Blogger: Rachel Kent
Since it’s the Friday after a holiday weekend, I thought I’d keep the blog topic light and fun for the day. Children’s books have been on my mind. I read A LOT of children’s books these days with my daughter. And recently, I received a baby shower invitation for my sister-in-law’s shower asking me to bring a favorite children’s book instead of a card with my gift. I guess this is a new thing! This made me think hard about what my favorite children’s books are.
Here is a list of the current five favorite children’s books in our house. These are all going to be books for young children, but don’t feel like you need to stick with picture books in your list of favorites. I’m looking forward to reading about your family favorites, too.
1) Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown– this classic is one of my daughter’s favorites. She likes the red balloon the best.
2) The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle–I get to read this one at least 5 times each week.
3) Thank You God For Mommy by Amy Parker– This is one of MY favorites. I cry almost every time I read this book.
4) Olivia by Ian Falconer– This little, energetic pig reminds me of someone…
5) Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton– This book has inspired my daughter to walk around with pants on her head on many occasions. There’s a silly turkey that can’t get dressed properly. It cracks her up.
Did/do you read these books to your children?
What were your favorites as a child?
What are your family favorites?
This is going to be fun, Rachel Happy Friday.
My favorite book was “The Cow in the Silo.” Grady squeezes into the silo to escape a bothersome fly and can’t get out. I still have my battered coverless copy. My grandsons weren’t impressed, I’m sad to say.
Their oddball favorite from Granny’s bookshelf is “The Bad Children’s Book,” where Roger shaves the bathmat with his father’s electric razor, and Emily cuts countries out of the maps at school. Roger and Emily get just what they deserve: each other.
I’ve never heard of either of these! I think I’ll wait a few years before introducing “The Bad Children’s Book” to my daughter. She doesn’t need any ideas!
My husband used to read Big Joe’s Trailer Truck to our Katie, and inject details about Big Joe’s drug running adventures to Mexico. CLEARLY not part of author Joe Mathieu’s original text.
Look up the Scaredy Squirrel books by Melanie Watt. HYSTERCIAL. Scaredy is a neurotic, ADD, hyper germaphobe squirrel.
Scaredy Squirrel…reminds me of Hamster Huey, the favorite of Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes”.
I’ll never forget the last frame of one of the strips, in which Calvin demands a reading of Hamster Huey from his Dad…one time too many.
Calvin (wide-eyed): “I don’t remember it ending like THAT before.”
Hobbes: “I wonder if the townsfolk ever found Hamster Huey’s head?”
ha ha that’s hilarious.
Jennifer, Scaredy Squirrel is awesome! Her books about Chester the cat are pretty funny too.
I’ll check out Scaredy Squirrel! 🙂 Sounds fun!
Those are all favorites, Rachel! Here are two that I love: Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig and Reading with Dad by Dick Jorgensen.
Thanks for the recommendations! My Katie loves reading with Daddy, too, so that sounds like a perfect book for us.
Rachel, here are a few of my girls’ favorites:
The Complete Tales, by Beatrix Potter
The Fire Cat, by Ether Averill
You and Me, Little Bear, by Martin Waddell
Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You? by Dr. Seuss (I might have this one memorized!)
Our oldest … when she was a tiny tot … she’d grab a book and start backing up. Cutest thing … she’d plop down in the lap she trusted to be there to read. Sweet memories.
My first favorite books were The Boxcar Children and James and the Giant Peach. 🙂 My teacher read James and the Giant Peach … I couldn’t wait to get to her class each day to hear her read.
If you ever decide to start working with children’s/middle grade books, I want to know 🙂
Have a beautiful Friday and weekend, everyone! So blessed by y’all ….
Shelli,
The Fire Cat was my favorite when I was growing up! I still think, “My, what big paws you have, you must do important things with them” whenever I look at a cat’s feet. Lol!
Karen
Karen … we loved–
Pickles, you are not a bad cat.
You are not a good cat.
You are good and bad.
And bad and good.
You are a mixed-up cat.
We say that all the time. 🙂
We like Mr. Brown, too! And it sounds like I HAVE to check out The Fire Cat.
No kids; I sometimes read to the dogs. Latest is “Neptune’s Inferno” by James Hornfischer.
When I was a child (7-8 years old) my favourites were:
“H.M.S. Ulysses” by Alastair MacLean
“Battle: The Story of the Bulge” by John Toland
“Brazen Chariots” by Robert Crisp
My copies were re-read until they came apart; surely this is a good testimony.
I would sneak books like this into the “read along” sessions at school, and hide them within the book the class was labouring through. I was once caught reading “Guadalcanal Diary”, and the teacher gave me a most peculiar look, before handing the book back without comment.
This doesn’t surprise me at all.
My nephew would enjoy these, I’m sure! He’s 9 and a really good reader. He started reading at 3.
I don’t have any children but, thanks to my parents, my love of books started young. Two favorites were Dr. Seuss’ HOP ON POP and P.D. Eastman’s ARE YOU MY MOTHER? As a Catholic child, I also loved a book about female saints called HEROINES OF GOD.
When I got a little older (maybe eight), my parents bought a collection of books called TALES FOR YOUNG READERS or something like that). These books contained folktales, American history tales (such as the stories of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyun), fairytales, and stories from Greek and Roman mythology so I got a great culture education without ever knowing that I was being educated!
Happy Friday everyone!
Sorry–I got a great cultural education. I knew I should have re-read before clicking “Post Comment!”
I loved Hop on Pop and Are You My Mother? when I was young, too! 🙂
As a school librarian, I simply cannot choose.
One of my favorite activities for first graders was to gather them for reading time, and ask a boy in the front row to hold a Kleenex for me. I would say, “I need you to pay close attention, because one part of this book is so sad, that sometimes I cry. If I do cry, I am going to need you to bring that Kleenex up to me.”
Then I would read “The Tub People” by the late Pam Conrad. The kids were mesmerized by the story and by watching me. It was a perfect way to get the students immersed (pun) in the story – and I usually did need that tissue!
I will need to check this one out! I haven’t heard of it, but I love a good tear-jerker. 🙂
I love all your choices, Rachel! When my kids were in primary school, we liked Jan Brett’s books. The illustrations are stunning!
We have copies of The Mitten and Fritz! I’m looking forward to reading them to Katie soon. She’s not quite ready to sit still for that long yet.
Go, Dog. Go!
Oh yes, Michelle! I loved that one too. 🙂
My girls loved that, too, Michelle. We had so many favorites!
The first book I read by myself–according to my mom. I don’t remember.
I was just about to put that my toddler LOVES “Go, Dog. Go!” I like that one, too. It’s fun to read.
His absolute favorites right now though are Mo Willem’s Piggie & Elephant books. We read those over…and over…and over…
Jennifer, Mo Willem’s books are great. We especially like Knuffle Bunny and any books about the Pigeon. 🙂
I might add that as I child, I disliked “The Chronicles of Narnia”.
It was not until I was in my late twenties that I was young enough to appreciate Lewis’ work.
I think you’d enjoy Go, Dog. Go!, Andrew. 🙂
You could read it to your pups . . .
I’ll look for it! Thanks, Michelle!
They may enjoy that more than what was next on their list:
“Kaigun – Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy 1887-1941”
Interestingly, the dogs enjoy movies, and have their favorites.
Sylvia (whose picture appears on my blog) can recognize the case for “Saving Private Ryan”, and brings it our when she wants to see it.
She barks at the Germans, and cries during the sad bits.
Andrew, I watched “Hachi: A dog’s Tale”, and my oldest puppy never left my side. I really believe he understood the movie! 🙂
The dogs cried through that one. They did understand it, I’m sure.
I recommended it to a Marine friend of ours, and he said that he couldn’t watch it because he ran out of Kleenex halfway through.
Oh, the movie Hachi is brutal. I cried.
“Hop on Pop” was a favorite when I was little. My three boys loved it and memorized it! My 4 year old could even “read” it to his little brothers. But my all-time favorite children’s book, which I did not discover until I was an adult, is “The Tale of Three Trees” By Angela Elwell Hunt. It’s probably more meaningful to me now than it would have been when I was little.
I love The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward and buy used copies (it’s out of print) as gifts for little boys (3+). I also like Alfie Gets in First by Shirley Hughes. Excellent illustrations and delightful that Alfie (~3) solves the problem on his own. Kids really identify. I grew up on Winnie-the-Pooh (the original stories by Milne) and lines still pop to mind in the right situations.
One of my clients gifted me with the Alfie books when I had my daughter. A very fine gift! 🙂
I bought a children’s book on impulse the other day. It’s called Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You.
I read it to my 32-year-old daughter and we both were teary-eyed by the end.
One of my favorite childhood stories is The Secret Garden.
When the kids were little, we loved reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
“Can I have a bit of earth?” -Mary Lennox
Johnnie, have you seen the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of The Secret Garden? Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) is used as the setting for Misselthwaite Manor.
Jenni, I love that version! But I didn’t realize that was Highclere Castle. Even more reason for that to be a destination on my vacation wish list. Someday!
“Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow.” Ben Weatherstaff
I read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom when I was little!
I love Sandra Boynton! I also loved “The Story of Jesus” – it’s a perfect little introduction to theology for a toddler (which sounds strange, but it really is!).
As a kid, I loved Narnia and “The Saturdays” and the Anthropos series by John White (which I’m reading to my kids now).
A few of my favorite newer picture books are “The Seven Silly Eaters” (so beautiful – I love the picture of family life it presents), “On Meadowview Street”, and “I Want My Hat Back” (which is hilarious in a kind of dark way).
I haven’t heard of Silly Eaters, Meadowviewstreet or I Want My Hat Back! Will need to keep them in mind for Katie!
Favorites from my own childhood included any of the Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka stories, or the boys Snip, Snap, and Snur. Also The Poky Little Puppy and the one about the five Chinese brothers that would now be politically incorrect.
Terri, we still have a tiny book of The Poky Little Puppy. So cute. Keepsake. 🙂
We read the Poky Little Puppy too!
Happy Friday, Rachel! What a great post! 🙂
Since your daughter, and mine, are the same age we have a few of the same books in our house. We love to read, so here are a some more currently taking residence in our family room:
– “The Picture Bible for Little People” by Kenneth N. Taylor – This Tyndale Kids book provides a short synopsis of the most important stories in the Bible.
– “You Be You” by Linda Kranz – Through the perspective of a little fish named Adri, we read that we’re all special. Our daughter has already classified certain fish in this book as, “Momma fish and Daddy fish.” So cute.
– “Red Wagon” by Renata Liwska – A great read that reminds me of the child-like imagination inside all of us.
– “On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman – This book was a baby shower gift. It’s such a precious book and often gets us teary eyed.
– “Good Dog, Carl” by Alexandra Day – This is a fun one! It’s a picture book without a lot of words, so you make up the story as you go along. From day to day this story is never the same! 🙂
I LOVE “Good Dog Carl”!
I’ll have to dig out my copy and do a read-along with Titan 2, our Rottweiler.
Cinderella. My absolute favorite as a child. I am still working on “Cinderella” stories.
My kids loved Dr. Seuss and the Monster at the End of the Book because I made it crazy for them.
But the funny thing was two of my kids liked the most boring books that I hated to read. One was Ping and the other was The Fish that Got Away.
But Amelia Bedelia was one of my favorites to read to them.
As a family, favorite book is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It is about parents’ love and how it crosses generations. It begins with a baby boy being rocked by his mother as she sings a song about how special he is. The years go by and the mother is rocked by the son singing the same special song.
I read it to our children – and have since read it to my mother-in-law as she was dying with cancer.
A special book!
Favorite picture book: All the Place to Love by Patricia Maclachlan
Favorites as a child: The Babar books; Flicka, Ricka and Dicka; Madeline; Little Golden books, especially those illustrated by Eloise Wilkins;
Ones I read to my children: They adored anything Dr. Seuss.
Picture books I collect now: Anyting illustrated by Tasha Tudor, Jessie Willcox Smith, Patricia Polacco, Susan Jeffers, Michael Hague, Henriette Willabeek LeMair, Trina Schaart Hyman, etc., etc. 🙂
Little Golden Books … so special!
Tasha Tudor’s artwork is gentle, and full of beautiful details.
My favorite title illustrated by Eloise Wilkins was Where Did the Baby Go? Still have my copy.
We loved “Just for You” by Mercer Mayer and later all the “Little House on the Prairie” books.
My kids loved the Sandra Boynton books, too! Especially Blue Hat, Green Hat. My daughter also loved the Don’t the Pigeon Drive the Bus (and all its sequels). She’s a big-time reader now (age 12), devouring each of the Harry Potter novels in one day this summer. Well, one day for each…you know what I mean, right? 😉
Karen, I never intended to read the Harry Potter series … but my husband let the girls see the first one … then I saw it … we were hooked. We have all the movies and books.
My all time favorites are
Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
and
You Are Special by Max Lucado
There are so many good books out there that it’s hard to decide on just a few, but I love these books because they are not only fun to read but communicate important principles. We have even use these book with out church youth group and ever with the ‘fake’ moaning and groaning, we have been asked by several kids if they can be read again sometime
Like many others stated above, Dr. Seuss is a classic, my all-time fav.
I also like the board books BabyLit, little classics retellings. Although I’m sure I appreciate it more than the babies haha.
I recently got “The Pigeon Needs a Bath” for my 3-yr-old niece and she had me read it 8 times in one sitting. Great fun for child and adult both.
This is way too much fun, Rachel!
I have a Pinterest board devoted to Children’s Book Illustrators. Sigh…
Favorite Picture Books:
Anything by Bob Staake (especially The Red Lemon)
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen
Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy (tongue twisting genius)
Traction Man books by Mini Grey (your little boys will love these)
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Charlie and Lola by Lauren Child (hilarious!)
Adele & Simon by Barbara McClintock
Anything Peggy Rathmann wrote (especially Good Night, Gorilla)
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee
Little Bear Books by Maurice Sendak
The Quiet Book by Renata Liwska
Houndsley and Catina by Marie-Louise Gay
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Rosie and Michael by Judith Viorst
Where’s Wallace? by Hilary Knight (outstanding seek & find)
Harry the Dirty Dog
Bread and Jam for Frances
Scrambled States of America
The Golden Egg Book
Paddington Bear
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Favorite Wordless Picture Books:
The Adventures of Polo by Regis Fuller
Where is the Cake? by T. T. Khing
Chapter Books:
Charlotte’s Web
The Velvet Room
The Root Cellar
I LOVE this blog! Thank you, Rachel!
I read all the books to my children that my parents read to me and my sisters.
My childhood favorite is the Velveteen Rabbit.
My favorite children’s books:
Lamont the Lonely Monster
The Chicken in the Family
Born Yesterday
Sisters
The Adventures of Carl
Rolly Polly Ollie
The Adventures of Onyx the USCG Rescue Dog
Five Little Monkeys
Too Many Dogs In the Bed
Duck, Duck, Moose!
The Pokey Little Puppy
Robin’s Nest
And of course ~ When the Birdies Came to Tea
I could go on and on…
LOVE your list, Jenni!
Goodness, Rachel. You are just at the beginning. So many great books are coming your way!
Besides the classics–Anything Arnold Lobel, Beatrix Potter (such great use of language), same with Milne, Dr Seuss, etc…
Find some of these newish books:
Marie Louise Gay’s Stella books
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
The Quiltmaker’s Gift
Journey by Aaron Becker
The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman.
Favorite chapter books: The Penderwicks!
I review every children’s book that I love on Goodreads. That’s a great place to discover new books…
Growing up, my very favorites were House at Pooh Corner, and Eloise at Christmastime, which my mother read out loud to us every year (and continued to do so for the grandchildren), complete with every fa la la and ting tingle. When I had my own children, their favorites that we had to read over and over until we could recite them without looking were The Giving Tree (which still brings me to the verge of tears) and a delightful little treat called But No Elephants!
I want to read through all of these comments, but I have to get to a wedding this evening. 🙁 I will come back and check out all of the great recommendations! Thanks, everyone! Have a wonderful weekend.
So many great suggestions! My kids love the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo. I even got a signed set by Kate at a writers conference! They are great first chapter books for young readers and the illustrations are delightful. I also love the Jesus storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. Sometimes I read that one just for me. My personal favorites as a young reader were the Little House series and the Ann of Green Gables series. I still have my copies from childhood, and now my 9 yo daughter is reading them.
“Frindle”.
It’s about a boy and a pencil.
My grandmother read bedtime books to my sisters and me including Black Beauty, Uncle Wriggle’s Travels, Heidi, Little Women, and Five Little Peppers. I read books to my son including Inside, Outside, Upside Down and The Ransom of Red Chief by O Henry. In anticipation of grandchildren someday,I have a stash of books I’ve bought over the years including a rag books with farm animal for a crib and Mary O’Hara’s trilogy that includes My Friend Flicka.
Love these books:
Anything by Mo Willems, especially the Pigeon books
Pete the Cat
Fancy Nancy
Skippyjon Jones
Blackout
The Day the Crayons Quit (Fantastic)
Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type (and the rest in that series)
As an elementary school librarian, I could go on and on but will pause there. 🙂
Rachel, I read on my cell this last night while en route to Sacramento for a dinner party. So many familiar stories I love so I tried not to repeat.
One correction ~ Dogs on the Bed is by Elizabeth Bluemle.
On Grandparent Mondays by hubby reads, Hop on Pop and I read, Are You My Mother, to our three-year old grandson. Every week we take the books with us.
I am a huge Eloise Wilkins fan and have every book from my childhood illustrated by her.
Like Jenni, I have a Pinterest board dedicated to children’s books illustrators.
I like Andrew, read to my dogs, a black lab and a Rottweiller. Missy likes the Carl books and Jake likes the Onyx (black lab)U. S. Coast Guard rescue dog books. But they will listen to any story.
My mother-in-law sent all of my husband’s books to us. I read those at Story Time every week because the children have never heard these stories before. (Joe is 61) Priceless stories and illustrations.
May the years in your daughter Katie’s life turn like the pages in all the lovely new books that await her!
Goodnight Moon, anything Dr. Seuss, Peter Rabbit, Guess How Much I Love You, Velveteen Rabbit (Yes, there is definitely a rabbit theme going on), and so much more! I love children’s books!
Sherry
I’ve read most of the ones you listed. I always enjoyed The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey; though by today’s standards it seems kind of tough for the poor puppy who goes to bed without a bite to eat because he comes home late.
One of my favorite books now is The Day I Swapped My dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman. My kids don’t always get it, but I LOVE to read it. Sometimes you have to consider what mom wants to read twenty times in a row. 😉
Oooooh! “If You Were born a Kitten” and “The Angel on Mill Street” for picture books. And lots of non-fiction picture books about bats and tigers and snakes and bugs and puppies and kittens and tarantulas. As far as series go, The Percy Jackson series and Ranger’s Apprentice and The Chronicles of Narnia and the Redwall books and Especially the How to Train Your Dragon books and the Hank the Cowdog books. Hank the Cowdog is a great book when you first start reading novels out loud. They are hilarious.
I love the “bring a book instead of a card” idea! It’s gotten popular around here and it’s so much fun to share my favorite stories with sweet new babies!
“Go Dog, Go!” has been read so many times to my Herd that we have it memorized.
“Brown Bear, Brown Bear” is also a favorite since my fourth child is called “Baby Bear.”
“Pinkalicious” is fun to read, nice and bouncy, and has a sweet message.
How can I forget “Mike Mulligan and his Steam shovel”? Classic!
When do we start and stop reading as children? As a boy, I was fascinated with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and as a teen with the peculiar poetry of Robert Service (cremation of Sam McGee). Does anyone know any recent rhyming poets who write ballads (long poetic stories) for tweens about boys in natural settings rather than about kids in the city?
Big Red Barn was my favorite as a child. I don’t have any kids yet, but my bookshelf has a few favorite picture books of my own, including Giraffes Can’t Dance, the Giving Tree, and Rosie and Michael. 🙂