1) The most recent children's book I have read is Micheal Ende's The Never Ending Story which, at one point was one of my favourite movies, and only recently did I discover that it was also a book. This was a wonderful book, and if you are a fan of the movie, you will be happy to discover as I did that the movie only covers the first half of the book. As well, the terrible sequel to the movie has nothing to do with the second half of the novel. If you haven't seen this magical movie, then the story goes something like this. There is a young boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who is teased and beat up at school on a regular basis. On one particular morning, he runs away from the mean children from school and hides in a book store where he discovers the book "The Never Ending Story". He steals the book and hides in the attic to read the book. As he reads he becomes aware of his own pressence in the story. Again, this is a must read.

2) A personal favourite, Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass This is a wonderful story if you like to read nonsense. And if you do, then see my review of Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the personal favourites section(coming soon). Back to Alice, though. The reason I have such an affinity for this work is probably because of the version I read. This was an annotated, university text book version which included all of the poems which Carrol satired throughout the book. A very hard plot to explain, but a magical book to read.

3) Yet another favourite children's novel (or rather set of novels) is the seven book series, the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. This is a fantasy series involving the land of Narnia, discovered in the children's closet. Again, a set of wonderful tales which are a must read.