100 for the little ones.

Lifted whole-cloth from somewhere.

Here is a list of one hundred books selected by the National Education Association as great reading for children and young people. To help make these books more useful, we have added book and author links to any TeachersFirst resources and lesson ideas. For more reading ideas - including books grouped by theme and grade levle - check out the hundreds of titles in our Suggested Reading section.

Books for All Ages

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 
Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein 
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Heidi by Johanna Spyri 

Books for Preschoolers - More Preschool Titles from TeachersFirst / TeachersAndFamilies

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise 
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney 

Books for Children Ages 4-8 - More Primary Reading from TeachersFirst / TeachersAndFamilies

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg 
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss 
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 
Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst   
The Mitten by Jan Brett 
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola 
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss 
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault 
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne 
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff 
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss 
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman 
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
The Napping House by Audrey Wood 
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter 
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss 
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey 
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox 
Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown 
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina 
Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell 
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

Books for Children Ages 9-12 - More Books by Grade Level from TeachersFirst

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis 
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 
Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner 
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks 
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell 
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The BFG by Roald Dahl 
The Giver by Lois Lowry
James and the Giant Peach: A Children's Story by Roald Dahl
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner 
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry 
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien 
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume 
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis 
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt 
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson 
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Laura Ingalls Wilder Webquest
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar 
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein 
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater 
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett 
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare 
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 

Books for Young Adults - More Books by Grade Level from TeachersFirst

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls 
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls 
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare 

Check out this "great" web site.

I hope you've already heard about this, because you attend to the postings at Ward Six, but if not, let me introduce you to "your" next favorite website.

Update on campaign songs.

I will refrain from comment on the final pick.To be more serious for a moment, the result can be read as a wad of demographic tea leaves at the bottom of Hillary's teacup: The chosen song was by far the most "soccer mom" of the options, pointedly bypassing the civil-rights-era echoes of the Temptations, the more youth-oriented Smashmouth (purportedly Bill C.'s pick, but in general a weird case of wishful thinking and cool hunting that missed the mark), and the overly politically aware U2. For many potential Clinton voters - especially working and middle-class women of all ages, single mothers, new immigrants, exurban families, and many more - the Celine choice is going to be a much more sympathetic and welcomed selection than you would think if you went by the media and the blogophere, which predictably went right into mockery mode. As I argue at length in my book, critics and pundits are, by and large, exactly in the place in the culture least disposed to understanding Celine's appeal, and have always, as they are this week, stood by and jeered while Celine went on to be embraced by hundreds of millions of fans around the world. At least for once Hillary's managed a genuinely populist move here, rather than backing away into the neutral zone her handlers seem to prefer. Although maybe that's because she doesn't make a very convincing populist, which leads to our next problem...Aaaaargh Celine Dion aaaaarrcgh I'm burning

After Dark, chapter one.

For those of you still wondering: should I?  Here's the first chapter of Haruki Murakami's After Dark.  And stop wondering aloud, someone'll call the police.

Another tournament of books.

For those who like this sort of thing, Time Out New York has a tournament going in which readers vote on "which book is most essential to life - and cocktail conversation - in New York City."  Being a bumpkin who has lived in Maine his whole life, I'm not that great a judge.  And no commentary?

I tell you what though, if Auster's New York Trilogy loses out to The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, I'll eat my red notebook.  (And shouldn't the graphic novelization of City of Glass get its own shot at the title?)  (via)

One story, every day.

Dan's the man with the master plan.

While the poets of the world have shrewdly united to have April be National Poetry Month every year, creating a fair amount of attention for their craft, we (proverbial) here at the EWN have decided that we sort of like concentrating on one form for a lengthy period of time, so we're declaring that around here, May will be Short Story Month.  While we don't believe that we'll have WITS stories to link to and discuss like we have this month, we do have more than enough short story collections lying around the homestead here that we have been waiting for a reason to crack open.

One of the original ideas behind this Work of the Day idea was to dip into those collections of stories and poems that I didn't think would ever get full reviews.  So, in the month of May, while some of the stories will come from online journals, and print journals, there will also be at least one story per day coming from a story collection.

I like to see this sort of thing.  I've written in the past about my love of the short story and wondered about its diminished - and diminishing - place in the lives of readers.  I finished The Secret Lives of People in Love - short stories - the other night and have been trying to figure out a way to write about it without resorting to outrageous hyperbole.  Still working on that. 

Stay tuned at EWN.

Having a laugh, are we?

Here's the best thing I've read about that whole "n+1 hates bloggers, bloggers hate n+1" business.  I needed a laugh.  Excerpt:

Open Letter to n+1*

Dear n+1,

Can I get my Totebag! embroidered?