Tolkien book, I lose patience with his stuff for some reason...and it's not that his books are too detailed, because normally I love the unnecessary details]
43. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss [I was really crazy about the Lorax for a while. I thought he was cute. I even had a Lorax t-shirt, 'cause I was just that nerdy]
44. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
45. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry [I still have this book in my bedroom at my parents' house, and I re-read it almost every time I go home to visit]
46. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
47. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott [I love this one as well. I have my mom's old copy, and it is falling to pieces and I've taped the cover back onto it a dozen times. I really should find myself a less battered copy, because I'll probably keep re-reading it forever, too]
48. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
49. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
50. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
51. Corduroy by Don Freeman
52. Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg [The movie version of this book really sucked, by the way. The entire mood of the book was lost]
53. Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
54. Matilda by Roald Dahl
55. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
56. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume [I love Judy Blume, both for young adult and adult fiction]
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary [I had all of Beverly Cleary's books when I was little]
58. The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White [Yet another book we read for class in the 5th grade]
59. Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
60. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis [Yup, haven't read this one, either]
61. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey [One of my very favorites]
62. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
63. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
64. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
65. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
66. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
67. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter [Although I preferred The Tale of Benjamin Bunny]
68. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt [Whaddaya know, another book that scared me! I didn't like this one because there was too much talk about living forever, and the whole concept of "forever" has never sat well with me]
69. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum [I kind of can't believe I've never read this one, either]
70. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
71. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
72. Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus
73. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
74. The Cay by Theodore Taylor [Another one I had but never read. I think at one point I got a boxed set of children's classics for my birthday and was only interested in about half of them. Shiloh came in that same set, I think. Ha.]
75. Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey [I used to make Mom read this one to me a lot, I was really fascinated by the part where Curious George was in the hospital bed with his leg in a cast. And also the part where he washed windows]
76. Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
77. Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown [This is another series my little brother liked a lot, so I'd read them for him]
78. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
79. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
80. Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
81. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
82. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
83. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar [I remember everyone used to fight over who could check this one out on library day at school]
84. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
85. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
86. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
87. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
88. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
89. Stuart Little by E. B. White
90. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
91. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare [I've been having a strange craving to re-read this book lately, don't ask me why]
92. The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
93. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina [Yet another Shane favorite. Considering how much it seems like he liked to read when we were little, it's kind of a shame that now he only reads the sports page]
94. Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
95. Heidi by Johanna Spyri [Yet another book I had but never read]
96. Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
97. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
98. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
99. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
100. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch