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Over the last few days, the kids have been eagerly watching the mail. It must seem like magic to them; due to the fact that I bought books from different sellers all over the Internet, we’ve been averaging a package or two every day. They are super excited every day to find out what new book will arrive; it’s going to be a letdown when we’re all through! Yesterday Paul Heins and Trina Schart Hyman’s Snow White arrived (which has the most gorgeous illustrations, plus it follows the Brothers Grimm storyline rather than the saccharine Disney version); we dropped what we were doing and sat down right there in front of the door to read it. Abigail promptly declared that the Disney Snow White was “yuck Snow White, let’s throw it away” and slept with the new version under her pillow. Can’t say that I blame her. And must confess I was right on board.
Anyway, I was thinking today about the hours I spent recently reading over lists called things like “The Best Children’s Books of All Time” or “Don’t-Miss Picture Books” and how some of them were great and some of them were basically a Berenstain Bears catalogue.
So with that in mind, I present to you my favorites out of the nearly 400 children’s books we own. These are the ones that I look forward to reading. J There are lots of others that I enjoy or like or think are fun, but these are ones that I’d recommend adding to your collection.
- The 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury, selected by Janet Schulman: one of the very best books we own.This is jam-packed with classics and always comes with us to the doctor’s office or anywhere that we may be waiting.This book is SO good that nurses at aforesaid doctor’s offices have written down the title and editor so they can purchase one of their own (really, I’m not kidding). A sampling: Madeline, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, GOodnight Moon, The Snowy Day, Make Way for Ducklings, Guess How Much I Love You, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad DAy, Curious George, Where the Wild Things ARe, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Bedtime for Frances, The Story of Babar, Stellaluna, Harry the Dirty Dog, Owen, The Sneetches. In paperback, it's just under an inch thick and about 8.5 x 11 inches with 300 pages of stories.
- Beatrix Potter: get yourself a good big treasury.
- Jan Brett: we own six of her stories. I love the pictures; the text can be a little much sometimes for short attention spans. Our favorites are The Gingerbread Baby and The Mitten.
- Margaret Wise Brown: The Runaway Bunny and The Big Red Barn
- Eve Bunting: A Turkey for Thanksgiving, The Valentine Bears, and Night Tree
- Virginia Lee Burton: better known for Mike Mulligan, but my favorite has always been The Little House. Now that Nathan has joined our family, Katy and the Big Snow is a huge favorite.
- Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear
- Joanna Cole: My kids LOVE the Magic Schoolbus books. I think the new ones are kind of weird, but you can’t go wrong with Lost in the Solar System, Inside the Human Body, Inside the Earth, etc.
- Barbara Cooney: Miss Rumphius, Roxaboxen, and Ox-Cart
- Tomie dePaola has written a gazillion books; our faves are The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush and The Quilt Story.
- Judy Dunn: a whole series about baby animals and the little kids who take care of them. I especially like that it’s photographs and jam-packed full of interesting info along with the story. Our favorites are The Little Duck and The Little Pig.
- P.D. Eastman: Go Dog! Go! and Are You My Mother?
- Ian Falconer: Olivia (the original)
- Joan Heilbroner: Robert the Rose Horse
- Trina Schart Hyman (as illustrator or author): Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Merlin and the Making of the King, St. George and the Dragon, the Kitchen Knight, plus a whole lot more
- Kevin Henkes: Owen, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse and Chrysanthemum
- Russell and Lillian Hoban: My other favorite author(s). We own every single
- Hilary Knight: The Twelve Days of Christmas
- Mary DeBall Kwitz: Little Chick’s Breakfast and Little Chick’s Big Day
- Brian Lies: Bats at the Beach
- Astrid Lindgren: The Tomten
- Leo Lionni:
- Mercer Meyer: our favorite Little Critter book is Just Go to Bed. Little Critter seems to be a real hit with the 2-year-old set.
- Robert McCloskey: better known for Make Way for Ducklings, but I’ve always loved Blueberries for Sal
- Elsie Minarik: any of the Little Bear books
- Arlene Mosel: The Funny Little Woman
- Jane O’Connor: Fancy
- Bill Peet: The Caboose Who Got Loose
- Alice and Martin Provensen: A Book of Seasons and The Year at Maple Hill Farm
- Peggy Rathmann: Officer Buckle and Gloria
- Cynthia Rylant: The Relatives Came and When I Was Young in the Mountains
- Richard Scarry: The Bunny Book (he’s written two by this title, the one I mean is the one about what the baby bunny will be when he grows up).
- Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are
- Dr. Seuss: oh boy, where to start? We own twelve and love them all, except for Hop on Pop, which I can’t stand. My favorite is probably Fox in Socks.
- William Steig: Dr.
- Jane Yolen: Owl Moon
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11 comments:
I remember Robert the Rose Horse! Is that the same author who did Ferdinand?
My favorites include 'The Biggest Bear' by Lynd Ward, and 'Mr. Murry and Thumbkin' by Karma Wilson and 'Roger the Jolly Pirate' by Brett Helquist, and the Little Brute Family, and 'Leonardo the Terrible Monster' by Mo Willems, and that's all I can think of at the moment.
When I was little, we had a book called "I Am A Mouse" by Ole Risom. It was the first book I learned to "read" and I still think of it fondly.
LOVE the idea of having all those amazing books in one collection. Good call on that purchase.
My sister and I were just talking about Bill Peet. She really likes How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head. And have you ever read any Penrod books by Mary Blount Christian? She thought that they were my little brother's favorite but I think they're out of print and hard to come by.
Jen--the treasury includes "I Am a Bunny" by Ole Risom.
MB--the treasury also has Ferdinand the Bull, which is by Munro Leaf.
Ashley--we do have Droofus the Dragon as well, but I'm not crazy about it. Maybe because it just seems so loooonngg every time I read it...I haven't read the Penrod books.
and Kayli, I'll have to try some of those! I think you're the first person I know who has also read the Little Brute Family (outside of my family). My favorite part is when they ride their crumbly sleds and end up head-first in a snowdrift screaming.
Thank you. I just added these to my google document of books to get. And I feel so silly now thinking about the comment I left a while back about book recommendations. :)
don't feel silly at all, Kristyn! I checked out the link you left last time--thanks for your thoughtfulness!
After teaching for several years we have millions of books as well and some of my most favorite come from Helen Lester - Hooway for Wodney Wat being one of them.
I am impressed that you have all these memorized. I would have been like "the rose horse book. That one dude wrote it."
All time favorite: King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Don and Audrey Wood. I still spend inordinate amounts of time looking at the pictures. I used to read it to Ashley's belly when she was pregnant so the kids would come out loving it. Didn't work, by the way; they like Where the Wild Things Are better.
I love this list! So many of these are my favorites as well and I've readaby of them to my children a 3 year old boy and 18 month old girl.
We also like the Carl books by Alexandra Day and The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.
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