The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury: Celebrated Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud

by Janet Schulman

308 pages Knopf Books for Young Readers English B00509CNZ6 Package 10.8 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches Shipping 2.1 pounds

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Anthologies, Classics, Literature, Books About Books

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Janet Schulman has worked in children’s book publishing as an editor and an author for more than 40 years. She is currently Editor-at-Large and Division Vice President of Random House and Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very large book that contains reprints of 44 children's picture books. My kids and I all loved this book when they were younger, and read the stories in it more times than I can count. Many of my own childhood favorites were in its pages, along with many newer stories that I hadn't seen before, that became new favorites in our family. Some of the more notable stories:

Where the Wild Things Are
Goodnight Moon
Madeline
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Stellaluna
Swimmy
Guess How Much I Love You
The Stinky Cheese Man: And Other Fairly Stupid Tales

...and many, many more.

There are a few misses and questionable choices, but overall the quality of the stories is extremely high. It's also nice that the editor made a real effort to be multicultural.

The only drawback is that, because of space issues, they don't include all of the pictures that appear in the original books, and most of the pictures (and much of the print as well) are shrunk down. That may bother some readers more than it bothered me, although in a couple of cases, where we found a story the kids liked especially well, we went and got the original book so we could see all of the illustrations in their full glory.

If you have young children or grandchildren in your life, I give this book my very highest recommendation!

[DJ Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are going to love this book! It is a complete collection of all the classic stories we adored as kids, and it has an easy to follow color code system that alerts parents/kids to the reading level of the story. It makes it simple to find tales that are age appropriate. With over 40 stories to choose from, there is something for everyone!



This book would be great as a gift, it would make an incredible keepsake, but most importantly it will help you child in both developing a life-long love of reading and help your babies to develop literacy skills that will follow them throughout their scholastic careers.

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!



Review provided by:

[Margaret Chind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this book for the selection and choices of storybooks. However the execution of attempting to save pages and space is horrible. Stories are butchered to make them fit and it is very poorly done.

The YELLOW border cover image is new with a new font as of 2014. It was formerly (and my copy) white with navy blue and no border.

[ReadingJungle.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than 40 favorites will entertain one’s family for hours. This collection is comprised of classics such as Curious George, as well as bestsellers like Guess How Much I love You. In addition, Caldecott Medal Winner Where the Wild Things Are is featured, and some all time favorites like The Sneetches and Goodnight Moon are also contained within this masterpiece. All of the selections included cover a vast array of topics, needs and themes. There are wordless books and short stories, color and letter topics, stories about: families, going to school, animals, fantasies and much more.

The main complaint for Schulman’s work is that some of the original illustrations have been abridged to fit formatting. Some stories are shortened down to fit on only two pages. This could be problematic to some younger readers if the pictures help them to follow the story. For others, this is a small price to pay for such a comprehensive collection. Overall, however, the book is tastefully edited.

Visit www.readingjungle.com for the full review!

[Michelle Bacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nice little collection of children's stories from different times such as Babar, Amelia Bedelia, Madeline and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I read these stories to my kids when they were little and reading them all now brings back those cherished memories. I believe you are never too old to revisit a beloved children's story and what better way than with a treasury of stories like this one.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't buy very many books because I love to take advantage of our nice library. But this was one book that I didn't want to give back to the library and went out to buy for my kids.

This book has all the classic children's books all collected together. It divides all the stories into 3 difficultly level categories that make it great to find an age appropriate story too.

[Katieb (MundieMoms) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this awesome book a couple weeks ago at a book store for $1! I could NOT pass this amazing deal up. This book is chalked full of all sorts of amazing books. It's amazing. It's taken a couple of weeks to read this with my kids, but at over 300 pages, it's been well worth it.

There's so many stories I knew as a child and ones I've never heard off. There's classics from Miss Nelsen Is Missing, to Madeline, Good Night Moon, Guess How Much I Love, Where The Wild Things Are, Curious George, Winnie The Pooh, Francis, Good Night Gorilla, and much, much more. I highly recommend this book.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice selection of stories. My kid enjoyed the variety of stories, and she loved the different art styles.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in getting this book because there were so many books in one volume, that it would keep my son occupied for a week or so. I didn't read all of the stories in the book because I either had read them before or weren't interested in them. I will review the new ones I read below:

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr, and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert
I admit that I never read this book because I thought it was overrated, and everyone seemed to want to recommend it to me. It wasn't a bad book, in fact I loved the illustrations and the story was cute and perfect for those just learning the alphabet. Recommended for ages 1-6, 3 stars.

"Freight Train" written & illustrated by Donald Crews
I enjoyed this concept book which teaches children about colors and numbers through the medium of a freight train. Recommended for ages 1-4, 4 stars.

"A Million Fish...More or Less" by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Dena Schutzer
I had never heard of this story before, though I had heard of the author. It was a fun read because of the Southern backwater Creole way that they talk, as the main characters all live in a Louisiana swamp. I liked the story because it was full of tall tales that may or may not have happened, depending on your point of view. I especially liked Mosley, the bandit leader. Recommended for ages 6-9, 5 stars.

"Millions of Cats" written and illustrated by Wanda Gag
This was a cute story about a little old man and woman and their search for the perfect cat, picked out amongst "hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats." Recommended for ages 1-6, 3 stars.

"Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney, Illustrated by Anita Jeram
A great book for fathers to read to their sons, this book shows a father hare explaining to his young son how much he loves him. Usually these kind of books get too sappy, but this book managing to make it fun and delightful read. Recommended for ages 1-5, 5 stars.

"Miss Nelson is Missing" by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall
This was a great story, which makes me wish that all teachers would do this now and again. The kids in Room 207 are bad; they don't pay attention to their teacher Miss Nelson, they make too much noise, and they don't do their work. That is, until they meet their substitute teacher Miss Viola Swamp, who makes them behave, keep quiet, and do their work. They realize how much they miss Miss Nelson, and are the perfect kids when she returns. Recommended for ages 5-8, 4 stars.

"Titch" written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins
This was a cute short story about Titch, the youngest of three siblings and their adventures together. Recommended for ages 1-5, 2 stars.

"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton
I enjoyed her book "The Little House," and decided that this might be a good read too, and it was. I will say that since I've started reading all these Caldecott honors & winners that children's books in the 1930s-40s tended to be longer than present day books. Not that it is a bad thing, just an interesting observation. Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel named Mary Anne and they built many roads and cellars for skyscrapers together. But then the gasoline, electric and Diesel shovels were pushing Mike and Mary Anne out of business. One day Mike read that the town of Popperville was going to build a new town hall, and Mike swears that they can dig the cellar in a day. They manage it with a lot of encouragement from the locals, but then Mary Anne is trapped in the cellar and can't get out. So they build the town hall around her and she becomes their boiler, and Mike the janitor. Recommended for ages 4-8, 4 stars.

"The Stinky Cheese Man" written by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
I didn't read all the stories, just the headlining one. This was a cute re-interpretation of "The Gingerbread Man" story, with great illustrations by Lane Smith that make the story even funnier. Recommended for ages 4-7, 3 stars.

"Ten, Nine, Eight" written and illustrated by Molly Bang
This was a fun counting concept book about a little girl getting ready for bed. Recommended for ages 1-5, 3 stars.

"I am a Bunny" written by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry
I always loved the Richard Scarry cartoons, and this book was just as delightful. The story is about a bunny named Nicholas and the things he likes to do in every season, with those great illustrations. Recommended for ages 1-5, 4 stars.

"Harry the Dirty Dog" written by Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham
A great classic tale about a little dog who hates getting a bath and loves getting dirty. That is until his family can't recognize him and he must take a bath to prove who he is. Recommended for ages 1-6, 3 stars.

"Whose Mouse are You?" by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego
I love Jose Aruego's work, so I knew this book would be adorable. It is a story about a mouse whose family is lost and he must recover them, so he can belong again. Recommended for ages 1-4, 3 stars.

"Owen" written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Owen is very attached to his blanket Fuzzy, he takes it everywhere. When the nosy neighbor sees him with the blanket, she keeps offering strategies to Owen's parents on how they can get rid of it. His parents don't want him to bring it to school and Owen is very upset until his mother comes up with a great answer to their problem. Recommended for ages 3-6, 4 stars.

"The Story of Ferdinand" written by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson
I had honestly never heard of this book till it was mentioned on the true life movie "The Blind Side," as it was some of the character's favorite books. Ferdinand is not like the other bulls. Instead of playing, he likes to sit quietly and smell the flowers. So he did this all his life until he is one day stung by a bee, and some men who had come looking for bulls to put in the arena with a matador think that he is the fiercest bull around. But once he is put in the ring, he does not know what to do, so he just sits and smells the ladies' flowers. Because he wouldn't fight, they send him back home where he does what he always does and is very happy. Recommended for ages 3-6, 3 stars.

"The Sneetches" written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
I have seen the cartoon version but never read the book, so I decided to read it to my son. I love the name Sylvester McMonkey McBean. Recommended for ages 3-6. 4 stars.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

 A good way to get children interested in reading

First, you need to know what you are actually getting with this book. This is a condensed version of some of the most favorite children's stories - 44 of them, in fact.

All of the original text is in the stories except for two of the stories - AMELIA BEDELIA and PETUNIA - and they are condensed. What has been cut out of the book are many of the original illustrations. And in most cases, the illustrations that remain are greatly reduced in size.

To me, this is a good way to find out which books are your children's (or grandchildren's) favorites and then you can purchase a full copy. This book allows you to browse.

The stories in the book are wonderful. And the illustrations that ARE included are colorful and greatly add to the stories.

One thing I really appreciated was that each story is color coded so you can match it up to the reading level of the child. Red is for youngest, blue is for preschool, and green is for stories told mainly by text rather than having a lot of pictures.

At the beginning of each story, there is the name of the author, the illustrator, original publishing date and sometimes a note of interest about the story.

[Grace Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book..my parents bought this while my mom was pregnant and they wrote a lovely little letter to me even before I was born...I still love to read this from time to time.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tagged this one youth, but it is best for the very young. This is my favorite book to give as a baby gift, because it has a tremendous collection of stories, from board/picture books, shorter read-alouds, and even a few longer stories. They are listed by age, and cover decades of work by dedicated children's authors. There were stories from my own youth, or older (heaven forbid!), some more recent into my kids' era, and everything in-between, even some books I'd never read as a child, and found delightful. As a parent, I loved having this book along for trips, because it was so much easier than packing a whole bag of books, and it had so many favorites in it.

I can't really review individual stories, but it is a very well-selected collection and worth having on the shelf if you ever have a chance to read with children (or need a gift!)

[Miko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initial: -I thought this would be a great book for the classroom. The teacher saves a lot of money by having one big anthology of different stories for a class read aloud.
Pros:
-I liked the variety of stories in the book.
-I like that there are stories from other countries
-I like that there are stories that range in difficulty so they are meant for younger children.
-Some of the stories are familiar and some are brand new to me.
-I like that some of these stories are older from about the '80s and earlier and then there are some more modern ones.
Cons:
-Since this is a picture book, some of the stories rely on the pictures and in some of the stories, the pictures were too small to see. It would be hard for a teacher to do a read aloud with those stories because of how small the pictures are.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved this book as children.

Re-reading it now (upon remembering it with fondness and borrowing it from my parents to read to my three-year-old housemate) I'm still pretty impressed. I'm docking a star for the poor choices the editor sometimes made in terms of shrinking or cutting some of the artwork. It's hard to fully appreciate a picture book without the pictures.

It was fascinating to see Marcus leafing through it - he knew which stories he wanted to read and which he didn't based purely on the illustrations on the first page of the story. "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is currently his favourite, mostly because of how fun it is to say.

[Krystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out because it was the only one with "Curious George" at the library. I'm so glad I found it! It has 44 stories! Some of my favorites from when I was little, and some I hadn't seen before. We brought it on vacation with us and it was perfect to read new stories every night and only have to keep track of one book! The only downside is that there aren't as many pictures to some of the stories, so it's easy for the kids to lose interest in the longer stories with only a few pictures. This one is worth buying.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of children's book favorites. I would give the selection of stories a five, however, I gave a lower rating because of the disappointment on the format. I suppose it is necessary in order to accommodate the number of books into one, however, many books are missing illustrations in this abbreviated format and some even missing parts of the story themselves. If you want a lot of stories available all in one book, this serves the purpose, but if you want to enjoy these stories in their full glory, read them in their separate volumes.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated 2012:
See my review of this book (A MUST HAVE!) on my blog, www.bookdivabooks.blogspot.com


This book has tons of Caldecott winners . . . in one book. I keep it in my violin bag (to keep children occupied during another's lesson) and bring it on most vacations with the children. (One book tons of picture book stories) The illustrations are condensed, but the stories are there. Delightful!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lovely treasury of children's literature contains a collection of classic picture books. I enjoyed reading two or three stories to myself each night before falling asleep. Some of my favorites are The Tub People by Pam Conrad, Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann and "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting . . ." by A.A. Milne. The biographical notes in the back are quite interesting too.

[Kameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love this collection of stories - and how there are some for very young and others, a little longer and wordier, for children as they grow in maturity and ability to listen. Our only (small) complaint is that with so many pictures/pages included on each spread, it is hard to see the real detail of the illustrations and my son gets a bit distracted with wanting to read ahead! But other than that, we love it!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of 20th century children's books. There is certainly no disappointment here with the stories that were selected. Many of them are treasured in our home. The formatting, however, presented a little bit of a letdown for a couple of the stories. When so many of the pictures are shown on a single page vs. the lead up excitement or focused solitary image on a page, the results just aren't going to be as dramatic with a few of the stories.

[Matthew Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this through two or three times now with the kids. It's got almost every famous children's picture book known to man in the one volume.

My only issue is that some of the stories have had some of their illustrations taken out so that they could fit more stories in the book. But on the whole, if you want to get a whole bunch of famous kids books in one shelf-space-friendly volume, this is a great place to start.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the single best investment I've ever made in my children's library (and boy, I have bought them a *lot* of books over the years). It includes so many classics -- "Chicka Chicka Boom," "Millions of Cats," "Guess How Much I Love You," "Make Way For Ducklings," "Freight Train" (which taught my daughter her colors) and much, much more.

[Kyly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology contains 44 influential childrens stories written as early as 1916 through the 1990's.

I had so much fun looking through this book and coming across so many beloved stories from my own childhood.

My favorite stories include:

*I am a bunny
*The Story of Babar
*Bedtime for Frances
*Good Night, Gorilla
*The Cat Club
*Make Way For Ducklings
*Madeline

[Ellen (more books, please) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a wonderful little book. Great stories, both familiar and a bit out of the main stream. The perfect book to take on a trip. Lots for the older (6, 7, 8 year olds) to read to themselves; lots for the younger kids to have read to them.

Just a great resource and a fun book to own. I still pull it out 15 years later and reread my kids' favorites.

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great compilation of great children's books. It traveled with us all over California so that we were never short on a selection of bedtime reading. Sometimes it's disappointing that the illustrations are abridged, but such is the case of squishing so many books into a portable companion. Highly recommend!

[Vivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories included are probably better read as an individual book (eg Goodnight, gorilla) because the illustrations are vital and need a bigger size to see the details. Otherwise, it is a decent book to have as a collection. I think it gives a preview for some of the stories. I may end up buying some of those I love individually for my younger toddler.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of picture-book stories. If you're looking for a variety of good stories to explore with a child this is it. The book is large and heavy though, and depending on how you sit when reading to a child, this book may not be comfortable. Also, the pictures are sometimes smaller than what you would find in the original books.

[Nicol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with beloved stories, but honestly I much rather purchase each individual book than read this one. Instead of having one page for each page of the original book, it will fit 4 to 6 on a page making it very hard for little eyes to see and follow the story. Very disappointed!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We own most of the stories in this compilation as standalone picture books, and they *are* better that way--easier to manage, with bigger pictures. But when we found this at the grandparents' house it was a godsend, and kept us entertained every night for a week. Nice variety of classics!

[Desiree · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories in this book are nice, but they've taken picture books and put 4 pages on 1 page in this book. So the child can see what's coming next without the natural build-up of tension. That's it's biggest flaw.