Monday, June 13, 2011

Julia Donaldson's six best books

Julia Donaldson has written more than 120 books for children and teenagers, including The Gruffalo (the animation of which was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA), Room on the Broom, Stick Man, Cave Baby, Freddie and the Fairy and What the Ladybird Heard, as well as the award-winning teenage novel Running on the Cracks.

In 2010, Donaldson was the most borrowed children’s author from UK libraries.

She has just been named Britain's seventh Children's Laureate.

Donaldson named her six best books for the Scottish Sunday Express.

One title on the list:
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

What can I say? This is a perfect book which is moving, utterly convincing and beautifully written. No wonder Harper Lee never wrote anything else.
Read about the other books on Donaldson's list.

To Kill a Mockingbird also made TIME magazine's top 10 list of books you were forced to read in school, John Mullan's list of ten of the best lawyers in literature, John Cusack's list of books that made a difference to him, Lisa Scottoline's top ten list of books about justice, and Luke Leitch's list of ten literary one-hit wonders. It is one of Sanjeev Bhaskar's six best books and one of Alexandra Styron's five best stories of fathers and daughters.

--Marshal Zeringue