Children's Books

Booktrust, a charity organization based in the United Kingdom, recently completed a public opinion poll to determine the "best children's books of all time." And the winners were ---------

1.) "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (LWW) by C.S. Lewis

2.) "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (VHC) by Eric Carle

What struck me when I read these polling results is that indeed I have read both of these books but that I had read the LWW as a child and VHC as an adult when I read it to our daughter. While these two books are very different in terms of complexity they are indeed both great reads for children of all ages. The other observation that I would offer is that the author of LWW -- C.S. Lewis -- was a Christian writer which I find most interesting given the very secondary role religion plays in British society today. To have 4,000 parents in this Booktrust survey cite LWW as "the best" is a substantial result from a cultural standpoint.

Read to your children or the government will do it for you,

Todd