Books

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (May 2010)

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What's on Your Nightstand?My pride rebels against holding over books from one nightstand post to the next, so I often find myself frantically trying to finish and review the rest of my list immediately prior to the fourth Tuesday of the month.

Alas, this month even my pride cannot keep me from holding over books. I bit off more than I could chew last month…and added some extra books throughout the month…and had all sorts of stuff to finish in the last weeks of school…and have been trying to actually get my thesis off the ground…and I’ve been on a bit of a crafty kick lately that has distracted my attention from books.

Which means that, in short, I am holding over a whopping 10 books.

Dear me!

On last month’s nightstand:

On my nightstand

What I actually read this month was:
(Links lead to my reviews of the book, never to a site selling you something.)

Fiction

  • Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
  • Lost in Rooville by Ray Blackston
  • Where Love is, There God is also by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Winds of Autumn by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

Juvenile

  • Children’s Picture Books author ANDERSON-ANHOLT (52 titles), including
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
  • The Deserted Library Mystery created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
    Another confirmation of my bias against the “created by’s”. The children were in a truly dangerous situation without any adult oversight. Completely unlike Warner’s books where the children are involved with minor mysteries under the watchful eye of a caring but non-intrusive adult.
  • Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

This month’s nightstand

On my nightstand

Fiction

  • The Courageous Cad by Catherine Palmer
  • Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser (Holdover)
  • Winter is Not Forever by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • 1,2,3 Skein Crochet by Judy Crow
  • The American Bar Association Complete and Easy Guide to Health Care Law
  • **The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin (Holdover)
  • **Five Aspects of Woman by Barbara Mouser (Holdover)
  • **Human Rights: Opposing Viewpoints (Holdover)
  • **Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness (Holdover)
  • Make Your Own Living Trust
  • Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts
  • Nolo’s Simple Will Book
  • Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (Holdover)
  • The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller (Holdover)
  • **Superhuman by Robert Winston and Lori Oliwenstein (Holdover)
  • Whom Not to Marry by Father Pat Connor
  • **Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day by Joan Bolker

Juvenile

  • Children’s Picture Books author ANDERSON-?
  • **The Shortwave Mystery by Franklin Dixon (holdover)

**The asterisks marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

Drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Stuff Christians Like” by Jonathan Acuff

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View my disclosure statement for more information on how I choose books to review.

If you’ve never checked out the Stuff Christians Like blog, you’re seriously missing out. Every day Jonathan Acuff (or a wickedly funny guest blogger) posts a satirical piece about some aspect of modern Christian culture.

Acuff is certainly not the only blogger who pokes fun at Christian culture. In fact, such sites abound. But Acuff’s “Stuff Christians Like” manages to set itself apart from other sites in that it’s not cynical. Acuff isn’t giving up on Christians or on the church. He’s not setting himself up as a holier-than-thou. He’s just making observations, in love, about our unique culture (which is also HIS unique culture.)

I don’t usually buy this sort of book. Actually, I try not to buy books if at all possible. I borrow hundreds of books from my library each year, and limit my purchasing to books that I’ve already read and know I want to read again and to library book sale items (bought at the going rate of $0.50-1.00)

But I especially don’t buy this kind of book–little humorous essays that you read once and laugh and then put away, never to pick the book up again.

I did, however, get the downloadable audiobook–and am thoroughly impressed.

Acuff does his own reading, which is genius on quite a few levels. Acuff is a pretty smooth reader–with pauses where they’re needed and proper inflections at varying points. But what’s more, Acuff doesn’t just read. Sure–he reads–but he also sings, uses the occasional odd voice, and makes comments about the reading process. It makes for great hilarity.

The contents of this title are a mix of Stuff Christians Like (the website) classics and brand new humorous essays. Expect to hear about honeymoon sex, popcorn prayer personalities, and being the “token Christian” in your workplace.

Stuff Christians Like would make a great gift book for anyone who grew up in the Christian subculture of the 80s, 90s, and today (fantastic-now I sound like a local radio station “playing your favorites from the 80s, 90s, and today!”)If you’ve been on a church missions trip or had your child’s number appear on a screen during a worship service or given or received a tract instead of candy on Halloween, you’re going to be amused by this book.

The book version would make for good bathroom reading, I think–though nothing can beat this audio version. As an individual who is HIGHLY oriented toward the written word (I require subtitles in order to understand almost any movie), I generally don’t prefer audio books. But this isn’t so much of an audio book–it’s more like a four and a half hour long comedy track. I LOVED IT!

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Satirical Essays on Christian Culture
Synopsis: Jonathan Acuff pokes good-natured fun at Christian culture–in absolutely hilarious essays.
Recommendation: If you grew up in the Christian culture–or now belong to it–you’ll probably be nodding your head and laughing along. You’ll like it. If you aren’t a Christian and/or don’t have any familiarity with Christian culture, this isn’t going to make a lot of sense to you.

Categories Book Notes, Faith

Forced into Church

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 7: Supernatural Church

My dad posed an interesting question at dinner on Sunday. He’d been talking to a number of new members of our church who had not been to church since their teens, when they felt that their parents had forced them to go to church. “Did you ever feel like you HAD to go to church?”

Well, yes. I never felt that I had an option to just NOT go to church.

But that doesn’t mean that I begrudged the obligation.

I wanted to be there.

Church was where I worshiped God. Church was where I spent time with my friends. Church was where I had a JOB to do. It was just a part of life.

Sure, there were days when I wanted to sleep in or read a book–but on the whole, I wanted to be in church on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights, and for Bible study or small groups whenever they were.

I can’t really identify with those who felt forced to go to church.

I wonder what the difference was?

Was it because I was homeschooled and church was one of my only social outlets? Was it because I never knew any other life? Was it because I had jobs, tasks to accomplish at church (whether babysitting or running sound or overhead projection or teaching Sunday school or children’s studies)? Was it because my church was just so amazingly hip? (That one is doubtful, by the way.)

In part, it was probably a combination of all of the above. But I think the real inducement was that God chose to call me to Himself at a young age. In His grace, He set a fire in my heart for the church, His bride. I remember praying fervently on the playground as an eight-year old, asking God to save the surrounding neighborhood–Lincoln’s Airpark. I remember shutting myself in the unfinished bedroom in the basement with a boombox, singing praises to God. I remember eagerly volunteering to help out with Missionettes (a girl’s group) as a 7th grader–and stepping in to teach the kindergartners when the teacher had to quit unexpectedly.

Why did I never feel forced into church? Because God, in His great mercy, called me His own–and church was the gathering of His own.

Do I have any advice for parents to ensure that their kids never feel forced into church?

Do I have any advice for churches to make church feel less of a chore for kids and youth?

No.

Not really.

In truth, all your works are insignificant. It is only the Holy Spirit who can make a child, a teen fall desperately in love Christ. It is only the Holy Spirit who can instill in that youth a love for His church. It is only the Holy Spirit who can change lives.

As Francis Chan says in Forgotten God:

“…While I might be able to get people in the doors of a church or auditorium if I tell enough jokes or use enough visuals, the fact remains that I cannot convince people to be obsessed with Jesus. Perhaps I can talk people into praying a prayer, but I cannot talk anyone into falling in love with Jesus. I cannot make someone understand and accept the gift of grace. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. So by every measure that actually counts, I need the Holy Spirit. Desperately.”

Only the Holy Spirit can change hearts and lives. If the church is to be powerful and effective, if church is to be a pleasure rather than a chore, than the church–God’s people–need to be radically empowered by and obediently following after the Holy Spirit.

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable” by John Boyne

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View my disclosure statement for more information on how I choose books to review.

Author John Boyne describes his work in an author’s note:

“Throughout the writing and rewriting of the novel, I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn’t possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him.”

Naive is right. Nine year old Bruno is completely lost in 1940s Germany. Despite his father being a commandant in the Nazi army, he has no idea what is going on around him. He doesn’t seem to know that the country is at war. He doesn’t understand who Hitler is–and calls him the “Fury” (as if a German child wouldn’t be able to pronounce “Fuhrer”.) When his family is moved to Auschwitz, where his father is to command the concentration camp, he mispronounces this name too, calling it “Out With”. He sees the people walking about inside the camp wearing their identical garb and thinks that they’re wearing striped pajamas.

I had a hard time getting through Bruno’s stupidness to truly appreciate this book. The story of the boy, discontented about his move from the city to this barren countryside until he meets and befriends another boy through the tall fence that surrounds Auschwitz, is touching. The writing style, while written at a very low reading level, is engaging. The narrator describes young Bruno’s thoughts in a unique voice:

“Then the door of the office closed and Bruno couldn’t hear any more so he thought it would be a good idea if he went back to his room and took over the packing from Maria, because otherwise she might pull all his belongings out of the wardrobe without any care or consideration, even the things he’d hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business.”

Indeed, if it weren’t for Bruno’s complete lack of sense, I might have really enjoyed this book.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is billed as juvenile fiction, but is really only appropriate for those who already have a basic understanding of Holocaust history. Bruno is completely in the dark about what is going on, and the narrator never explains it to him or to the reader. The assumption is that the reader will recognize “Fury” as the “Fuhrer” and identify that character as Adolf Hitler. The reader must recognize “Out With” as “Auschwitz” and understand that Auschwitz is a concentration camp. He must recognize, even if Bruno does not, the meaning of the cry “Heil Hitler” and the swastikas on the soldier’s armbands and the stars of David on the Jews’ armbands. From beginning to end, this book will cast a child who is not familiar with Auschwitz in advance into deep confusion.

As such, despite its incredibly simple reading level, this book is really more suitable for a teen or adult than for a child.

b>Rating:3 Stars
Category: Juvenile Fiction
Synopsis: Nine-year-old Bruno’s family moves from Berlin to Auschwitz, where Bruno’s father commands the concentration camp. Bruno is lonely for his friends and his old home until he secretly makes friends with a boy across the fence.
Recommendation: Lots of people read this and liked it. I read it and didn’t hate it. It’s a pretty quick read–so you might as well pick it up–but I’m not giving it rave reviews like so many others have.

Categories Book Notes

Walk in the Spirit

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 6: Forget about His will for your life!

“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.”
-Francis Chan, Forgotten God, page 120

I finished my last semester of classes on Monday. I still have a thesis to write, but my classroom days (at least for my MS) are done.

It’s terrifying. This is the last step of a dozen alternate routes, contingency plans I’d prepared. Now I’m left without a plan.

What’s more, the biggest dreams of my heart seem so far out of reach. Doors have been shut and paths redirected.

Faced for the first time in my life with no plan, without even a feasible dream, I cried to my mother–“What am I supposed to do? I’m going to be done with classes. I need to get myself a job. I might need to relocate. I need to make all sorts of life decisions. But I don’t even know what I want–much less what God’s will is.”

While I’m not a fan of personal prophecy, at that moment, I would have given anything for a direct word from the Lord telling me what to do with my next five years. My mom, being a women of wisdom, didn’t attempt such counsel.

Instead, she observed: “I think you do the next thing.”

I finish my thesis. I attain my MS. After that, who knows. For now, I just focus on the next step.

It’s completely unsatisfying advice. I would have much preferred something more long-reaching and with less immediacy.

What’s God’s will for my life? I ask myself. I ask God. I start writing out the options and begging God to just check His preferences:

Married or single?

Community nutrition or clinical nutrition? (Or maybe that “Wife” and “Mom” position I want so badly?)

Midwest or coasts?

Current church or different church?

“Give me direction,” I beg.

And He has. But it’s not the kind of direction I seek. It’s more like my mom’s undramatic “You do the next thing.”

“Trust Me,” God says. “To those who are faithful in the little, I grant much,” He reminds me.

I start to wonder: Does God ever lead by giving a five-year plan? Francis Chan doesn’t seem to think so–and I’m not sure Scripture really supports the idea either.

God tells Abraham to pack up and leave–but Abraham has to be obedient, listening to God for each step along the way. God leads Israel out of Egypt–but instead of telling them their path in advance, He guides them via a cloud and a pillar of smoke. Paul is continuously redirected by the Spirit along his missionary journeys.

And even when God revealed the destination in advance, He was pretty adamant that it was to be reached using His means as an individual or nation followed His day-to-day leading. Case in point? Abraham’s promised son and Abraham and Sarah’s botched attempt to make it happen on their own.

What is God’s will for my life? To read Scripture, it would appear that His will for my life is that I walk by the Spirit daily (Gal 5:16), heeding His voice as He directs the seemingly mundane decisions of my life: the attitude I have as I work, the way I respond to an unexpected situation, the people I talk to and what I say to them throughout the day.

The Spirit’s will for my life is evident in Scripture: He desires to conform me to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). He desires that I put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom 8:13). He desires that I be filled with the Spirit rather than with drunkenness or dissipation (Eph 5:18). He desires that I hold fast to good doctrine (2 Tim 1:13-14). He desires that I set my mind on the things of God (Rom 8:5).

So why am I so intent on getting a five-year plan from God while paying little attention to the plan for right now that He has made perfectly clear?

Lord, forgive me for disregarding Your direction for today in pursuit of Your plan for tomorrow. Help me to live each day in step with Your Spirit.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25

Forgotten God here.)

Categories Reading My Library

A Repentant Reader

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I officially repent of all that I have ever said against children’s counting books.

When done right, counting books can be delightful, as evidenced by Ten Little Wishes: A Baby Animal Counting Book, Arlene Alda’s 1,2,3: What do you see?, and now Lena Anderson’s Tea for Ten

Lena Anderson Picture Books

Tea for Ten tells the rhyming story of Hedgehog, feeling lonely, sitting at her table, wishing that her friends would drop by so “she wouldn’t be just ONE”. Thankfully, some of her friends do stop in–and Hedgehog prepares a sweet tea for ten.

Lena Anderson’s picture books have an endearing cast of characters that might be stuffed animals or might be real animals, but are cute and cuddly either way.

Both Hedgehog, Pig, and the Sweet Little Friend and Hedgehog’s Secret are entertaining and have delightful illustrations–but Lena Anderson’s crowning glory (in my humble opinion) is Tick-Tock.

Tick-Tock includes the same familiar characters as Anderson’s other books–but this is another teaching book. In fact, it’s a counting book of sorts.

The story begins at one o’clock, with Uncle Will taking a string of youngsters to the park. At two, they climb a tree. At three, someone falls off the tree. At four… And so the story goes. At seven o’clock, the kids get ready for bed. Every hour afterward, at least one youngster wakes up for one reason or another–until at last the clock strikes twelve and Uncle Will falls asleep in exhaustion.

Like the rest of the books, Tick-Tock is told in rhyme. It’s a short book, but fun–and the illustrations are perfect. Each page has a clock face on it, with the hands pointed at the appropriate time and the numeral for the hour beside it. This is a perfect book for teaching numbers and the basics of telling time.

Reading My Library

For more comments on children’s books (counting and otherwise), check out Carrie’s blog Reading My Library, which chronicles her and her children’s trip through the children’s section of their local library.


Categories Book Notes, Faith

Intimate Stillness

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 5: A Real Relationship

“While Jesus didn’t have to deal with emails, voice mails, or texts, He certainly understood what it meant to have multitudes of people pursuing Him at once. At any given moment of the day, people were looking for Jesus. Because of the priority of His relationship with His Father, He found ways to escape. He took the time to focus and be quiet (Mark 1:35). He was willing to remove Himself from people’s reach in order to pray and commune with God the Father. Our lack of intimacy often is due to our refusal to unplug and shut off communication from all others so we can be alone with Him.
-Francis Chan, Forgotten God, page 109

Why might I not be experiencing intimacy with the Holy Spirit? Chan suggests that one reason might be the loudness of our lives.

It’s funny–the very night I first read this chapter (before I read it), I was settling into my bathwater, singing a song of worship to the Lord and picking up a book to read, when I experienced that little nudge in my soul. “Don’t read, Rebekah. Just spend some time with Me.”

I was sorely tempted to disobey. I’d been so busy that day. I hadn’t had any time for pleasure reading. Bath time was my time–to relax and to read a book.

But I reminded myself that I’d said I wanted the Spirit. And if I truly want the Spirit, I must be obedient when He speaks.

I set the book down and spent the next twenty minutes or so in prayer–just communing with God and enjoying His presence. It was wonderful.

How often, I wonder, does the Holy Spirit speak to me, urging me into relationship with Him? How often do I ignore or not even hear His still small voice, so consumed am I with my blogs and books and papers to write and grade? How often do I rush through our morning breakfast date (I spend time in the Word over breakfast every morning) because I want to get on with my day?

Jesus, for all His busyness and all the demands on His time, made time to be alone with God.

If I truly desire the Spirit of God to be active in my life, I must be willing to rearrange my schedule, to make time to be still with Him.

**Let me make clear–there is no way that you or I can make the Holy Spirit move in our lives. The truth is that if you are a child of God, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within you. But I believe that by our hardheartedness we can ignore the Holy Spirit–leading to a failure to experience His presence (even though He is present). Thus, the failure to experience the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit’s failure to be present–but our failure to be sensitized to His presence. The disciplines of the Christian life, including that of stillness, can serve to sensitize our eyes and our hearts so that we can see and feel the Holy Spirit’s presence.**

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Book Notes, Faith

An Addendum on “Unveiling Islam”

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A friend recently brought an article about Ergun Caner, co-author of Unveiling Islam, to my attention. This article, published in Christianity Today, reports on a recent blog-flurry that accuses Ergun Caner of exaggerating his Muslim past. Among these potential exaggerations or untruths are the claims that Caner grew up in Turkey in a devout Muslim home, and trained as a jihadist to the age of 15. While the only of these claims made in Unveiling Islam is that Caner grew up in a devout Muslim home (in Ohio), the suggestion that Caner has exaggerated or falsified information regarding his Muslim upbringing is troubling.

As many of you know, I recently read Unveiling Islam and commented chapter by chapter here on bekahcubed. In light of this article, I have included the following addendum in each of my posts on Unveiling Islam:

Ergun Caner’s testimony as a converted Muslim has been challenged by several bloggers who claim that he has grossly exaggerated the extent of his Muslim upbringing. Readers of this book ought to be aware that the Caners may or may not have the experiential knowledge of Islam that they claim to have, and should therefore be careful to test the statements found in this book against other reliable sources.

I find this new information regarding Caner to be quite puzzling–since I felt that in Unveiling Islam the Caners treated Islam with a sympathy uncommon among fundamentalist right-wingers. (Classifying Ergun Caner as a fundamentalist right-winger does not seem out of place, considering that he is currently the president of Liberty University’s seminary.)

Why might Caner have felt a need to lie about his past? Certainly, he doesn’t make outrageous claims regarding Islam (or at least, not as outrageous as many claims made by those who fear Islam). I don’t see any reason for such behavior.

Nevertheless, this certainly calls Caner’s testimony as a believer and credibility as a source of information about Islam into question.

As readers, we should always be discerning, testing what we read against Scripture and against other sources to determine whether such things are true. Even when reading (or listening to) “Christian” sources, we should keep our filters on, carefully testing all things against the Word of God.

Let this be a call to us all to be wise and discerning as we read, listen, and live in a world where things are not always as they seem.

Categories Book Notes, Faith

Fear of Wrong Motives

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 4: Why Do You Want Him?

Chan asks why I want the Holy Spirit. “What is your motivation?” he queries.

I search my brain and come up with this answer: “Because my vision is to glorify God by growing in daily relationship with Him, being conformed to the image of Christ; by growing in relationship with others, taking time to invest in their lives; and by growing as an individual, always learning and always practicing what I’ve learned.”

My life vision flows glibly from my lips and my pen. This is what I only pray that someday my life will exemplify. God’s glorification. Relationship with Christ. Relationship with others. Personal growth.

I fear, though, that this answer is too pat, too religious, too straight out of a Stephen Covey exercise. Surely, I have ulterior motives for desiring the Holy Spirit.

I set down the book for a few days. I pick it up again and reread Chapter 3.

What are my motives? I ask myself, digging for hidden selfish motives. “Because I want His kingdom to come and His will to be done.”

“Church answer.” My brain throws back its rapid-fire retort.

I try again. “I want the Spirit because…”

I’m at a loss. “I want the Spirit because more than anything, I want my life to be a testimony of Christ. I want the Spirit because I dream of being transformed into the image of Christ. I want the Spirit because God has put in my heart a dream for the church, His bride, walking in mercy and in truth. I want the Spirit because I know that it is He and He alone who can cause my life to reflect Christ, who can build the church, and who can draw the lost unto Himself. And if my life fails to reflect Christ, to build the church, and to draw the lost to saving grace, then all my achievements are worthless. I want the Spirit because I know that, apart from Him, I will have wasted my life.”

Chan is right–there are many wrong motives for seeking the Spirit. He names attention, miracle hunting, and desire for personal control. But these are not what motivates me at this point in my life. I need not be ashamed that, in God’s mercy, He has caused me to desire the Spirit for the right reason.

I need not spend hours trying to find a false motive. Should one arise, God will reveal that. For now, I can rejoice that God has granted me this pure desire–and I can seek the Spirit’s increased activity unbound by fear of wrong motives.

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Books, Memes

How many children’s titles have you read?

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Amy at Hope is the Word did a fun little children’s book meme yesterday–and I figured I might play along. The list is supposed to be the top 100 children’s novels, as determined by a group of readers at The School Library Journal blog.

How many have you read?

100. The Egypt Game – Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard – Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe – Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches – Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren (1950)
94. Swallows and Amazons – Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn – Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted – Levine (1997)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Sachar (1978)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan (1985)
89. Ramona and Her Father – Cleary (1977)
88. The High King – Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday – Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek – Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse – Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief – Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three – Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman (200
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family – Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain – Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember – DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust – Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog – Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers – Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain – George (1959)
72. My Father’s Dragon – Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning – Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy – Lovelace (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart (2007)
68. Walk Two Moons – Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins – Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes – Streatfield (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago – Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake – Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock – Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl – Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart – Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars – Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins – Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG – Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows – Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays – Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1960)
49. Frindle – Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks – Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy – Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls (1961)
45. The Golden Compass – Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest – Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie – Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me – Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret – Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling (2000)
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach – Dahl (1961)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – O’Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic – Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising – Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess – Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II – Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet – Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women – Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods – Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief – Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt (1975)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Dahl (1964)
18. Matilda – Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee – Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit – Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game – Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden – Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes – Sachar (1998)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 – Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte’s Web – White (1952)

I’m a bit ashamed to realize that I’ve only read 23, and of those, I can only describe 18 plots. Any guesses as to which ones I DON’T remember?

I also don’t know what’s up with On the Banks of Plum Creek making the list when Little Town on the Prairie doesn’t. Little Town is clearly the best written of the whole series.

Anywho, thanks for playing.