Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Some of my favorite children’s books.

There are so many children’s books out there. Libraries full. But not all that many of them deserve to be read once, let alone over and over. Plus, there are a lot of books that get really popular that I think are lame. (Eric Carle—why do people like you?! How many If-you-give-an-animal-a-something books can there be before enough is enough?) So I compiled a list of some that I think are worthy of owning, so that you may read and re-read and re-read. I LOVE them all and love reading them to my kids. If you haven’t read them before, go get them TODAY! They’re great. You can click on the picture to read more about them. (p.s. This is not an all-inclusive list of my favorite children’s books, just some that I happen to remember today.)
1- The Little Brute Family is AWESOME!!! When I brought this home from the library once, I was shocked and appalled that I had never heard of it before. I checked it out many times after that because I thought it was so great. ( I also love others by Russell and Lillian Hoban, all the Frances books are great.)
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2- I love The Biggest Bear. I got it at a second-hand store when I was a young teen, and it is now falling apart, so I’ll have to buy a new one. The Caldecott Honor was really deserved for the fabulous drawings.image 3- When you read this one you have to read Thumbkin with a Southern drawl. It just really makes it. The pictures are so cute and I love the rhymes.image 4- Love this book by Audrey Wood (many others of hers are great too, like King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, and The Napping House).image 5- My favorite pirate book.image 6- Of course, I love all Dr. Seuss. This is only one of my my many favorites. It is so fun to read out loud.image 7- So funny.
image 8- These two fairy tale books are CLASSIC. My brothers and sisters and I loved having my mom read them to us when we were little. They are out of print, but I bought them when I was a teenager from some online bookstore because I knew it was NECESSARY to own them. Fabulous fairy tales, incredible illustrations.
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9- HI-LARIOUS!!!! If you’ve never read this, you really really must!
image 10- Pretty much love any and all of Elsa Beskow’s books. Love the stories, the pictures, and the overall feel.  They are beautiful, timeless, nature-loving, and all the good things.  :)  My favorites are Children of the Forest; Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip; The Sun Egg (the most BEAUTIFUL pictures of a little red-headed wood elf); and Emily and Daisy.  These are CLASSICS and you REALLY need to have them!


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The end. What are some of your favorites? (and no offense if you love Eric Carle and Laura Numeroff)

9 comments:

Alyse and Carlos said...

Kayli-
Thank you for your comment about Eric Carle--I could not agree more. He drives me nuts. Working at an autism pre-school we had to watch videos of his books all the time--I thought I'd go crazy! I also love Audrey Wood's books and all things Dr. Seuss. We had the "World's Greatest Fairy Tales" growing up too--classics! I highly recommend Doreen Cronin's books--especially the farm ones. Duck for President is my favorite, but Click, Clack, Moo is great too.

Rachael said...

I just read the Little Brute Family to my kids this morning. Love that one. And I snapped up a copy of the first Hyman treasury on Amazon--I'm desperately hoping it's the treasury I've been searching for the last ten years. My parents brought 2 back from Europe that we've never been able to find again--the books were so well-loved that all the title and author info was long gone by the time we thought oops, might need that...

MarySquare said...

Thanks for the suggestions. Even though I'm a librarian, I know almost nothing about children's books. I need all the help I can get when it comes to books for kids.

Ginger said...

My all-time favorite children's book is "The Pink Refridgerator" I don't remember the author. It's clever and leaves you with a good feeling. I like clever books the best. I'm beginning to really appreciate illustrations too.

Kami said...

I love Audrey Woods books too--I love La Ratoncito, La Roja Madura y Grande y Oso Hambriente(The Mouse, The Big Hungry Bear and the Big Red Strawberry for you English speakers). Anyway something like that, we have it in Spanish and it's one of our most requested books. The illustrations often make or break a book for me. I love The Day the Babies Crawled Away and the Leah Wilcox books, Waking Beauty and the Rapunzel one. Also I totally agree that they killed If you give a Mouse a Cookie. Oh the one that Isabel always wants is Muy Bien Fergus. (Good Job Fergus) by David Shannon. We have No, David or David Gets in Trouble ( I can't remember which) but Fergus totally outshines those.

Tara said...

We really like Maurice Sendak at our house. Our favorite is In the Night Kitchen. I think it is funny and clever, and captures the feeling of being a kid and dreaming so well - I have to add that the little boy in the story falls out of his clothes (in his dream) which several people have told me was offensive. I didn't think it was at all, but just so you can't say I didn't warn you :) Some of the other earlier books that Maurice Sendak illustrated are also quite clever. There is a "manners" set - What do You Say Dear? and What do You do Dear? we enjoy both. There is a beautiful book called Nocturne by Jane Yolen (she has some other good ones too). Nocturne is out of print, but if you happen upon a copy, grab it! It is so simple, and quiet, but beautifully done, it is one of my kids favorite bedtime stories.

Charlotte said...

I love Mo Willems books, but one of my all time favorites is The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Megan said...

Kayli - have you read I love you stinky face? I will have to send that if you don't. Also, how about the two kami mentioned - falling for falling for rapunzel? Jared's cousin wrote that - we have an autographed version we could send you - it is good.

Kami said...

Kayli, you dead mon???

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