As part of the celebrations to mark the opening of the musical adaptation 'Matilda', The Royal Shakespeare Company asked several high profile authors, actors, artists and politicians to review their favourite children's book for the online Matilda's book club.
So who chose what?
The PM David Cameron chose to review his favourite childhood book Our island story by Henrietta Marshall. Quite the apt choice for a man destined to govern that same great nation.
The deputy PM, Nick Clegg, chose The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. He admitted it was a tough choice but eventually plumped for The Gruffalo saying that since having children he's read that book more than any other.
Actress Emma Thompson said that as a child one of her 'passion books' was The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, the children's fantasy by novel by Alan Garner. She says the reason she loved it so much only came to light as she grew older and realised that he didn't write it for children.
Several authors and contributors to Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook put forth their recommendations. Quentin Blake chose The Box of Delights by John Masefield. Malorie Blackman chose The Silver Chair by CS Lewis, stating that 'it contained everything she wanted from a story' and Jeremy Strong chose Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.
Unsurprisingly I wasn't asked! Although had I been, I would have had to make a choice between my many children's favourites including (in no particular order):
- Princess and the Pea (Hans Christian Anderson)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
- The Robot and the Bluebird (David Lucas)
- The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein)
- Sad Book (Michael Rosen)
- and I'm in full agreement with Nick Clegg (hear hear!) on The Gruffalo
No real surprises in any of the chosen titles, but regardless Matilda's book club isn't just another list of good books. Instead it's a place to be recommend new books to read and be reminded of old books you've forgotten.
What's your favourite?
Warm wishes, Jo
(Editor, Writers' & Artists' Yearbook)
Were there many entries for the competition.
I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too! And BFG (Big Friendly Giant)..other favourites would have to be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (remember my class 5 librarian reading it out to us) and a beautiful illustrated version of The Hobbit which got me hooked to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I have a question that's not relevant to this post, but I couldn't find a blog entry on the Writers and Artists short story competition. I was a little late in submitting my entry, past midnight local time but around 10:30 pm GMT (14th Feb). I assumed that since the competition is open to international entrants (and also because W&A is UK based, I think), you'd be following GMT. I hope my entry will be considered valid. Please let me know. Thank you so much.
My pick would be Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Like Emma Thompson’s Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner, Orwell might not have written it for kids, but it made intriguing reading when I was younger; before I even knew what it all meant.
Xean
12/2/2010