Yesterday marked the beginning of Children’s Book Week, which according to the Children’s Book Council is
“A celebration of the written word, Children’s Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes and bookstores. Through Children’s Book Week, the Children’s Book Council encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books.”
Throughout the week, there are celebrations planned in major cities across the U.S.A, and your local libraries and schools may be planning celebrations as well.
In children’s literature, there are classic books – a canon of sorts – that have stood the test of time and find a place in nearly every child’s library. Timeless treasures like Goodnight, Moon, The Runaway Bunny, Guess How Much I Love You, Where the Wild Things Are, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do See? are some of the standards most every child knows and loves.
Yet browsing the shelves at your local library or bookstore proves there are hundreds of other wonderfully illustrated, charming stories that your children will find delightful. How to choose?
If you have a few minutes, would you share with us your unsung favorite of children’s literature? What is the book that has captivated your family but not many others seem to be familiar with?
Of course, you can share more than one if you would like. Sometime next week, I’ll choose from among the comments a person to send a copy of our family’s unsung favorite to – a book I’ll be telling a little more about next week.
I can’t wait to hear more about your family’s favorite children’s books!
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Some favorites in our house include Russel Hoban’s Francis books and Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad books. We also have been really enjoying Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson a lot lately.
Wendy’s last blog post..One Year Bento-versary and Giveaway!
One of the many favorite books in my family is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood. It is hard to pick just one though. Reading in my house is like breathing to my children, my husband and I. Our favorite thing to do is go to the thrift stores and sort thru the many children books and find the ones that sound good. Same with the library we try to get books we haven’t seen everywhere. Sometimes we come across one that is not a fit for us but that is the case withe everything and its half the fun. It is like my 5 year old says “it’s like hunting for treasure”.
Without a doubt: I took the moon for a walk by Carolyn Curtis. My son loves it and the rhythm of the story is so soothing right before bed.
Beth’s last blog post..Beginnings
I really like Owl Moon. So does my daughter. We also love the Billy and Blaze books. They are getting hard to find as they are so old.
Michelle Payette’s last blog post..Mother’s Day Collage
Our family’s favourite book is ‘Aliens love Underpants’ by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. It’s a short book with a nice rhythm, colourful and quirky.
My daughter’s favourite (she’s 18 months) is ‘Say Hello to the Animals’ by Ian Whybrow and Tim Warnes. It has touchy feely pages and introduces the child to various farm animals and the sounds they make. She loves making the noises that go with each page.
Chriss’s last blog post..Broken.
Both of my boys absolutely adore Byron Barton’s “My Car.” They both had it memorized in no time! Anything by Byron Barton, really, is special.
Our favorite hidden treasures are the Angus books by Marjorie Flack. They include Angus Lost, Angus and the Ducks, and others. They’re books about a little Scottie dog who has many adventures. The stories are sweet and full of childlike curiosity, and the illustrations are charming. Grownups and children delight in reading and rereading them!
Kyrie’s last blog post..Children’s Book Week!
I loved CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS when I was kid. Honestly, it is one of the only books I remember. I bought it for my kids when I was still pregnant with my first. I can’t wait until they are old enough for me to share it with them. I think the earliest age for it would probably be 2.
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I couldn’t wait to read Virginia Lee Burton’s books to my kids: Katy and the Big Snow, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, The Little House. These were favorites from when I was growing up. Another one that is not “oldie but goodie” is one I found when I was pregnant with my 2nd child, now 9. We read this one over and over when my kids were toddlers: A Teeny Tiny baby by Amy Schwartz. I could go on and on because we are such book freaks here, but I’ll stop!
Charity’s last blog post..Mother’s Day Rewind
One of our favorite books is called, “The Remarkable Farkle McBride.” It’s about a musical prodigy who struggles to find the instrument he likes best. (My husband is a band director.) It’s a great book with cute illustrations, and it has a catchy rhythm with an extensive vocabulary (words like bombastic and rhapsodical). The last page has a fold out that features the entire orchestra. My son loves to tell me the names of all of the instruments. I laugh because he doesn’t know his letters very well, but he can pick out any instrument in the band.
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My 4 year old has loved Are You My Mother? since he was tiny and he also loves Stellaluna and Rainbow Fish.
Stacey’s last blog post..Moose [2009|05|bdb0fe313942e3bf41d163dcf80d3401]
We do our share of reading “Paddington Goes to Market”, “Winnie the Pooh and the Pebble Hunt” and “Dr. Seuss’ ABC”, but one that I really like and didn’t have when I was little is “Three Jovial Huntsmen” by Susan Jeffers. (http://www.amazon.com/THREE-JOVIAL-HUNTSMEN-Mother-Goose/dp/0689713096)
The illustrations (which have lots of camouflaged animals the hunters walk right by) are beautiful and I love the rhythmic cadences that make it perfect for reading aloud!
Natalie@Naddy’s Blog’s last blog post..More Miriam
Oh man. It’s so hard to choose! I’m an avid reader and an elementary teacher so this is tough. One of my favorite “unsung” books would have to be “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” by Mo Willems. I randomly picked it up for a read aloud in the school library one day, and it was an instant hit with my kindergarten class! (It’s also a caldecott medal winner.)
I cannot tell you how many times I had to read this book after that first time. They were wild about it! It’s one of those books that the kids memorized and read out loud with me. The author has several other “Pigeon” books, and they are all really cute.
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“How I Became a Pirate” and “Pirates Don’t Change Diapers” are two particularly fun to read books that both of my children enjoy (by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon [No, David! , Too Many Toys, and many others]). My son asks for “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” quite a lot right now. “Bless Me” and “I Love You Through and Through” are two that I used to read often before my children started selecting their own books at bedtime. My mother-in-law is a school media specialist, and in large part due to her, we are exposed to quite a variety of books.
RLR’s last blog post..Best. Mother’s Day. Ever
You Are My I Love You by Maryann Cusimano is one of our favorites. Told from a parents voice, it paints a beautiful picture of the love we have for our kids, the fun adventures we go on, and the nuturing we do as parents. The illustrations are adorable, inviting and really tell a story to the little ones. Every time we read it, I tear up—it’s so sweet!!
I love Thunder Cake by Patricia Palowski. I can’t remember exactly how to spell her name, but anything by her is really special. It’s been a while, but when my daughter was just shy of 2 or right around 2 she loved the Goose story. Again, by Patricia. Her illustrations are gorgeous and the kids (i have three) love her stories.
Enjoy
Hi Megan,
This is a great idea!
My son (21 months) loves Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman. It’s a great short story with very few words so it requires imagination and making it up as we go along. I can’t wait until he’s able to speak and I can hear his version
Kiss Goodnight by Amy Hest is a close second for my son as a bedtime story. It’s a lovely book, cute drawings and can be interactive
Sherri (Serene Journey)’s last blog post..7 Little Indulgences – Very Little Guilt
These are amazing! I’m loving the suggestions and my Amazon cart is overflowing with ideas. Keep ‘em coming!!
Megan’s last blog post..The “Unsung” Favorites of Children’s Literature
Gotta love The Mitten, or any Jan Brett for that matter. And of course Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom!
I’m loving these ideas!
I was going to post You Are My I Love You by Maryann Cusimano Love – the pictures are beautiful and the words are just perfect. We’ve been reading it to our almost-3-year old since she was little and she’s in a sudden burst of demanding it at bedtime. We think she’s finally getting it.
She also really loves Goodnight My Angel by Billy Joel – so many of her bedtime rituals are done with her Daddy so seeing a little girl “like me!” and a Daddy just like hers makes her really happy and she loves having us sing along to the CD that came with it.
We are loving “Ish” and “The Dot” right now. They have inspired us as a family to take more risks with our art. I just did a write up of him here:
http://www.playfulearning.com/Playful_Learning/Blog/Entries/2009/5/6_Author_Spotlight_%26_Giveaway__Peter_Reynolds.html
A few of my favorites that I love to share with my pre-schoolers are ‘Sector 7′ and ‘Tuesday’ by David Weisner. He is an amazing illustrator and these books leave so much room for interpretation with kids because they have no words. You have to tell the book by the pictures alone (which are absolutely beautiful and funny to admire).
harmony’s last blog post..Everyday Miracles
We are big fans of Barbro Lindgren’s books. From the very simple Sam books (Sam’s Ball, Sam’s Cookie, etc) to Benny and the Binky, Benny’s Had Enough! and Oink, Oink Benny. There is sort of a dry humor that appeals to adults and enough simplicity in the story and illustrations that appeal to our daughter.
Anyone have a comparable book to Charlotte’s Web? It has been bedtime reading to our 4 year old twice now in the last few months. It has a great honest story and just the right amount of illustrations. Hard to find chapter books that are not too wordy for her age.
We adore Mary Ann Hoberman’s books, but our favorite is “The Seven Silly Eaters.” The clever rhyme, the detailed and humorous illustrations by Marla Frazee, the personalities of each of the children, and the delightful child friendly ending make this an all time family fave. We also love Jim Aylesworth books — favorites are “The Full Belly Bowl” and “Tricky Fox”.
Joni’s last blog post..Gospel As Explained by a Four-Year-Old With a Little Loaves and Fishes Thrown In
I Love you stinky face was given to mydaughter when she was 3 mo old (she is almost 6 now) and we have been reading it consistently since then (and have added every other Stbky face book to our collection) – it is such a reassuring book for kids about us loving them unconditionally and protecting them.
also love forever:
Owl Babies
Stellaluna
Bread and Jam for Frances
Baa! Moo! What will we do – Benjamin and Chapman
authors who are so good that you could pick up any book by them from the library or shop and be guaranteed an amazing story and illustrations:
Bob Graham – also great for being inclusive as his illustrations of families include alternative ones like a dad with a ponytail or a mom with 4 piercings….
Debi Gliori – especially the Mr Bear series!
Julia Donaldson (ie The Gruffalo, Room on a broom, The Snail and the whale, a squash and a squeeze etc)
There’s a lot on here that we love. One that’s been a favorite is Slow Train to Oxmox by Kurt Cyrus–the little one loves the train and all the messy things the train gets into and my favorite line is “Young Man, you’re a genius.” “Actually, I’m an engineer”.
A bunch of others:
Blue Berries for Sal by Robert McKloskey (Kerplink, Kerpluk….)
Halloween Pie by Micheal Tunnel (we get a lot of mileage out of “Give me some Pie!”)
Harriet You’ll Drive Me Wild by Mem Fox (Sometimes things happen just like that–Mom’s even yell sometimes even though they don’t want to)
The Happy Hedgehog Band by Martin Waddell (Lots of fun noise making–rat-a-tat-tat)
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Harry Devlin–I’ve loved this one forever and for some reason my 3 year old picked it up out of our home library and loves it too.
Counting Our Way to Maine by Maggie Smith Fantastic counting book forward and backward if you want. First they pack one baby–and that is SO funny!
Bunny’s Numbers by Dick McCue Garden counting fun
I really get carried away with something like this, but I forget two more that we picked up from some neighbors and we love them:
The Dutchess Bakes a Cake by Virginia Kahl–fun rhyming Lovely Light lucious delectable cake and she’s taking time out from reading and writing to bake.
Socks for Supper by Jack Kent It’s just a fun exchange of socks for food that comes full circle.
We adore The Seven Silly Eaters too. So fun!
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra (illustrated by Marc Brown)
It’s about books. And zoos. Does it get any better than that?
Marla Taviano’s last blog post..twirly tuesday
I’m loving these, too! We have so many children’s books, and many are the classics that many have already mentioned here.
I wholeheartedly agree with the Jan Brett books, anything by McCloskey (Lentil is one of his best, and it’s overshadowed by Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal).
Oh, I could talk for hours about this topic…
@Julie – My four-year-old and I just finished Stuart Little together, and it’s just as great as Charlotte’s Web. If your daughter loved CW, she’d probably like SL just as much.
Perfect chapter read aloud for the youngest set: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett – written in 40′s? Short chapters, lots of adventure, but nothing really scary, pictures. There is a series of 3 books. Other chapter readalouds that have been fine, but not AS good – Pooh, Ralph and the Motorcycle… Another older un-sung book is Freddy the Detective. I’ve heard great things from sources I trust, and it will be coming up on my hold list at the library soon. (For reference, by boys are 3 and 5).
Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes *solid author* my second child requests it often. I think it might be because the second kid saves the day
Our favorites include one that was my favorite as a child, Tasha Tudor – A Time to Keep. Our new favorites include Sibylle Von Olfers – Mother Earth and Her Children, The Story of the Wind Children & The Story of the Butterfly Children and Elsa Beskow – The Children of the Forest. These are such magical stories and are so timeless. The illustrations are just beautiful and the kids love the simplicity and magic of them.
julie’s last blog post..Happy Mother’s Day
@Julie
We’re reading Stuart Little right now with our almost 4 year old. We’re then moving on to some Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.
Beth’s last blog post..Beginnings
There are so many good books to choose from. Right now we are loving the ‘Ready Freddy’ series by Abby Klein. They are chapter books, with a BOYas the main character! For picture books, we LOVE Margie Palatini. Her books are so vibrantly illustrated and laugh out loud funny. We just read “Stinky, Smelly Feet, A Love Story”. It was so cute!! I have an older girl and younger boy, so finding a good balance is tricky. Luckily we LOVE the library, so we always have something new.
I vote for Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs by Tomie da Paola. It is a sweet classic (although it does deal with death). I love books that tackle difficult topics, but in a manner that a child can understand.
Jamie
@Julie Way to go for starting chapter books with your four year old! If you’re looking for short ones with lots of pictures there are some great ones geared for beginning readers. My students have loved The Magic Treehouse Series, The Romona Books, Little House books (there are even easier versions of these by the same author), Cam Jansen (these are cute mysteries), Junie B. Jones. Search “beginning reader chapter books” on amazon or google and you should get a pretty good list. Some of the above list are better than others, but my taste and my students weren’t always the same!
Emily’s last blog post..More Baby Food and a Question
We started reading to Kate the day we brought her home from the hospital almost three years ago, and by far her favorite thing to do is read. I could list probably hundreds of books that we love but the top winners in our family are mostly written by Mo Willems. The Elephant & Piggie Books: “There’s A Bird On Your Head!”, “Watch Me Throw The Ball”, “I Love My New Toy!” “Today I Will Fly” and his “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed”. There are several more and she loves all of them as do we. Whenever a new Mo Willems book comes out we have a little family book celebration at hour house. I love having a little reader!
We love all of Lisa Wheeler’s books – they’re funny, have a great rhythm and they’re cleverly written so they’re even entertaining for the adults to read. We also LOVE “Grumpy Bird” by Jeremy Tankard!
Oh, I could respond for days…
I second the McCloskey books – we love them all
Anything that Judith Viorst has written is a wonderful read aloud
William Steig – there are too many of his to chose from
Lois Elhert’s books are beautiful and timeless
for older children, there is never enough Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, or Judy Blume
I loved Little Miss Bossy and Little Miss Sunshine by Roger Hargreaves growing up. I’ve saved my copies and can’t wait to start reading them to my son.
My 2-year-old son absolutely loved Is Your Mama a LLama? and I Love You Through and Through, but any attempts at reading a longer book were in vain. So when my sister bought him The Giving Tree, I thought for sure it would be years before I could read it to him from cover to cover. Amazingly, (and awesomely, I might add) I was wrong! He loves it so much he asks for it every night before bed. He even starts to recite it with me while I’m reading. The other day I caught him flipping through the pages of a coloring book and finishing up with “…happy.” As in, “And the tree was happy.”
ZEN SHORTS, by Jon J. Muth – The kids love it, and I honestly don’t get tired of reading it.
THE KING, THE MICE, AND THE CHEESE, by Nancy Gurney – Great story, I’m surprised more people haven’t heard of this one.
HUMPHREY, ALBERT, AND THE FLYING MACHINE, by Kathryn Lasky – great twist on Sleeping Beauty.
(My kiddos are 4 and 6)
Oh, wait, one more:
THE SUGAR CHILD, by Monique de Varennes – The illustrations are amazing and it’s a touching story.
Let’s see. Unfortunately I don’t have time to look up the author’s names and Bean is asleep in her room where all of our copies of these are, but here are a few of our favorites: All of the Curious George books by H. A. Rey. Anything by Richard Scarry but tippy top favorites by him are Postman Pig and Goodnight Little Bear. The Madeline books by Ludwig Von Bemmels (I hope I got that even close to right), Katy and the Big Snow (saw that one mentioned above and had to second it. Bean LOVES that book.) James and the Rain (great rhyming and counting!), Beatrix Potter, oh and how could I forget? The Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem are DARLING.
Megan(FriedOkra)’s last blog post..I Captured it in My Mind’s Eye, Though, and I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Forget It. Unless My Brain Crashes.
In case that was confusing, James and the Rain is NOT by Beatrix Potter. We just love all of Beatrix Potter’s books. (I am forced to read them in a British accent now that I’ve seen the movie about Beatrix Potter ((with Renee Zellweger)), which, by the way, was also perfect and charming, just like her books.) (Ramble ramble.)
Megan(FriedOkra)’s last blog post..I Captured it in My Mind’s Eye, Though, and I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Forget It. Unless My Brain Crashes.
we enjoy the “Llama Llama” books by Anna Dewdney. the situations and emotions are great for older toddler/preschoolers, and the rhyme scheme is fun and really great for beginning readers to pick up. love this list! i gotta grab a pen!
We love just about anything by Lois Lenski, Lois Ehlert, and Ruth Krauss. They are older books – but those seem to have the best illustrations and the best, simple stories. Ruth Krauss parteners with all kinds of illustrators you will recognize from other books. We love I Can Fly! Ehlert’s books last for years because they are simple stories, but have all kinds of great educational material in the back that older kids love – many of her books are about nature and art. Several of Lenski’s stories can be sung – she has a page of simple music in the front or back. Great idea to share!
I love the colourful and detailed illustrations in “The Balloon Tree” by Phoebe Gilman. The magical two page spread of the kingdom covered in a rainbow of balloons is one of the strongest memories I have from the books I read as a child.
I am not sure of authors…
Miss Nelson is Missing
Leo the Lop
George and Martha stories
Happy Birthday Frances
for littler ones
Mimi’s toes
The Belly Button Book
The Paper Princess by Elisa Kleven really captured my daughter’s imagination last year. It’s about a paper doll made by a little girl that gets blown away by the wind, and you follow her adventures. There are two follow-up books, too. We made many paper princesses for a while after reading these books.
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