Books my children should read

[Provencalroseparadox]

I want to collect a list of classic kids books that I can encourage mine to read. So far I'm thinking:

Harry Potter
Phillip Pulman - His Dark Materials and Sally Lockhart
Garth Nix - Abhorsen
Narnia
Swallows & Amazon
Stig of the Dump
Alan Garner's books
Berverly Nichols trilogy
The Secret Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden
Mrs Frisby & the Rats of Nimh
Wind in the Willows
Peter Pan
Lewis Carroll
The Hobbit and LOTR

Any suggestions to add?

Holes by (Louis?) Sacher
The Church Mouse by G Oakley for younger children (the illustrations are brilliant)

My dcs find some 'classics' really dull. Fine with Harry Potter but Charlottes Web, Wind in the Willows and the Hobbit left them cold.

An author called Eva Ibbottson (recently deceased) has been a huge hit. A real classic storyteller that hooks you in. Try 'Journey to the River Sea' and 'One Dog and his boy'. Brilliant.

I loved "the Worst Witch" as a child. I also loved "What Katy did" and sequels, and "Emily of New Moon" (by Lucy Maud Montgomery). And " A bear called Paddington".

The weirdstone of brisingamen
Holes
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The letter for the king (DS1 is nine and a bookworm. He is currently reading this and has declared it is the best book ever)

Mine will have access to an extensive Diana Wynne Jones library. I will be encouraging them to read the Chrestomanci books way more than Harry Potter!

Wonder

Watership Down, and the Colin Dann books (Animals of Farthing Wood etc)
Holes, recommended above, is great.
I notice you have included Mrs Frisby in your list. I have always found this novel strangely bad. We taught it once at a secondary school I worked at, and had parents writing in to complain as the kids hated it so much. Strange - I know many people love it.

There are quite a few cracking classic children's books around, although some are quite hard to read! Some have already been mentioned, but what about Pippi Longstocking, A Little Princess, Ballet Shoes and White Boots, The Phantom Tollbooth, Anne of Green Gables, Charlotte Sometimes, Charlotte's Web, Tuck Everlasting, Pollyanna, Heidi, Treasure Island, Just William, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass?

Some contemporary books are also fantastic reads. I would definitely recommend:
Skellig by David Almond;
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher;
Rooftoppers and Girl Savage by Katherine Rundell;
Goodnight Mister Tom and Back Home by Michelle Magorian...

Older children might be more interested in The Machine Gunners, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Carmen Reid's "Cross My Heart".

I would also recommend anything by the likes of Eva Ibbotson, Hilary McKay, David Walliams and Roald Dahl! :)

Any book not suggested by mum.

I have been trying to get the DDs to read Black Beauty, Mrs Frisby (my absolute fav.) and his dark materials for years.

DDs are 13&16, they still haven't read them, every possible teen fiction series and the twlight books are falling apart, but nothing suggested my me or DD2's long suffering English teacher. Although to be fair DD2 did like Holes that they did at school.

I would also add Percy Jackson, which DD2 also refuses to read because mum and DD1 tell her to.

Some great suggestions here.

No of course I'm not going to force them to read anything but part if the joy of books for me is the community you get from discussing shared books. I'd be over the moon to be able to discuss books I loved with my DCs and part of the reason for this list is to give us a shared library we can choose from. If they decide to read something else, however, that's fine, I'll be happy they are reading.

I'm not yet sure if either of them are going to love books as much as I do. If they do this list will give us a great jumping off point.

I see Seagulls on the seashore has got there before me.

My 10 yo DS, a fiction hater (apart from Harry Potter), can't put Wonder down.

It really is a marvellous book.

FWIW - this is the list my ds (9) and I drew up - partly based on what we already have in the house from my childhood, partly on what he or I think he would enjoy. BTW, he loves lists, and doing things in order so this was his idea as well as mine, he is not being 'made' read them.
Its a kind of deal we've come up with - he is addicted to Beast Quest, which is fine, but I think it would be nice if he read outside the series, so the deal is he reads one from the list, then a BQ...he's read a couple on the list already/ones by the same author/heard it on audiobook. Any suggestions/substitutions welcome!

1. The Witches Roald Dahl
2. Kensuke's Kingdom ?Michael Morpurgo

3.Charlotte's Web ?EB White

1. Emil and the Detectives Erich Kastner
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ?JK Rowling
3. The Sleeping Army Francesca Simon
4. Five Children and It by E Nesbit
5. The Silver Sword Ian Serraillier
6. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Joan Aiken

10. Artemis Fowl ?Eoin Colfer 11. A Greyhound of a Girl ?Roddy Doyle 12. The Magician’s Nephew CS Lewis 13. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief ?Rick Riordan 14. Skellig ?David Almond 15. The Indian in the Cupboard Lynne Reid Banks 16. The Peppermint Pig Nina Bawden 17. Thunder and Lightnings Jan Mark 18. A Dog So Small Phillipa Pearce 19. The Mouse and His Child Russell Hoban 20. Woof! By Allan Ahlberg 20. Stig of the Dump Clive King 21. Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 22. Keeper ?Mal Peet 23. The Secret Garden 24. The Tale of Troy Roger Green 25. Asterix the Gaul 26. Mouse Bird Snake Wolf David Almond and Dave McKean 27. The Golden Compass? Philip Pullman 28. The Phantom Tollbooth? Norton Juster 29. Diary of a Wimpy Kid ?Jeff Kinney 30. Stuart Little EB White 31. Brilliant Roddy Doyle 32. The Tale of Despereaux ?Kate DiCamillo 33. Lionboy by Zizou Corder 34. Just William Richmal Crompton 35. Robot's Revenge Clive Gifford 36. The Legend of Spud Murphy Eoin Colfer 37. The Killer Underpants (A Jiggy McCue story) Michael Lawrence 38. The Iron Man Ted Hughes 39. Sad book Michael Rosen 40. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths 41. The Hero and the Minotaur Robert Byrd 42. The Lost Prince Frances Hodgson Burnett 43. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Robert C. O’Brien 44. Flat Stanley 45. Peter Pan J.M. Barrie 46. Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 47. Pippi Longstocking 48. The Call of the Wild Jack London 49. The Hobbit JRR Tolkein 50. The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkein

The fate of Jeremy visick
The peppermint pig
Boy
The little house on the prairie series

All books I loved in my childhood!

I would definitely recommend Ballet Shoes for your list. Also The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown.
Roald Dahl should also feature. Matilda or The Witches maybe?