While there are plenty of official days to celebrate books throughout the year, perhaps the most important is International Literacy Day. Celebrated each year on September 8th, this global observance was created by UNESCO in 1967 and serves as a reminder that literacy is a fundamental human right for children and adults alike. As this day approaches, UNESCO reminds us that as of just two years ago “at least one out of seven adults aged 15 and above (765 million) lacked basic literacy skills.” Likewise, “millions of children are struggling to acquire minimum levels of proficiency in reading, writing and numeracy, while some 250 million children of 6-18 years old are out of school,” according to the agency’s website.
So what can you do to ensure that your child is set up for literacy success? Introducing books and the idea of reading early on is a good start. “Children’s literacy foundations are established as early as infancy and grow throughout early childhood when the brain is at its greatest plasticity levels,” according to research by the Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation at UCONN.
And while it’s easy to read aloud a board book when your child is a newborn or toddler, keeping them engaged in reading and encouraging them to read on their own may get harder as they get older. So when your middle schooler is ready to level up, consider passing your favorite stories down to the next generation. The children’s classics you grew up with will expose him or her to new vocabulary, challenge their reading comprehension skills, and introduce them to worlds and cultures different from their own.
That said, these five Word Cloud Classics are a kid-friendly place to start: Bound with soft vinyl covers in bright hues with pretty foil stamping, these colorful books are brimming with iconic characters and timeless stories. Plus, they are all less than 300 pages.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Witty, whimsical, and often nonsensical, the fiction of Lewis Carroll has been popular with both children and adults for over 150 years. Young readers can follow Alice down the rabbit hole to Wonderland and enjoy tea with the Mad Hatter, find their way with the Cheshire Cat, and play croquet with the Queen of Hearts. On the other side of the looking-glass, they’ll meet Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and a host of other characters that share a different reality. This collectible volume also includes lovely illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess tells the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl who has been left at a boarding school by her wealthy father. There, she displays all the attributes of an ideal pupil, treating the other children with kindness and compassion. But the headmistress, Miss Minchin, is jealous of Sara’s wealth and seizes the first opportunity to put the young girl “in her place” when misfortune strikes. This Word Cloud edition of the classic children’s novel includes black-and-white illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts.
A classic piece of children’s literature first published as a novel in 1911, Burnett’s The Secret Garden is a story of transformation and renewal. Unwanted by her parents, Mary Lennox is raised in India by servants. When cholera breaks out, killing her parents and most of the servants, Mary is sent to live with a mostly absent uncle in England. It seems as though no one cares for Mary, and that Mary will never care for anyone—until she steps into the secret garden and her life begins to change.
Best-selling Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published the first book in her charming series about the eponymous Anne Shirley in 1908, making it a literary favorite for more than a hundred years. Introduced as a children’s novel, Anne of Green Gables was inspired by the author’s childhood adventures on rural Prince Edward Island. This coming-of-age tale follows Anne’s journey as she moves to a farm to live with a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them with farming chores. We also see her early relationship with Gilbert Blythe unfold as they start out as childhood friends and eventually fall in love and make a home.
Since his first appearance in the 1920s, Winnie-the-Pooh has charmed readers with his kindness toward the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, making him one of the most beloved animal characters in world literature. This volume includes both A. A. Milne’s original edition of Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and When We Were Very Young (1924)—a collection of 44 poems, including “Teddy Bear,” which marked Pooh’s first appearance in print. What’s more, 200-plus illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard add a whimsical touch to Pooh’s adventures.
