The Next Best Book Club discussion

Just what we need, right? One more thread. Well, this is how this website has affected me. As I was reading to my 5 yo daughter last night I thought to myself that I could start a thread of favorite childrens books. So here goes - between ones I enjoy and the kids have enjoyed, here are my favorites (not sure of all the authors):

1) Seven Silly Eaters - Mary Ann Hoberman
2) I Love You Forever
3) Hop on Pop - Dr. Seuss (you MUST not hop on Pop! or Where is Brown, There is Brown, Mr. Brown is out of town)
4) Fox in Socks (It could be easier to just say Dr. Seuss books)
5) I Spy books
6) Any book that has things that can be "opened"
7) Goodnight Moon
8) Ed and Fred Flea
9) Moonbear books
10) The Great Blue House

AND Junie B Jones books!

Gotta love Junie B.!

Where The Wild Things Are is a fav from childhood. Oh and Where The Sidewalk Ends!

of course, Shel Silverstein! I remember listening to a book on tape in 4th grade and laughing so hard I thought I would die.

Yeah Jeremy, our 5th grade teacher would read from that book now and then. Everybody would double over in laughter.

Where the Wild Things Are
The Velveteen Rabbit
Wind in the Willows
And I forget the name but the book had the tar baby and the Briar rabbit and the Briar fox

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
The Rainbow Goblins
The Giving Tree
Where The Wild Things Are
and any of the Richard Scarry books with Goldbug in them.

It has to be Enid Blyton for me - I remember them being so magical when I was a child. The Magic Faraway Tree was like nothing else, I can remember my Dad reading it to me every night and I literally lived in this fictional world. It was spellbinding.

Then I got into The Famous Five and Secret Seven and these were the first books that I ever read to myself.

Then came Mallory Towers and St Clairs - full of girls at a boarding school who had such fun and midnight feasts etc and I SO wanted to be at that school. I confess to still reading these even now and still loving them.

The woman is a genius!

Anything by Robert Munsch...maybe with the exception of Love You Forever. I can't get through the book. I think in part because I have seen Robert Munsch tell the story and the history behind it. It is beautiful, but heartbreaking. Another one by him along similar lines is "Lighthouse". I didn't pre-read it prior to reading it the first time, and barely made it through. To this day, my daughter loves it and asks when are we going to see the lighthouse? Sob!! I'm welling up as I write. Ahhhhh...but she also runs around singing "Clang, clang rattle bing bang gonna make my noise all day", from Mortimer, and then there's "Good Families Don't" (that one mortified my mother tee hee hee)

I think he has a unique type of repetition in his writing that really apeals to kids and adults. Also if you have never heard or seen him telling his stories you should check out his website www.robertmunsch.com.

Gee, can you tell I'm a fan!

OK enough hogging the thread...by the way love Shel Silverstein as well. Oh no, the Giving Tree...more tears :oP

Suzanne,I love Robert Munsch!I used to read all his books to the kids at the after school care I ran as well as my dayhome.The kids enjoyed them so much,especially Mortimer.We would all sing that part at the top of our lungs.
I loved Iill Love You Forever and when I had a bad day with the kids we would read that togther and of course I'd be bawling but it always seemed to make things right again.

I have faves though as an adult.
The Arrival-truly a fabulous book on so many levels.I highly recommend it to everyone.
How Smudge Came
Zen Shorts,another I highly recommend
Animalia,a feast of words and illustrations
My Dad the Dog

Goodnight Moon
Where the Wild Things Are
Berenstein Bear books
I Spy books (my kids love these...they remind me of "Where's Waldo" back in my day)

Where the Wild Things Are
Anything Shel Silverstein!
Goodnite Moon
Sweet Pickles Books
Inside the House That is Haunted
Any touch and feel book for toddlers.
Any Dr Suess book!

It's not exactly a story book, but I devoured all of the Peanuts anthologies my local library had. Schultz used to publish the collected comic strips in paperback editions.

Has anyone read books by Mo Willems? I swear they are some of the most entertaining books I've picked up for my kids in a long time. Leonardo, the Terrible Monster is absolutely hilarious!! My son and I have been cracking up for weeks over that one.

Mo Willems is brilliant. I've only just discovered his books. So far, we have read the Pigeon board books and Knuffle Bunny. We are just now moving from board books to picture books with the eighteen month old.

Some of the best ones that I read with my 14-year-old when she was young are:
1. Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner. Peggy Rathman did the pictures and they are brilliant.
2. Ten Minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rathman - again, the pictures are brilliant. Does anyone have this one? In one of the pictures, she included that backdrop from Goodnight Gorilla - the shadow of all the animals walking back to the zookeeper's house.
3. All Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss - I have to agree on this one.
4. But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton. She writes board books for babies/toddlers and they are all so clever.

We've also been loving Mo's My Friend is Sad (from his Elephant and Piggie series). He is a genius. I must pick up more of his stuff!

ohhh.. i almost forgot to mention little critter (Mercer Meyer)books. And Alexander and the No Good Day. And Theres An Alligator Under My Bed... those are great!

...and Olivia.

Lori - I remember the Little Critter books from my childhood. I loved looking for the spider and grasshopper?/cricket? on every page.

I hate spiders... So when I found it, I would pretend to squish it.

My girls love the Fancy Nancy and the Junie B Jones books.

The little one loves everything Suess.

Lori, I love Alexander and the No Good Day. I almost named Michael Alexander because in the book Alexander had two older brothers named Anthony and Nicholas...how perfect and literary would that have been!

My favorite Shel Silversteen poem goes something like this:

They say I have my mother's eyes
my fathers ears, my grandfather's nose, is my behind the only thing that's mine.

Sherry - The Arrival is absolutely wonderful. I checked it out from the Library the last time you mentioned it and was teary eyed on page five. This is a book that I will want to own.

Beth, that would have been too perfect... !!!!

Grew up with Enid Blyton. It is this woman I blame my bibliophilia on heheh

My kids love
- Where The Wild Things Are
- Little Critters (and any other book with the same illustrator!)
- No David (by David Shannon - altho my bro says it really isn't healthy to introduce such negativity at such a tender age!)

Awwww. I forgot all about the David books. When my five year old was younger he would crack up at the pictures.... I got a kick out them too!

for the little guys

1. The Giving Tree
2. Frog and Toad are Friends
3. Where the Wild Things Are
4. Alexander and the horrible terrible no good very bad day
5. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
6. Froggy' Little Sister
7. Arthur's Underwear
8. Pete's a Pizza
9. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
10. Hop on Pop

Jen,I'm so glad you enjoyed it.I think it's a perfect book in every way.

Okay, I just added the David books to my to-buy list...thank you!!!!

Beth, we have them here if you would like to see them .... If I can find them :) They are great!

Yes of course, Chicka chicka boom boom, and the David books. My kids get a hoot out of them because my husband is David!! I really have to check out Edith Blyton, I have heard so much about her. Oh noooo - now I am growing a TBR pile for my kids too!!!!!

Everyone - Thanks! I'm always looking for something new in this department. I don't know how I could have left off Fancy Nancy. My daughter thinks she is Fancy Nancy. Her Mimi made a gigantic poster that is on her bedroom wall right now.

And the cricket books are great. They cover just about every subject in a kids life. And if you are having trouble getting your kid to bed, there is "Go To Bed".

I am gonna come up with a list but one of my favorite books is "The Paperbag Princess." Has anyone ever read it? It is an awesome book!

I loved reading that book to my kids.It was so fun to do the different voices for the characters,especially the snooty prince.

Charity - After you posted Leonardo, the Terrible Monster , my daughter and I went to the library and got a copy of it. She loves it. She keeps grabbing the book and handing it to me proclaiming, "Monta! Monta!" My favorite page is Leonardo researching the children - I love the pencil behind the ear. Have you noticed that the pigeon makes an appearance in all of his books?

Anyway, thanks for the recommendation.

Ha! I love it!! The pencil behind the ear is priceless. And I did notice the pigeon...very Mercer Mayer reappearing like that. :-)

My favorite part is when he is talking about scaring the 'tuna salad' out of him. hee hee

The whiny rant by the little boy sounds just like my son, so I try to read it exactly like he sounds when he's ranting.

I'll have to check this one out when looking for The Book Thief...although I'm trying to keep anything from competing with Narnia or we'll NEVER finish!

I'm late adding these but

For the 6 & under crowd, i'd recommend....

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper (the illustrations are gorgeous)

Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi (fantastic & funny story about the importance of reading)

The Quiltmakers Gift & The Quiltmakers Journey

Both of my girls adored these (and still do)

I love the David books- the illustrations and the writing are just awesome.

Also- The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs (told from the perspective of the Big Bad Wolf) is hilarious.

Marsha, yeah, we have that one here, they liked it... very cool idea seeing the bad guy as a 'misunderstood' guy!

My favorites at the "read to me" age included

Green Eggs and Ham
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (both Dr. Seuss)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Day
Where the Wild Things Are
The Snowy Day
Make Way for Ducklings
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
a popup version of The Little Train That Could
Flappy, which was about a seal who goes from the circus to the zoo
and
Sara's Granny and the Groodle, by Joan Gill, which I think is loonnnng out of print, but psychedelically fabulous.

Marsha,

Good pick. The "True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" was so amusing. :)

Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements is one of the most fun read aloud books ever.

We are big Eric Carle fans here...so any of his books are big hits in our house...

-any Eric Carle
-I Love You Stinky Face
-More More More, Said the Baby
-any Robert Munsch!!

I loved reading Dr Suess to the girls when they were little.Well one still is her favorite was the hungry caterpillar and I love You Forever.When you give a mouse a cookie was big for awhile as was Noo David.

Oh yes...If you Give a Mouse a Cookie is big here too...forgot that one...
also..
Click Clack Moo...Cows That Type

Oh, I love Click Clack Moo. I read it to my kinder class last year and they got such a kick out of it.

I love Click Clack Moo... and I think that one is the best, but Doreen Cronin has two others along the same line we also enjoyed.

Mine and my boys Top 10 (Books for Ages 2-5)

1. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
2. Put Me In The Zoo
3. SkippyJohn Jones
4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
5. Green Eggs and Ham
6. Goodnight Moon
7. Wondering William and the Sandman
8. I Love You, Stinkyface
9. Where the Wild Things Are
10. I Love You, Little One

1. QuietLOUD
2. Pat the Cat (I can't seem to find this anywhere and this was my favorite as a kid)
3. There's a Nightmare in my Closet
4. Goodnight Moon
5. Berenstein Bears
6. Belly Button Book
7. Green Hat, Blue Hat
8. Winnie the Pooh
9. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
10. David Shannon

It was hard to narrow down to 10, because I keep thinking of all of these others!!