The results are in – Sydney’s 50 favourite children’s books
11 Jun 2013
It’s official – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury is officially Sydney’s favourite children’s book.
Over the last few weeks, the Sydney Story Factory conducted a poll to find out our favourite children’s books. With help from some wonderful bookshops – Berkelouws, Better Read than Dead, and Oscar & Friends – we received hundreds of votes. The results have been tallied and our favourite children’s author is Roald Dahl, who came in at number 2 for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and also claims the number 7, 9, 22 and 28 spots with The BFG, Matilda, The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox, respectively.
The only Australian author to make it into the top 10 was Markus Zusak, with The Book Thief (we allowed young adult novels). Interestingly, The Book Thief came in at number 2 on our poll of Sydney’s favourite books for grown ups in 2011.
Our favourite Australian author, however, is Mem Fox, who had the most entries with Possum Magic (number 14), Time for Bed (21), and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (24).
The top 10 list is below. To read the full list – and some of the wonderful comments people made about their favourite books – click here
| 1 | We’re Going on a Bear Hunt | Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury |
| 2 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl |
| 3 | The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe | CS Lewis |
| 4 | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak |
| 5 | Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll |
| 6 | Anne of Green Gables | Lucy Maud Montgomery |
| 7 | The BFG | Roald Dahl |
| 8 | The Faraway Tree (series) | Enid Blyton |
| 9 | Matilda | Roald Dahl |
| 10 | The Book Thief | Markus Zusak |
Many thanks again to our participating bookshops and Random House Australia for the generous prizes they offered. A fine selection of the above books is available from Berkelouws, Better Read than Dead and Oscar & Friends.
We’ll now be giving the list to artists, who will start reinventing these treasured books. Stay tuned for more.