6. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (1943)
《小王子》（1943年），安托萬?德?圣埃克蘇佩里著

This parable, written and illustrated by an aviator disappeared with his plane in 1944, encapsulates the meaning of life in an encounter between a pilot who crash lands in the Sahara and a young prince visiting from a small planet. "It is only with one's heart that one can see clearly," Saint-Exupéry writes, in one of dozens of illuminating life lessons. "What is essential is invisible to the eye."
《小王子》的作者兼插畫師是一名飛行員，他于1944年在飛行中失蹤。這則寓言故事將生命的意義寓于迫降在撒哈拉沙漠的飛行員和來自小星球的小王子的一次相遇中。圣埃克蘇佩里寫下了眾多發人深省的人生感悟，其中一則寫道：“肉眼看不見事務的本質，唯有用心才能洞察一切”。

"Discovered in childhood, this story of leaving home brings the hope and promise of a world opening up to the little prince," says Shelf Awareness children's editor Jennifer M Brown. "As we return to the book at later points in our lives, we experience the story from the pilot's point of view, sadder yet richer, and heartened because we are not alone on life's journey." (Credit: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
《書架認知》雜志的兒童板塊編輯珍妮弗?M?布朗稱：“童年時讀這本書，這是小王子離開家鄉，踏入一個充滿希望和愿景的世界的故事。長大些再看，我們從飛行員的視角重新感受了這個故事，有了更傷感卻也更豐富的體會，還因為人生旅途中并非孤身一人而欣慰感動。”（來源：霍頓?米夫林?哈考特出版社）

5. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
《小婦人》（1868年），路易莎?梅?奧爾科特著

The story of the four March sisters as they pass from childhood innocence to young adulthood has endured from one generation to the next, never losing its power to enthrall. The autobiographical novel speeds along, thanks to crisp, realistic dialogue, enduring characters and keen insights into family dynamics.
馬奇家四姐妹從純真的童年到初長成人的故事代代流傳，經久不衰。這本自傳體小說對話鮮活真實、人物形象深入人心、對家庭動態的洞察敏銳，情節緊湊、引人入勝。

"Meg was Amy's confidant and monitor, and by some strange attraction of opposites Jo was gentle Beth's," Alcott writes. (Jo was the character most like its author.)"One name will explain my adoration for Little Women: Jo March!" says Booklist senior editor Donna Seaman. "What book-loving young reader doesn't revere Louisa May Alcott's intrepid, ink-stained hero? Of course, Alcott was also one brilliant and gripping storyteller with sharp and knowing opinions. So astutely constructed is this novel, it sustains repeated readings." (Credit: Transatlantic Press)
奧爾科特寫道：“梅格是艾米的知己和監護人，而溫柔的貝思對喬又有某種神奇的異性魅力。”（喬的性格最接近作者本人。）《書單》雜志資深編輯唐娜?希曼說：“一個名字就能解釋我為什么喜歡《小婦人》：喬?馬奇！愛讀書的年輕讀者怎么會不崇拜路易莎?梅?奧爾科特筆下那無畏的英雄呢？當然了，奧爾科特也是位才華橫溢、抓人眼球的作者，她的觀點既犀利又博學。所以這本小說設計精巧，經得起反復閱讀品味。”（來源：跨大西洋出版社）

4. Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
《愛麗絲夢游仙境》（1865年），路易斯?卡羅爾著

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversation?' Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her."
“愛麗絲和姐姐并排坐在岸邊，由于無事可做，開始覺得膩煩：她不時朝姐姐正在讀的那本書上瞧上一兩眼，可書上沒有插圖，也沒有對話，愛麗絲心想，‘一本書要是沒有插圖和對話，那有什么意思呢？’突然一只紅眼睛的白兔貼著她身邊跑了過去。”

Charles Dodgson's Victorian fantasy was an instant sensation when published 150 years ago under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. To this day Alice's trip down the rabbit hole and her encounters with the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and the rest, are fresh fodder for the literary imagination. Alice is now in the public domain, and the versions and variations continue to multiply. "Alice will always be my favourite because I love her curiosity and bravery," says Library Journal columnist Barbara Hoffert. (Credit: Macmillan)
150年前，查爾斯?道奇森用筆名路易斯?卡羅爾寫下了這部維多利亞時代風格的奇幻故事，一經出版便引起轟動。直到如今，愛麗絲跌進兔子洞里的旅行，與柴郡貓、白兔、紅心女王、瘋帽子先生及其他角色的邂逅，仍然是文學想象力的源泉。愛麗絲儼然成為一個大眾形象，人們根據她又不斷創造出各種版本的故事。“愛麗絲會永遠是我最喜歡的角色，因為我愛她的好奇心和勇敢無畏，”《圖書館雜志》專欄作家芭芭拉?霍佛特這樣評價愛麗絲。（來源：麥克米倫出版社）

3. Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
《野獸出沒的地方》（1963年），莫里斯?桑達克著

In Sendak’s Caldecott Medal-winning picture book young Max, sent to bed without supper by his mother, escapes into his imagination, “where the wild things are”. “It's a concise, eloquent, moving depiction of a child learning to master his own emotions, which is the chief task of all children everywhere,” writes Time magazine book critic Lev Grossman. “This is one of those books that has everything: beautiful, rich and surprising text, matched with beautiful, rich and surprising illustration,” says Daniel Hahn, author of the new Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. “But more than that… it’s how the words and the pictures and the page design combine to tell a story that is both simple and full of psychological insight, wisdom and truth. As close as it’s possible to come to a perfect book.” (Credit: Harper)
桑達克的這個繪本作品曾摘得凱迪克獎。書中，年幼的馬克斯沒吃晚飯就被媽媽趕去睡覺。他逃進了自己想象的世界中，也就是“野獸出沒的地方”。《時代》雜志評論家利夫-格羅斯曼寫道：“這本書描寫了一個孩子學著控制自己的情感，這也是世界各地所有孩子的主要任務。繪本簡明動人，令人感動。”新版《牛津兒童文學指南》作者丹尼爾-哈恩說：“這本書有你想要的一切：優美、豐富且令人驚訝的內容、以及相配的同等優秀的插圖。不僅如此，繪本的詞語和插圖以及頁面設計巧妙結合，講述了一個簡樸、充滿對心靈的洞悉、又飽含智慧和真理的故事，幾近完美。”

2. CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
《獅子、女巫與魔衣櫥》（1950年），C?S?路易斯著

Lewis’ high fantasy classic drew high praise in our critics’ poll. “CS Lewis’ perfect fable The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is subtitled 'a story for children',” says author and critic David Abrams. “But The Chronicles of Narnia are stories for everybody. They can be read as Christian allegory or as a magical fable about four children who stumble across a magic wardrobe and, pushing their way through mothballed fur coats, enter a land of snow and forests and fauns and lampposts and a white-skinned, black-hearted Queen who dispenses turkish delight like deadly heroin.”
在我們的投票中，路易斯這本高度奇幻經典之作得到了很高的評價。作家兼評論員大衛?阿勃拉姆斯說：“路易斯的完美寓言故事《獅子、女巫與魔衣櫥》副標題是‘寫給兒童的故事’，但《納尼亞傳奇》人人都可閱讀。它們可以被看作基督教寓言，或者有關四位兒童的神奇寓言故事。他們偶然發現了一個魔法衣櫥，穿過封存好的皮毛大衣，來到一片冰雪森林世界。這里有半人半羊的農牧神、街燈柱、雪白肌膚但心腸狠毒的女王，她在分發像海洛因一樣致命的土耳其軟糖。

“This enchanting story combines unsettling magic, psychological realism and a deep sense of beauty,” notes critic Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild. “Lewis is wonderful at descriptions of the physical world. It is both thrilling and comforting to read, intelligent, compassionate and graceful.” (Credit: Geoffrey Bles)
美國作協主席、評論家洛克珊娜-羅賓遜說：“這個令人著迷的故事把讓人不安的魔法、心理現實主義和深刻的美感融合在一起。路易斯擅長描寫現實世界。故事讀來驚心動魄又令人欣慰，充滿睿智、富有憐憫又不失優美。”（來源：杰弗雷-布雷出版社）

1. EB White, Charlotte’s Web (1952)
《夏洛特的網》（1952年），EB懷特著

“One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die,” writes White. Charlotte’s Web topped our critics’ poll. “If I were asked to put one book in a space capsule to send to some far-off galaxy to evoke life in all its complexity, I would send White's masterpiece about friendship, loss, resignation and mortality,” notes NPR’s Maureen Corrigan. “It was the first book in which I encountered mortality, legacy and love that transcended differences,” writes author and critic Rigoberto González. “Those were huge lessons from a book that, at its core, was about an adorable friendship between a spider and a pig.”
懷特寫道：“一天，在我去喂豬的路上，我開始為豬感到難過，因為就像大多數豬那樣，它注定會死去。”《夏洛特的網》在我們的評論家投票中排名居首。美國國家公共廣播電臺的莫林-科里根寫道：“如果要我放一本書到太空艙，發送到遙遠的星系，喚醒復雜的生命，我會把懷特的這本有關友誼、失去、放棄和生死的杰作送上去。”作家兼評論家里戈韋托-岡薩雷斯寫道：“這是第一本讓我遇到超越差異的生死、遺贈、和愛的書。故事的精髓是一只蜘蛛和一頭豬之間可敬的友誼，而我們從這本書中卻有這么多收獲。”

“The complex emotions that emerge from the barnyard in EB White’s masterpiece never cloy, but feel true and important,” writes novelist and critic Meg Wolitzer. “Who can forget the opening: Fern in her damp sneakers wrestling to save the life of the runt Wilbur?” asks Karen R Long, who manages the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. “Not just about loyalty and friendship, this perfect book is an introduction to metaphor – the barnyard as life,” says Chicago Tribune literary editor-at-large Elizabeth Taylor. Author and critic Joan Frank calls it “sturdy and deeply wise.” “White managed to write a children’s book that encompasses mortality, friendship, and the power of the written word — amazing”, adds critic Heller McAlpin. According to our poll, Charlotte’s Web is the greatest children’s book of all time. (Credit: Harper)
小說家兼評論家梅格-沃利策爾寫道：“EB懷特這部杰作中所描寫的倉院之中涌現出的復雜感情從不讓人膩煩，而是讓人感到真實和有價值。”安斯菲爾德? 沃爾夫圖書獎負責人凱倫-R-朗問到：“誰能忘掉開篇：弗恩穿著潮濕的運動鞋跌跌撞撞地跑去救小豬威爾伯？”《芝加哥論壇報》文學特約編輯伊麗莎白?泰勒說：“不僅是忠誠和友誼，這本完美之作還引入了隱喻——生活就像谷場。”作家兼評論家瓊?弗蘭克稱其“耐讀、智慧深沉。”“懷特成功寫出了一本包含生死、友誼和文字力量的兒童圖書——太不可思議了，”評論家海勒?麥卡爾平補充說。我們的投票結果顯示，《夏洛特的網》是有史以來最好的兒童讀物。（來源：哈珀柯林斯出版社）

英文來源：BBC
翻譯&編輯：陳丹妮、董靜、馬文英、許雅寧