9 May 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PUFFIN.


Celebrating it's 75TH BIRTHDAY this year, publisher, PUFFIN, the children's division of the company, which has just celebrated its 70TH BIRTHDAY, has compiled a list of its 70 best books of all time for children.

FROM The Very Hungry Caterpillar to gothic horror Dracula, publisher Puffin compiled a hot list of its 70 best books of all time for children.

Fantasy classics Peter Pan and Alice In Wonderland, pirate adventure Treasure Island, and the tear-jerking Watership Down also make the line-up for young people aged from babies to their teens, marking Puffin's 70th anniversary.

The books are split into categories including best mischief and mayhem, weird and wonderful, sugar and spice, best swashbucklers and derring-do, as well as books to cuddle up with.

There is also a section on the "best alternatives" to Stephenie Meyer's massively successful Twilight books, which were turned into a series of films starring Robert Pattinson.

Suggestions include Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

Roald Dahl has his own entire "phizzwhizzers" category, with his classic tales The BFG, Matilda, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mr Fox.


Dahl sells more books every year than any other Penguin author in both the adults and children's categories - and his sales rocketed by 35 per cent in 2009.

Watership Down and Charlotte's Web are among the best weepies, The Borrowers is included in best friends and family, and Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan are among the best weird and wonderful books.

The poignant Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank is in the best war and conflict category.

Modern best-sellers are also featured, such as Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney among best mischief and mayhem, and Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer included in best heroes.

Charlie Higson's thriller The Enemy is also named among the best blood and guts - along with Bram Stoker's classic horror Dracula and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound Of The Baskervilles.
The best books to cuddle up with category includes The Very Hungry Caterpillar which still sells one copy every 30 seconds somewhere in the world.

Top 20 in the list is:-


  1. The Twits by Roald Dahl
  2. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
  3. The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong
  4. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
  5. Watership Down by Richard Adams
  6. The Truth About Leo by David Yelland
  7. Two Weeks With The Queen by Morris Gleitzman
  8. Charlotte's Web by EB White
  9. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  10. The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis & Gwen Millward
  11. Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
  12. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd
  13. The Enemy by Charlie Higson
  14. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  15. Being by Kevin Brooks
  16. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
  17. Captain Flinn And The Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae & Russell Ayto
  18. Young Samurai: The Way Of The Warrior by Chris Bradford
  19. Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green
  20. The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • Marked in red = Have a copy on our shelves, I've read this book.
  • Marked in blue = We do not have a copy but I have read the book.
  • To see the complete list of 70 books, click HERE.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've noticed that the top 20 there are quite 'boyish'

Ive only read 4 of those

Kissed by an Angel said...

Oh dear, i've only read The Twits!! I was a big fan of Roald Dahl when my kids were young, so I used to buy those for them!!! My favourite was Matilda!!! I loved the film too!!
xxxx

Nina said...

Happy Bday Puffin!

Priya Parmar said...

what a fantastic list! i am happy to hear that about the hungry catapillar! i still remember the texture and weight of the pages of that book. some tings never go away!

Kelly said...

Oh my! Of these 20 do I dare admit that I've only read TWO of them!! (#8 and #10) Watership Down has been on my shelf for years and I've never read it.

I'll check out the full list next...

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Where is the Mixed Files of Mrs.Basil E Frankweiler and A Wrinkle in Time???
I hope hubby is doing well.

Jen said...

Charlotte's Web is still one of my favorites. Some pig!

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Happy B-Day Puffin! LOL! I see them all the time, but have never really thought about it. Thanks for sharing this..

Jenners said...

I've seen Puffin but never made the connection that it was related to Penguin!!! Cute!

And there are some books on there I've never heard of but plan to check out! And I love love love "The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole." Glad to see it made the top!

Heather said...

Congrats to Puffin. I checked the full list and am sure about reading 12 of them but might have read more, its so hard thinking back that far.

Kelly said...

I went back and checked out the full list and didn't fare much better there.

Realized, too, that I mistakenly said I'd read #10 on the list. That should have been #20 instead.