Category: Culture & Media

This Blog, Circa 1995

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While I was brushing my teeth this morning, I began to have extremely geeky thoughts about Star Trek aliens.

One of the premises of the Star Trek universe (as far as I understand it) is that there are many alien races that are basically humanoid in shape.  This is because life evolved in the similar ways across the universe, with only little variations from species to species.

So — if that’s the idea, then does that mean that all Star Trek aliens have primate counterparts on their planets?

Do the Vulcans have evolutionary primate ancestors with corresponding big pointy ears?  Are there Ferengi orangutangs with very big ears horrible teeth?  Klingon gorillas with crazy bumpy foreheads?  Borg monkeys?

Of course not.  That’s silly.

The Borg would never assimilate monkeys.

The reason why I’m writing this is because during my freshman year of college, I was always coming up with goofy ideas like the one above.  A friend of mine told me that if I were ever to create a website (websites being novelties back then) then its header would read “No matter who you are, by visiting this site your view of the world is going to be permanently altered.”  I was flattered by this.

Although, I told him then — and I am not making this up — that if I were to create a website, I would want to make one that was a big online encyclopedia that anybody could contribute to.

That’s right.  My dream website as a college freshman was Wikipedia.  So you can imagine how gratified I was when, ten years later, somebody actually did the job for me.

Thanks, nerds!  Now get crackin’ on that teleportation device!

Ten Days Old

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My sister in law, Debbie, came over this past Monday to take photos of little Katie.  Here are some of the results: whaddya think?

 

I’m a big fan of the one where’s she’s crying.  Maybe because it makes her cheeks look even more like dinner rolls than usual?  (Mmm, delicious baby dinner rolls . . .)

Favorite Books for Young Readers 2010

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By popular demand, the list is back!  Although, it’s a bit simplified this year.  In the past, I’ve included images of every book, annotations for each book, and sometimes even a link to each book’s Amazon.com page.

You know what that is?  About five hours’ worth of work.  And considering that I’m only 2 days away from Baby Katie’s due date, five hours is a commitment I just can’t make right now.

So: here’s the list.  Keep in mind that, as in the past, this is a highly personal list — and also that I’m not a professional book reviewer and do not have access to every single title that came out in 2010.  I also tend to leave off bestsellers (like Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay) since I know that most of my blog readers have already read them, or at least are familiar with them.  But I consider all of them to be lots of fun, and I’m sure you’ll find something in here to please you, as well.

Oh, and yeah: I forgot your favorite book.  Sorry in advance.

So fire up those library cards!  Happy hunting!

Picture Books (and keep in mind that I am VERY picky about these.  My personal requirement is that the books have to withstand being read out loud for at least five consecutive nights without driving me crazy):

  • Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan
  • Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming
  • April & Esme: Tooth Fairies by Bob Graham
  • The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood
  • Cupcake: A Journey to Special by Charise Mericle Harper
  • A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead — this just won the Caldecott Medal for illustration.  Hooray!
  • My Garden by Kevin Henkes
  • Sneaky Sheep by Chris Monroe
  • A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams
  • Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown

For Beginning Readers

  • Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin
  • Bink & Gollie by Kate diCamillo and Alison McGhee
  • We are In a Book! by Mo Willems
  • Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke — yeah, good luck finding this one.  It’s awesome, and yet hardly any libraries carry it.  [shakes fist at sky]
  • The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

Folklore

  • Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Sally Mavor — the fabric/mixed media illustrations are INCREDIBLE. I’m wagging my finger at the Caldecott Committee for overlooking this one.
  • Joha Makes a Wish: a Middle Eastern Tale by Eric Kimmel

Middle Grade Novels

  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia-Williams
  • Countdown by Deborah Wiles
  • Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
  • Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams– historical fiction set in the Avenues of Salt Lake City!  And in the 1980s, so one of the characters is totally into a The Cure knockoff band!  A great debut from a local author.
  • A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz — probably my favorite American novel of the year, although it’s not for everybody
  • Cosmic by Frank Cotrell Boyce — my favorite British import of the year; it definitely IS for everybody
  • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
  • The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby — a fabulous fantasy debut from yet another local author!
  • The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry — wins the prize for being the most Roald Dahl-esque
  • Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

And one more: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool — it just won the Newbery Medal, so even though I haven’t read it (and hadn’t HEARD OF IT until it won the award) I’m recommending you track it down anyway.

Graphic Novels

  • Smile! (middle grade) by Raina Telgemeier (it’s excellent, but I admit a little extra bias in favor of a book set in the late ’80s/early ’90s.  She wears ex-cla-ma-tion perfume and a turquoise scrunchie that matches her turqoise socks!  What’s not to love?)
  • The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier (middle grade)
  • Mercury by Hope Larson (young adult, although I’d give it a PG rating)
  • Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale (middle grade; gorgeous illustrations by Nathan Hale)

Poetry

  • Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman
  • Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors ALSO by Joyce Sidman.  Wow.
  • Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer

Nonfiction

  • Kakapo Rescueby Sy Montgomery.  Probably one of the best science writers out there, and that goes for adult nonfiction, too.

Young Adult Fiction (caveat: Owing to my high pregnancy-induced hormonal state, I didn’t read as much YA fiction this year as I usually do.  You’ll notice a distinct lack of contemporary and historical fiction here; escapist fantasy and sci-fi was more my cup of tea this year.  Except for Monsters of Men.  It’s part of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, and makes The Hunger Games look like a kitten wrestling with a rainbow.  I couldn’t even look at the cover without bursting into tears.  Okay, caveat over.)

  • As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
  • The Cardturner by Louis Sachar — probably more appeal for adults than YAs with this one, depends on the kid
  • A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner — best fantasy writing of the year, hands down
  • Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve — a stand-alone prequel to his excellent Hungry City Chronicles
  • Bruiser by Neal Schusterman (excepting the very last paragraph)
  • Incarceron by Catherine Fisher — so glad to see this author getting some appreciation; I loved her Oracle trilogy
  • Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi — winner of the Printz Award for outstanding YA fiction!  This made me VERY happy.

One More Quirky Category — Best Vintage Children’s Fiction I Read in 2010

  • Helen Cresswell’s Bagthorpe Saga: Ordinary Jack; Absolute Zero; Bagthorpes Unlimited.  Very funny farcical British fiction; there are jokes set up in Book 1 that don’t come into fruition until the end of Book 3.  Brilliant stuff, although it takes a bit of patience to “get” the British humor.  Absolute Zero was my favorite of the bunch.

Queen of the Woofs

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This is the other big news around here:

This is Jeffrey back in September, on his very first day of Cub Scouts.  And who is his fabulous den leader?

ME!

Yeah, I was kind of blindsided when I was asked to be in charge of the Wolf Scouts (second graders) because I know NOTHING about Cub Scouting.  I was worried about what to do with Eleanor and William during den meetings.  I was worried about what would happen to the den after the baby comes in January.

BUT . . . owing to a briefing by the well-organized previous den leader, it’s been a piece of cake.  With school holidays and pack meetings, I only have to be in charge twice a month or so.  The boys meet at my house, so William can nap through the meetings.

Eleanor wears her Daisy Scout uniform as an unofficial member of the den, which is rather adorable.

And the boys are WONDERFUL people.  They are all so smart and excited to learn new things!  I’ve been surprised at the various activities we’ve done that have been completely new to them — like making paper airplanes or playing with marbles and tiddlywinks.  They love squishing instant pudding in a Ziploc bag and then eating it out of ice cream cones.  They are all really kind and considerate to both me and each other.  I love ’em.

Last week, we learned how to hammer nails into a board (wow) and sent everyone home with a birdhouse kit.  We’ve also been on a “history walk” around the neighborhood (they didn’t know how settlers used the neighborhood creek as a source of ice) and learned how to make a chest pass with a basketball.

The funny thing is that as I’ve read the requirements for the Wolf badge, I have been reminded of various library reference questions I’ve received that I know were about those specific requirements.  Such as “Do you have an abridged version of The Jungle Book?” (for the Bobcat badge); “Do you have a book about how different birds use different materials to build nests?” (the “Birds” elective); “Do you have a book that shows how cities change through history?” (the “Know Your Community” achievement).  Heh — I got those questions over and over and NOW THEY FINALLY MAKE SENSE!

The only sad thing is that I don’t know what will happen to our den once the baby comes.  I really won’t be able to do meetings with a newborn (“you boys just work on whittling while I nurse, okay?”), and it probably isn’t a good idea to have a pack of eight-year-olds in the house during RSV season, anyway.  There’s been an effort to get me an assistant who can take over later, but so far that hasn’t happened.  Well, we’ll all have our Wolf badges passed off by January anyway, so that’s a good thing.

Birthday Week

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My birthday (which was yesterday) is the same week as the my sister-in-law’s and mother-in-law’s birthdays.  I call it the Cake-‘n’-Candles Triple Crown.  My parents were out of town, so my mother-in-law took the opportunity to fill in and spoil me good:  Dinner AND a movie!

Here’s what I gave her, by request: Brian and I used to make little films based on folktales starring our kids.  We haven’t made one for a long while owing to outdated technology, but we’ve recently acquired a Flip camera and find the filmmaking 100% easier.

The kids decided to do “Sleeping Beauty.”  It’s pretty silly, but fun to watch.  Be sure to stay for the credits.

My Mom Says It Should Have Been “Funeral Potatoes”

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In one month I’ll be attending a workshop for writers of books for young people.  It’s a highly recommended conference, and the tuition isn’t cheap, so I’m trying to work hard on my manuscript submission so I can get the best feedback.  Or, at least that’s what I’m hoping.  There’s always the chance that all feedback will be hopelessly non-useful stuff like “this paragraph has good flow.”  In fact, I had one writing prof in college who forbade everyone from using the word “flow” when critiquing a classmate’s work.  Really, think about it — all “good flow” means is “I was easily able to pass my eyes from one word to the next.”  Yargh.

I’m nervous and stressed out about this, which is causing me to work at a slower pace than usual, since I’m paying more attention to sentence-level construction.  My thoughts about my work waver between confidence (“Now that’s a metaphor a girl can be proud of!”) to dismal self-doubt (“I’ve just constructed a passage of dialogue wooden enough for me to beat my head against it”).

The stress is beginning to leak into my dreams.  A few nights ago I dreamt that a group of editors came to my house to discuss purchasing my book.  After spending a long time criticizing the untidy state of my house, they settled down in a circle on the floor of my son’s room to talk about particulars.

Most of them wanted to buy my book, but under one condition: they felt that the book would sell more copies if they changed its title to “Mashed Potatoes.”

Which I felt was silly.  Everyone knew that the title of my book was “Hash Browns.”  It would be too confusing to change it to “Mashed Potatoes.”

I woke up laughing at myself and wondering if I’d been eating too much starch.

Just for the record, my book’s title is The Blind Prince.  (There!  I said it!)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

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My father-in-law turns 60 today.  As a present, we made him a video, in which my kids try to contemplate what life was like in 1950:

A few things to notice:

I recently took Jeffrey to a special viewing of the Charlie Chaplin film Shoulder Arms.  Hence, his description of film in 1950 is of a silent film.

Eleanor is under the impression that life in 1950 is more like life in 1850.

Poor William — look at what happens to him right around 0:20.  I’ve never seen such a patient, mellow kid.

They’ve Landed

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No, really — don’t they look like some kind of extraterrestrials?

[WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR TUNGSTEN!  YOUR SUPERIOR INTELLECT IS NO MATCH FOR OUR PUNY WEAPONS!  TUNGSTENNNN!]

Brian’s parents — who are among the angels walking here on earth — made us an offer: since they co-own our house with us, they would pay for half of the new appliances. This was a godsend: there was no way we could have afforded these on our own.  With their help, we were even able to get front-loading machines, which have twice the capacity as top-loaders, but use only one-third the amount of water.  This is important here in the desert; we estimate that this will save us $150 a year in water bills alone.

Not to mention that my kids find them fascinating.  On laundry day, Jeffrey parks himself in front of the machines and watches them for up to an hour, usually creating some kind of outer-space narrative to go along with it.  Eleanor sometimes joins him, gets bored, then leaves — only to have Jeffrey call her back: “Ella!  Come back!  You’re missing the best part!  It’s going faster now!!”

I’m just happy that I no longer have to take 90+ minutes to dry a load of clothes.  The old machines were from 1979, and mustard-colored.  The legs kept breaking off the washer, so it always appeared to be either a bit higher or a bit lower than the dryer.  When the installation guys came to deliver the new machines, they saw the old ones, stopped in their tracks, and just said, “Whoa.”

I still can’t shake the feeling that the new ones consider themselves just a bit to superior to their new home.  So shiny.

The Top 100 Children’s Books Redux

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a-list blogger Betsy Bird was conducting a massive poll to determine the top 100 children’s novels of all time.

My husband, the statistics fanatic, noticed how books published in the last ten years were getting a disproportionate amount of attention.  So he created an algorithm that would weight the books’ poll scores according to age.

The older a book was, the more value its votes would have.

In addition to fiddling with the winners of the official poll, Brian went so far as to recalculate the scores of every book that anybody voted for. That’s dedication, baby.  Ergo, books like Swiss Family Robinson — even though it only got nine votes — ends up in the top 30 because it was published in 1812.

Below is the list of the top books — expanded to include 120.  If you want to see the explanation of the math, read the previous post.

It’s interesting that the #1 choice didn’t change.  Note, too, the big jump in scores between the top four books, and the following four.  It’s also fun to see which books had the biggest increases in scores (like Heidi or Call of the Wild) and which had the biggest drops (Inkheart, The Bad Beginning).  And some books from the official list disappeared altogether (such as The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane).  I was personally happy to see one of my kinda-obscure childhood favorites, What Katy Did, make the list this way.

Just interesting stuff, if you’re a fan of the math.  And as a certified children’s librarian, I can say with confidence that if you were to read all of these books, you’d get a very strong foundation in becoming a children’s literature expert.  (*sound of official Seal of Approval ramming down on computer monitor*)

Book year.
 score
 rank Adjusted score Adjusted Rank Change in rank
Charlotte’s Web 1952 751 1 67.320 1 0
Anne of Green Gables 1908 365 9 65.861 2 7
The Secret Garden 1911 371 8 63.826 3 5
Little Women 1868 136 25 46.354 4 21
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 1865 129 27 46.116 5 22
A Wrinkle in Time 1962 593 2 45.343 6 -4
Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe 1950 456 4 42.197 7 -3
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. BEF 1967 409 5 28.883 8 -3
A Little Princess 1905 124 28 23.468 9 19
Harrry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone 1997 533 3 23.361 10 -7
The Hobbit 1938 207 12 23.182 11 1
The Phantom Tollbooth 1961 291 10 22.607 12 -2
The wonderful wizard of OZ 1900 107 40 21.926 13 27
The Giver 1993 373 7 17.422 14 -7
Holes 1998 392 6 16.910 15 -9
Little House in the Big Woods 1932 137 23 16.878 16 7
Winnie-the-Pooh 1926 121 30 16.399 17 13
The Westing game 1978 248 11 14.703 18 -7
Wind in the Willows 1908 77 53 13.894 19 34
Harriet the Spy 1964 177 16 13.110 20 -4
Bridge to Terabithia 1977 201 13 12.108 21 -8
Little House on the Prarie 1935 96 42 11.276 22 20
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964 152 19 11.259 23 -4
Half Magic 1954 121 31 10.507 24 7
Treasure Island 1883 38 103 10.204 25 78
Swiss Family Robinson 1812 11 121 9.134 26 95+
James and the Giant Peach 1961 115 33 8.934 27 6
Tuck Everlasting 1975 143 20 8.892 28 -8
The Saturdays 1941 82 51 8.755 29 22
The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958 103 41 8.393 30 11
Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban 1999 197 14 8.364 31 -17
The Dark is Rising 1973 123 29 7.896 32 -3
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH 1971 119 32 7.886 33 -1
Matilda 1988 154 18 7.788 34 -16
Maniac Magee 1990 158 17 7.740 35 -18
Because of Winn-Dixie 2000 185 15 7.731 36 -21
Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret 1970 111 36 7.474 37 -1
Where the Red Fern Grows 1961 90 46 6.992 38 8
Five Children and It 1902 34 112 6.749 39 73
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 1976 109 37 6.671 40 -3
Ballet Shoes 1936 57 65 6.590 41 24
Island of the Blue Dolphins 1960 83 50 6.552 42 8
Ramona the Pest 1968 94 43 6.534 43 0
Hatchet 1989 129 26 6.421 44 -18
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing 1972 92 44 6.001 45 -1
Heidi 1880 21 121 5.914 46 75+
Betsy-Tacy 1940 54 70 5.858 47 23
The tale of Despereaux 2003 141 22 5.618 48 -26
Percy Jackson and the Olympians 2005 142 21 5.480 49 -28
Swallows and Amazons 1930 43 94 5.469 50 44
On the Banks of Plum Creek 1937 47 85 5.348 51 34
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1995 115 34 5.203 52 -18
Henry Huggins 1950 56 66 5.182 53 13
Johnny Tremain 1943 50 78 5.172 54 24
Caddie Woodlawn 1935 44 93 5.168 55 38
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007 137 24 5.122 56 -32
My Father’s Dragon 1948 53 72 5.063 57 15
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase 1962 65 58 4.970 58 0
Gone-Away Lake 1957 59 63 4.885 59 4
The Secret of the Old Clock 1959 60 62 4.812 60 2
Call of the Wild 1903 24 121 4.689 61 60+
Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire 2000 112 35 4.680 62 -27
The Little White Horse 1946 47 84 4.635 63 21
The Borrowers 1953 52 74 4.588 64 10
All-of-a-Kind Family 1951 49 79 4.463 65 14
Understood Betsy 1916 28 121 4.449 66 55+
The Great Gilly Hopkins 1978 74 55 4.387 67 -12
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix 2003 109 38 4.343 68 -30
The Boxcar Children 1924 31 117 4.337 69 48
My Side of the Mountain 1959 53 73 4.251 70 3
The BFG 1982 75 54 4.173 71 -17
The Golden Compass 1995 92 45 4.163 72 -27
Pippi Longstocking 1950 42 95 3.887 73 22
When you Reach Me 2009 107 39 3.875 74 -35
Frindle 1996 84 49 3.741 75 -26
Bud, Not Buddy 1999 87 47 3.694 76 -29
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 1981 65 57 3.674 77 -20
The Book of Three 1964 47 82 3.481 78 4
Children of Green Knowe 1954 40 98 3.473 79 19
The Moffats 1941 31 120 3.310 80 40
The Penderwicks: A summer tale 2005 85 48 3.281 82 -34
The Magician’s Nephew 1955 38 102 3.248 83 19
Number the Stars 1989 65 56 3.235 84 -28
Tom’s Midnight Garden 1958 39 101 3.178 85 16
The High King 1968 45 88 3.128 86 2
Harry Potter: 1/2 bood prince 2005 81 52 3.126 87 -35
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle 1947 32 113 3.106 88 25
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle 1990 61 60 2.988 89 -29
The Invention of Hugo Cabret 2007 77 52 2.879 90 -38
What Katy Did 1872 9 121 2.879 91 30+
The Thirteen  Clocks 1950 31 119 2.869 92 27
Voyage of the Dawn Treader 1952 31 121 2.779 93 28+
A Cricket in Times Square 1960 35 108 2.763 94 14
The Egypt Game 1967 39 100 2.754 95 5+
Peter Pan 1911 16 121 2.753 96 25+
Ramona and her Father 1977 45 89 2.711 97 -8
Betsy, Tacy and Tib 1941 25 121 2.669 98 23+
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher 1991 55 67 2.652 99 -32
Sideways Stories from Wayside School 1978 44 91 2.609 100 -9
Stargirl 2000 61 61 2.54907 101 -40
Knight’s Castle 1956 30 121 2.523513 102 19+
Twenty-One Balloons 1947 26 121 2.523511 103 18+
A Long Way from Chicago 1998 58 64 2.502018 104 -40
The Long Winter 1940 23 121 2.49515 105 16+
Walk Two Moons 1994 54 68 2.482432 106 -38
Inkheart 2003 62 59 2.470175 107 -48
Farmer Boy 1933 20 121 2.425135 108 13+
Sarah, Plain and Tall 1985 44 90 2.333909 109 -19
The Witches 1983 42 96 2.299805 110 -14
The Indian in the Cupboard 1980 40 99 2.297299 111 -12
The Frog Princess 2002 56 66 2.266885 112 -46
Jennifer Hecate… 1967 32 116 2.259832 113 3
A Series of Unfortunate Events: #1 1999 53 71 2.250262 114 -43
House with a Clock in its Walls 1973 35 111 2.246791 115 -4
Homer Price 1942 21 121 2.206874 116 5+
Out of the Dust 1997 50 76 2.191481 117 -41
Danny Champion of the World 1975 35 110 2.176467 118 -8
Betsy and Tacy go Downtown 1943 21 121 2.172063 119 2+
Wizard of Earthsea 1968 31 118 2.154679 120 -2

The Best 100 Children’s Books of . . . THE FUTURE (dun dun dun!)

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For the past month, I have been following the Best 100 Children’s Books poll over at A Fuse #8 Production.  It’s gotten quite the following, and even my husband, Brian, got in the game.

So much in the game, in fact, that he began to do an experiment with it.  Brian is a pathologist and geneticist.  He’s someone who enjoys doing math for fun.  Seeing a list of ranked books with accompanying poll data just made his brain whirr, and he spent many eager hours with an Excel file before presenting the following findings.  (And even though I am known as a rampant Anne of Green Gables fan, I should say that I had no interference in any of this.) 

It’s like someone took our two professions and slammed them together in a classic chocolate-and-peanut-butter way (“You got kidlit on my statistics!  You got statistics on my kidlit!”).

Says Brian:

I have noticed that fuse #8’s list of the best 100 children’s books of all time is heavily skewed towards newer books.  For example, so far there are 17 books written in the last decade, but only 11 written in the 70s, and 5 written in the 40s.  This is not an absolute trend, but it is clear enough that it is pretty obvious. There could be several reasons for this. One is that there are just more good books written now than in the past. Another is that we tend to rank more highly newer books or books that were relatively new when we were children, so newer books are really overrated compared to where they will be 60-70 years from now.

I thought it would be interested to adjust the scores (and rankings) under the assumption there have been about the same number of good books each decade, and that the total scores of those books should be about the same for each decade.  I plotted a rolling average of all the books that were on the best 100 list that were published in the same decade.  An exponential curve fitted the plot surprisingly well (R = 0.63) and I could generate an adjusted score using the formula:

adjusted score = 100 x (actual score/(353 x e^(0.0146 x (year-1900))))

This yields the following rank list, which I think may underrate some more recent books a little, but will be closer to what the list would look like if the poll is repeated 10 or 20 years from now.  The book the went up most in the rankings were “Swallows and Amazons” and “Caddie Woodlawn” moving up 54 and 49 rankings, respectively.  The books that went down the most were “When You Reach Me” and “Inkheart” (down 19 and 17 respectively).  “Bridge to Terabithia” and “The View From Saturday” did not change in rankings.  The formula may change slightly with the addition of the final 8 books to the regression curve, but it will probably not change dramatically.

Book year score rank adjusted score adjusted rank
Anne of Green Gables 1908 365 9 92.00 1
Little Women 1868 136 25 61.47 2
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 1865 129 27 60.92 3
The Phantom Tollbooth 1961 291 10 33.83 4
The Hobbit 1938 207 12 33.67 5
A Little Princess 1905 124 28 32.65 6
The wonderful wizard of OZ 1900 107 40 30.31 7
Little House in the Big Woods 1932 137 23 24.32 8
Winnie-the-Pooh 1926 121 30 23.45 9
The Westing game 1978 248 11 22.50 10
Harriet the Spy 1964 177 16 19.70 11
Wind in the Willows 1908 77 53 19.41 12
Bridge to Terabithia 1977 201 13 18.50 13
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964 152 19 16.91 14
Little House on the Prarie 1935 96 42 16.31 15
Half Magic 1954 121 31 15.58 16
Tuck Everlasting 1975 143 20 13.55 17
James and the Giant Peach 1961 115 33 13.37 18
Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban 1999 197 14 13.15 19
The Saturdays 1941 82 51 12.77 20
The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958 103 41 12.51 21
Because of Winn-Dixie 2000 185 15 12.17 22
Matilda 1988 154 18 12.07 23
Maniac Magee 1990 158 17 12.03 24
The Dark is Rising 1973 123 29 12.00 25
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH 1971 119 32 11.96 26
Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret 1970 111 36 11.32 27
Where the Red Fern Grows 1961 90 46 10.46 28
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 1976 109 37 10.18 29
Hatchet 1989 129 26 9.97 30
Ramona the Pest 1968 94 43 9.87 31
Island of the Blue Dolphins 1960 83 50 9.79 32
Ballet Shoes 1936 57 65 9.55 33
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing 1972 92 44 9.11 34
The tale of Despereaux 2003 141 22 8.88 35
Percy Jackson and the Olympians 2005 142 21 8.68 36
Betsy-Tacy 1940 54 70 8.53 37
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1995 115 34 8.14 38
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows 2007 137 24 8.14 39
Swallows and Amazons 1930 43 94 7.86 40
On the Banks of Plum Creek 1937 47 85 7.76 41
Henry Huggins 1950 56 66 7.65 42
Johnny Tremain 1943 50 78 7.56 43
Caddie Woodlawn 1935 44 93 7.48 44
My Father’s Dragon 1948 53 72 7.45 45
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase 1962 65 58 7.45 46
Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire 2000 112 35 7.37 47
Gone-Away Lake 1957 59 63 7.27 48
The Secret of the Old Clock 1959 60 62 7.18 49
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix 2003 109 38 6.86 50
The Little White Horse 1946 47 84 6.80 51
The Borrowers 1953 52 74 6.79 52
The Great Gilly Hopkins 1978 74 55 6.71 53
All-of-a-Kind Family 1951 49 79 6.59 54
The Golden Compass 1995 92 45 6.51 55
The BFG 1982 75 54 6.42 56
My Side of the Mountain 1959 53 73 6.34 57
When you Reach Me 2009 107 39 6.17 58
Frindle 1996 84 49 5.86 59
Bud, Not Buddy 1999 87 47 5.81 60
Pippi Longstocking 1950 42 95 5.73 61
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 1981 65 57 5.64 62
The Book of Three 1964 47 82 5.23 63
The Penderwicks: A summer tale 2005 85 48 5.20 64
Children of Green Knowe 1954 40 98 5.15 65
Number the Stars 1989 65 56 5.02 66
The High King 1968 45 88 4.72 67
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle 1990 61 60 4.64 68
The Invention of Hugo Cabret 2007 77 52 4.57 69
The Egypt Game 1967 39 100 4.15 70
Ramona and her Father 1977 45 89 4.14 71
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher 1991 55 67 4.13 72
Stargirl 2000 61 61 4.01 73
Sideways Stories from Wayside School 1978 44 91 3.99 74
A Long Way from Chicago 1998 58 64 3.93 75
Inkheart 2003 62 59 3.90 76
Walk Two Moons 1994 54 68 3.88 77
Sarah, Plain and Tall 1985 44 90 3.60 78
The Witches 1983 42 96 3.54 79
Series of Unfortunate Events 1 1999 53 71 3.54 80
The Indian in the Cupboard 1980 40 99 3.52 81
Out of the Dust 1997 50 76 3.44 82
Love that Dog 2001 51 75 3.31 83
The Thief 1997 47 83 3.23 84
The Mysterious Benedict Society 2007 54 69 3.21 85
The City of Ember 2003 50 77 3.15 86
The View from Saturday 1996 45 87 3.14 87
Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets 1999 47 86 3.14 88
Ella Enchanted 1997 44 92 3.02 89
The Graveyard Book 2008 48 80 2.81 90
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon 2009 47 81 2.71 91
Miraculous Journey of Ed Tulane 2006 41 97 2.47 92