Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created over at The Broke and the Bookish! This weeks topic is: Top Ten Books I Want My Future Children to Read (Or nieces and nephews, Godchildren, etc.) There are so many books that I would want to children in my life to read that I had to add a ton of honourable mentions as well! I chose a lot of these books because I feel like there is a lot to learn from them, but also because they are just excellent novels that I love!
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I would want my children to learn what I learned from Atticus Finch. This book enlightened me to the fact the prejudices exist. It also taught me empathy, and how it is important to be able to put yourself in someone else shoes. Buzzfeed posted this article talking about the 10 life lessons that can be found in To Kill a Mockingbird. These are all lessons I would want for my children to learn.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
This is another book that I gained a lot of perspective from, and I only read it for the first time this year! It does an excellent job explaining corruption and the abuse of power. It highlights the dangers of communism and it is easier than one would think to become power hungry, even when your intentions were good at the start. Animal Farm would be an educational, yet highly enjoyable read for my kids!
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
I think the majority of us would want our kids to read Harry Potter! I want my kids to experience all the magic and wonder that I felt when I first read these books. If I ever have children, it is my hope that we would read the Harry Potter series together. It would such a fun experience to share together!
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I know I have talked about this a million times, but this is such an important book and so relevant to the world that we live in today. I think that every young person, every person for that matter, should read this book and hopefully gain a better understanding of the world we live in.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
This book just gives me all the warm and fuzzies, and there are also some great lessons to be learned! I want my children to have a grandpa like Ove, and I can actually see a little bit of my dad in him!
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
I mean it says it right there on the cover- this is a book that talks about life’s greatest lessons. There so many great lessons in this book but I am only going to share a few that I truly hope that my future children would learn from it.
- Money can’t buy happiness
- Live everyday to the fullest
- It is important to not only be able to forgive other people, but also yourself
- It is okay to cry
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Outsider’s is one of the books that got me in to reading, and I would love to share that with my children. I remember reading this book for school in the 8th grade, and every one of my friends loved it! I think there is something about this book that really connects with children.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I feel like I am getting repetitive here but The Help is another book that I would want my children to read in the hopes that it would teach them something. Clutch magazine wrote an article that perfect explains what I learned while reading The Help.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
I read this book when I was 14 years old and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had known about the Holocaust but it was not until I read The Diary of Young Girl that it got it. I think it was because I was reading about the experience through the eyes of a girl who was around my age, and I could just not imagine what she went through. I think it is important that young people read this book. Anne had a lot of great insights!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This is one of my all time favourite books so of course I would want my children to experience that as well, but it is so much more than that. I am just going to leave the following quote from the book to explain why I would want to future kids to read it-
“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
Honourable Mentions: Of Mice and Men, Pride and Prejudice, The Hunger Games, Anne of Green Gables, Charlotte’s Web
I really enjoyed this topic and can not wait to see everyone else’s lists!
I love your picks, I have yet to read the Hate u give, But I’ve been hearing a lot about it.
Thank you! It is the one book of the year that I think everyone should read!
To Kill a Mockingbird and Harry Potter made my list this week! I almost added The Book Thief as well, some great books on here! Here’s my TTT: https://bookmuffin.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/future-classics-books-the-next-generation-should-read/
Thank you! I have a feeling Harry Potter will be on so many lists!
I guess I’ve got something wrong with me, because I just can’t stand “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I hated it in ninth grade, I hated it in college, and I hated it when I read it again right before “Go Set a Watchman” came out. I’ve always figured that the nostalgia figures very highly into the book, because there are so many better books that teach the lessons that are supposed to be in TKAM so much better. I know I’m in a very small majority here, though. Mostly people come after me with pitchforks and torches if I even breathe the fact that I can’t stand the book!
That is what is great about books. Everyone has different opinions and takes different things out of them.
I’m hoping to read A Man Called Ove soon. I’ve only heard great things about it.. I also need to make time for The Hate You Give. Great list.
A Man Called Ove is such a charming book. A quick read too!
I also have yet to read A Man Called Ove, though I have heard some really great things about it.
It is really great. I adore Ove!
These are some really really great picks! I agree the most with you about The Hate U Give, Harry Potter and the Outsiders. All of them though are worth reading in a lifetime for sure.
Those three are for sure must reads! Definitely books that have stuck with me.
this is a wonderful list!! i agree on every book on there! those will be happy children haha 😀
Thank you!! Hopefully 😂
Nearly all classics or future classics Kristin! I loved The Hate U Give and Anne Franck’s diary (read it in French for school). A Man Called Ove comes back time and again on GR feed so I think you are onto something 😉
Thank you! Ove is one of those books that took me by complete surprise. It’s fantastic!
Well Kristin I’ve just bought Bear Town and it’s landed in my mail today! It’s been praised by an author I adore Suanne Laqueur so I hope to read it soon 😉
Bear Town is the next book of his that I want to read! Can’t wait to see what you think about it!
I also had THUG on my list!
Great choices! To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders and The Help are all on my list too! The Hate U Give is on my TBR.
Three excellent books! You are going to love The Hate U Give!
The Book Theif <3 It's definitely my all time favourite book. It had such a profound effect on me. I think the book does a great job at showcasing humanity at it's worst and at it's best, it demonstrates how complex humanity is.
Very well said! Definitely something I would want my kids to understand!
Animal Farm and To Kill A Mockingbird are great books for kids to read! I had to read both of them in school and they really made me think.
So true. Not overly difficult to read but have a lot of impact!
Great list Kristin! The Diary of Anne Frank and The Book Thief could make for a great reading pair, and To Kill a Mockingbird is such an important classic. I really need to read The Hate You Give soon myself.
You picked so many good ones! The Outsiders was one of my childhood favorites. It got me interested in reading.
The Outsiders is one of the books that made me love reading too!
This is such a great post! I really hope to share the experience of Harry Potter with my future kids, too…even if it’s just through the movies if they’re not readers! 😉 Just somehow share the magic. All the books you picked have great lessons and things that I’d want my future kids to know, too.
Thank you! The movies are so fun and magical too! I really hope at least one of my kids is a reader but if not I will settle for the movies 😋
Fantastic list!! Totally agree about To Kill a Mockingbird and Animal Farm- great picks! And I think HP will be fun to read to my future children too 😀 And I agree about Book Thief and Anne Frank 😀
Thank you! Writing this post made me excited about the ideas of reading to and talking about books with my future kids!
You’re welcome! I totally get that- I love these posts!!
When I saw the title of this post the one book I really wanted to be on this list was Harry Potter… and it is! I love your selection of books — To Kill A Mockingbird, The Help, and The Outsiders are all books that I’ve read and LOVED for their themes, as well as what they’ve taught me about life. 😊 I’ve never read Tuesdays with Morrie, but I’ve watched the movie (and nearly cried in class b/c I actually watched it in school 😆) and it was pretty good, so I might read the book. I enjoyed reading your post! 😋
Thank you so much. I have never seen the Tuesdays With Morrie movie! I really should!
This is such a great list! The Book Thief is one of my absolute favorite books, and so many of these, while I haven’t read yet, are on my TBR and I hope to get to them super soon!! ☺️
Thank you! The Book Thief was amazing. I still think about it from time to time. Need to reread it!
I’ve been meaning to reread it for so long, too! Hopefully very soon!
I’ve only read To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter, The Outsiders, and Anne Frank’s diary. I have been “fixing to” read The Help for like 5 years now. I need to make a list of books I want to read in 2018 and that one needs to be on it!
The Help is excellent! I also recommend the movie. One of my favourite book to movie adaptations!
Wow, great list. You are the second person I’ve come across who has included several books that are not children’s books, and that’s awesome.
I did not read a ton of children’s books when I was younger! My dad always bought me classics and they have stuck with me!
I grew up in the days when YA books were really just starting to become a regular thing, so I read a lot of adult books as well, especially after I had worked my way through the children’s book section at the library.
Harry Potter and The Book Thief were both on my list this week too!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/top-ten-tuesday-133/
Excellent choices!
Thank you 🙂