Friends with Books discussion

I love picture books! I'd love some of your guys' recommendations, but here are a few of my favorites to get the discussion started:



Check out my picture book shelf, and all my reviews of picture books here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

Just a few picture books among my all-time favorites include Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco, The Wide-Awake Princess by Katherine Paterson, Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola, Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant, All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss, Nine Days to Christmas: A Story of Mexico by Marie Hall Ets, City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems and Mama's Right Here by Liza Baker.

Scaredy Squirrel is going to end up being a classic picture book series or at least one that's around for a long time.
I prefer Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg. He illustrates the books right? I love his illustrations. They are so distinct (might be the right word) and just pleasing to the eye.

I love Peter H. Reynolds:


He writes and illustrated about being your own person through art a lot.

Squaredy Squirrel is quite good, I agree. It will be popular for a long time! And it surprises me that each book, although centered around the same lesson of "you don't need to be afraid of everything", is not repetitive.

I've never read Chris Van Allsburg, although I've seen his books at work often. They look very good. Also, Peter H. Reynolds is one I'll have to look at. I'm putting a hold on them at the library as I speak (type, whatever)!

I've also seen Mo Willems and William Steig but never really been attracted to their books (although the pigeon books by Mo Willems are supposed to be really good). Perhaps I'll check them out too!

You'll love them I'm sure :D

Adriana wrote: "I prefer Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg. He illustrates the books right? I love his illustrations."

Yes, he illustrates his own books. There's a dark, frightening quality to his artwork that one doesn't get from anyone else, and Jumanji is a perfect example of that. Another perfect example is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, a book that left everyone in my class with an eerie feeling when our teacher read it to us in first grade.

Checked out Jumanji and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble from the library today! Looking forward to reading them tonight.

@Josiah- your teacher must have had a dark personality.

@Trevor- Awesome :D the Sylvester one is a great classic.

A great favorite picture book of mine:

Adriana wrote: "@Josiah- your teacher must have had a dark personality."

Oh, goodness no! :-) She just liked to introduce us to a variety of reading styles. I credit Ms. Jenkins for getting me interested in the picture books of Jack Gantos, Marc Brown, Frank Asch, Joanna Cole, Chris Van Allsburg and Steven Kellogg, among others.

Oh I love Steven Kellogg's illustrations in:


I don't really remember much of what my teacher's read to me. I don't think they did. I think they mostly relied on the textbook which isn't so bad. I remember:


A teacher gave a book for Christmas for me once this book:


I remember a book on triangles and another book on Lost and Found. I remember the latter fairly well and it happened to be in my textbook.

I remember Stellaluna too! I think I saw that one on Reading Rainbow or something.

I miss the reading rainbow but I don't know why because I can't remember it beyond the theme song.

So I read both the picture books, Jumanji and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. They were great!! I really liked Sylvester, very magical. :)

There's no one else like William Steig.

I just read Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator! by Mo Willems. His books are always good, of course, and this one was no exception.

I have watched that show... with the lion puppets? It had the Sylvester book so that's how I know it's so great. Glad you liked it.

I thought Mo Willems was just the pigeon lady...

It's Picture Book Month so I'm reading a bunch of picture books this month compared to what I'm used to. I can't find Chrysanthemum :/

I think I remember Chrysanthemum from when I was a kid... but I could be wrong.

I just found and reread . It's so adorable! haha. I remember it from school: we got an assignment to rewrite it with our own favorite color. I chose blue. ;)

Adriana wrote: "I thought Mo Willems was just the pigeon lady..".

Mo Willems is actually a male author. He did write Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, as well as other books featuring the character. He comes out with several new picture books every year.

I recently read by him (Mo Willems). It was really good! I loved the style of illustrations. They were actual photographs and the characters were color drawings on top of the b/w photos. Very interesting - I liked it a lot.

Aw! I would have picked blue too (:

I've read that one. It was really sweet and I loved the photographs as well.

Peter H. Reynold's Ish was simply beautiful.

I'd recommend reading It was the sweetest little book. I liked how the dog was a boy but still loved ballet.

Adriana wrote: "I'd recommend reading Dogs Don't Do Ballet It was the sweetest little book. I liked how the dog was a boy but still loved ballet."

That sounds RIGHT up my alley, Adriana. haha. ;) I'm going to put a hold on it right now!

pfft, we don't have it. :( Have to do ILL instead.

ILL?

Inter Library Loan. They bring one into the Calgary Library from Edmonton or the University. They do it in the states too, I'm pretty sure. Up here ours is just for our province but from what I've heard I think the US one is for the whole country.

Whoa. I have to ask about that. Thanks!

Just got around to reading . It was really good! I love the lesson and the ending. :)

also has a good lesson and has to do with art.

Adriana wrote: " also has a good lesson and has to do with art."

On hold. xD

So, I've been rereading Dr. Seuss books. My favorites as a kid were Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Cat in the Hat. But a few months ago I discovered The Shape of Me and Other Stuff which is amazing, imo. I also got Fox in Socks which is the funnest to read aloud, says my dad.
I can't say they are my favorite picture books ever, but the nostalgia that comes along with them is definitely worth a lot to me. :D

Some of the best picture books I've ever read are Dr. Seuss ones. I can't even imagine the world of picture books with no Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Horton Hears a Who!, The Lorax, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I've been wanting to read The Moon Jumpers, written by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, but it doesn't seem to be in my library's system. I'll have to see if they can locate a copy for me from outside the system.

Exactly, Josiah! I'm going to grab some more Dr. Seuss next time I'm at the library. There are many I haven't read, including all the ones you just listed.

Wow, you've never read How the Grinch Stole Christmas? I'd estimate I read it and had it read to me close to five hundred times before I was in fifth grade. If you've never read Horton Hatches the Egg or I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew, I'd recommend you add those to your list of Dr. Seuss must-reads, as well.

Thanks for the suggestions! Most likely, I've read them but can't remember. :)

I'm like you Trevor. I've hardly read any Dr. Seuss. I know I read The Foot Book, The Cat in the Hat, Oh, The Places You'll Go!, and... maybe Grinch?
Okay it sounds like a lot but if you see how many books he actually wrote and all the ones inspired by him or continuing the Cat in the Hat for new books it's a very small amount. There are a lot with wacky names or interesting themes that I really want to read like: Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories,The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Really want to read the last one!

Yeah totally. I'm going to grab a bunch more next time I'm at work.

You have the best job ever! How did that come about?

lol, it isn't a very interesting story! I applied when I was in high school to be a Student Page and when I graduated I applied to be a Shelver. They fortunately had an opening so they hired me right away.

Student Page... okay. I could only volunteer at age 18 and I had to get my fingerprints downtown as well as cough up fifty bucks... it would be nice to actually work at my library but I think they are cutting back on jobs.
That's nice that they hired you right away. It shows how much they wanted you there :D (I know I'm sappy)

haha, they all love me there, it's true. ;) That's strange about your library. And sad that they're cutting back. :(

Yep. Something happened with a minor... I don't know.

oh I see. hmm, interesting.

So I've been going through a lot of Robert Munsch and Dr. Seuss books lately. I believe my parents had a thing for Munsch because all the books by him I remember! Even ones I grab because I don't think I've read them, the stories are familiar. Dr. Seuss, however, I don't remember most of. Interesting.

It's also cool to see how these two famous writers approach writing for children! Dr. Seuss is much sillier than Munsch. Although Munsch does have his moments... haha

I like a few of Robert Munsch's books. Love You Forever is one of the more divisive picture-book classics of our time, but Lighthouse: A Story Of Remembrance is a quieter, less provocative story, and I really like it. It's probably the best of Robert Munsch's books that I've read.

I never knew that Love You Forever AND Paper Bag Princess was by the same person. Cool.

Love You Forever will always be one of my favorite books. I brought it home from work one day to show my mom and she actually started crying. It's a pretty powerful book, and it seems that almost everybody has read it.

I didn't realize how many books Munsch had written until I started working at the library. There is literally a full shelf of Munsch books in the Picture Books section. Same with Roald Dahl, actually (except these are in J-fiction section).

It's funny how some authors will write so many books but only be well known for 1 or 2.

The opposing opinions people have of Love You Forever are unlike those for any other book I've ever read. Some readers are profoundly affected by the emotional story, while others are creeped out by the book and speak rather caustically against it. I find myself somewhere in the middle on the issue; while I appreciate the story's powerful emotions, there are some odd parts to it that kept me from rating it as highly as I might have otherwise done.

Well, I agree it isn't realistic or necessarily healthy, I do like the emotion. I know my mom loves it. It is a sweet little book. I haven't read it in a while, it actually has a line of holds at my library right now!

I concur with your assessment of the book. What kind of bothers me is that the strange parts of Love You Forever weren't really necessary to the story. Love You Forever had the chance to be a universally beloved classic, one of the greatest picture books ever produced, but instead it's often a controversial story that tends to divide readers. I see so much unfulfilled potential in it, and that's kind of sad. Nonetheless, the book still has a substantial upside.

It makes me wonder if Munsch knew it would turn into something controversial when he wrote it, or if he didn't realize it would be like that.