If you are looking for a unique reading challenge try celebrating a “Bookversary” by reading these juvenile and adult titles with milestone anniversaries in 2020:

25th Anniversary

  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - “Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach. Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal—including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome Uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want. But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other...”
  • A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – “The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers—a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village—will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future. As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.”

30th Anniversary

  • Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr.Seuss – “Dr. Seuss's wonderfully wise Oh, the Places You'll Go! is the perfect send-off for grads—from nursery school, high school, college, and beyond! From soaring to high heights and seeing great sights to being left in a Lurch on a prickle-ly perch, Dr. Seuss addresses life's ups and downs with his trademark humorous verse and illustrations, while encouraging readers to find the success that lies within.”
  • The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan – “The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs — a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts— five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.”

40th Anniversary

  • The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch – “Princess Elizabeth is excited to marry dreamy Prince Ronald, but then a dragon attacks the castle, kidnaps her prince, and burns all her clothes. In resourceful and humorous fashion, Elizabeth dons a paper bag, finds and outsmarts the dragon, and rescues Ronald—who is less than pleased at her unprincesslike appearance. What's a modern-day princess to do?”
  • The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel – “Through Jean M. Auel's magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves The Clan of the Cave Bear. A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly—she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza's way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.”

50th Anniversary

  • Are You There God, It'’s Me Margaret? by Judy Blume – “Mashable Margaret Simon, almost twelve, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she's anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she's asked to join a secret club she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she's normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she's got someone else to confide in . . . someone who always listens.”
  • Fifth Business by Robertson Davies – “Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave at Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross and destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As Ramsay tells his story, it begins to seem that from boyhood, he has exerted a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious, influence on those around him. His apparently innocent involvement in such innocuous events as the throwing of a snowball or the teaching of card tricks to a small boy in the end prove neither innocent nor innocuous.”

75th Anniversary

  • Stuart Little by E.B. White – “Stuart Little is a shy, philosophical little mouse with a big heart and a taste for adventure. In spite of his diminutive stature, barely two inches tall, Stuart sets forth into the world with some mighty big plans: to ride a Fifth Avenue bus, to win a sailboat race in Central Park, and to teach school for a day. But Stuart's greatest adventure begins when he decides to find his best friend, Margalo, a pretty little bird who once lived in a Boston fern in the Littles' house in New York City. Climbing into his tiny car, Stuart hits the open road, sure he's heading in the right direction, only to find himself in for a big surprise.”
  • Animal Farm – George Orwell  - “George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist ideals through an animal fable. The animals of Mr. Jones' Manor Farm are overworked, mistreated, and desperately seeking a reprieve. In their quest to create an idyllic society where justice and equality reign, the animals of Manor Farm revolt against their human rulers, establishing the democratic Animal Farm under the credo, "All Animals Are Created Equal." Out of their cleverness, the pigs—Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball—emerge as leaders of the new community. In a development of insidious familiarity, the pigs begin to assume ever greater amounts of power, while other animals, especially the faithful horse Boxer, assume more of the work. The climax of the story is the brutal betrayal of Boxer, when totalitarian rule is re-established with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: "But Some Animals Are More Equal than Others." This astonishing allegory, one of the most scathing satires in literary history, remains as fresh and relevant as the day it was published.”

80th anniversary

  • Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodking – “Awakening from a well-earned nap beside a stout tree, an itinerant cap peddler finds that his wares have been confiscated by a band of feisty monkeys cavorting in the branches overhead. In reply to his commands to return the caps, the monkeys simply imitate – and so further anger – the peddler. Finally, by throwing down his own cap in frustration, the salesman unwittingly outwits the monkeys as they follow his example.”
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway – “For Whom the Bell Tolls is Ernest Hemingway's brilliant war novel, telling the story of Robert Jordan, a young American fighting with an antifascist guerilla unit in Spain. Jordan wages war, forges friendships, and falls deeply in love with the beautiful Maria. First published in 1940, For Whom the Bell Tolls has been adapted for movies, television, and stage.”

100th Anniversary

  • The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting – “When a swallow arrives in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh with the news that the monkeys of Africa are ill and only the doctor who talks with animals can save them, Doctor Dolittle and such good friends as Jip, his loyal dog, and Dab-Dab, his housekeeper duck, face their greatest challenge. Together they must sail to Africa, battle a band of cutthroat pirates, flee across a gorge on a bridge made of acrobatic apes, and convince the king of the beasts that even he must help an animal in need.”
  • The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie –“Who poisoned the wealthy Emily Inglethorpe, and how did the murderer penetrate and escape from her locked bedroom? Suspects abound in the quaint village of Styles St. Mary—from the heiress's fawning new husband to her two stepsons, her volatile housekeeper, and a pretty nurse who works in a hospital dispensary. Making his unforgettable debut, the brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is on the case.”

What a great excuse to have a little cake with your next read!