Children's Books

[Steve]

I recently went to Utah's Scholastic Book Fair clearance event. Lily explained how Mom always went to those and found tons of great stuff. We were really excited, so on the night before the event, I sat down with Lily and we compiled a list of favorite children's books we enjoyed when we were younger.

When I got to the book fair the next morning, I was disappointed to find that the event only offered about 30 different items on 2-3 rows of tables in front of all the "off-limits" aisles of normal selections. You know you've reached a sub-par book sale when the cream of the crop is "20 Coolest Tricks to Teach Your Pets" -- and it's in booklet form. Ugh.

However, the good that came from all of this is that Lily and I started to think about some of the children's books we wanted to have in our home in the years to come. This isn't meant to be a Top 10 list or anything like that, but I'm curious as to what books you all enjoyed in your younger years (hehe, and maybe still enjoy). So post your favorites (no particular order necessary)!

[John]

The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnon Rawlings
King of the Wind
Black Beauty - Anne Seward (?)
Charlotte's Web - E.B.White
Rootabaga Stories - Carl Sandburg
Grimms' Fairy Tales - The brothers Grimm
Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Andersen
Belles on Their Toes - Frank and Ernestine Gilbraith
A Wrinkle in Time - Madelaine L'Engle
Anything by - Dr. Seuss, but especially,
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
Anything by - Beverly Cleary

[Ian]

let me make another plug for beverly cleary, i enjoyed her books very much and she wrote a lot of them. i would like to own all of her books. i also enjoyed the hardy boy mysteries, and of course the chronicles of narnia. and other classics, like black beauty and treasure island. the jean fritz historical-story books are good too. i also remember the mrs. piggle wiggle books by betty macdonald.

[Steve]

Thanks a lot! I'll have to check those out. Keep 'em comin'. I forgot to list some of the ones Lily and I came up with. I'll divide the list between younger/older kids (roughly).

Younger:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Carle, The Polar Express by Van Allsburg, Dr. Seuss books, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Scieszka, Strega Nona by De Paola, The Little Engine That Could by Piper, Aesop's Fables by Lobel, Dinosaur Bob by Joyce, Tikki Tikki Tembo by Musel, Peter Rabbit by Potter, The Monster at the End of This Book by Stone, Mike Mulligan & More by Burton, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Wood, A Fly Went By by McClintock, The Giving Tree by Silverstein, Richard Scarry books, Amelia Bedelia, Berenstein Bears series, Millions of Cats by Gag.

"Big" Kids:
(We seconded the Beverly Cleary books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, Chronicles of Narnia, Hardy Boys, etc. as mentioned).
Boxcar Children series by Warner, All of a Kind Family series by Taylor, Roald Dahl books, Chronicles of Prydain by Alexander, Pop-Up Book of Phobias by Greenberg, Tales of Magic by Eager.

I'll add more that I can remember later. Thanks again for your recommendations so far.

[Tuly]

o.k so here are some more favorites. i mixed some younger and older children books.
- anything by Margaret Wise brown
- Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt and some of her other books
- most of Bruce Coville
- the Secret of the Indian series by Lynn Reid Banks
- The Time Warp Trio Series by Scieszka/Smith, they have written other fun books
- The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques
- almost anything by Katherine Paterson
- My Father's Dragon series by Gannett
- pretty much everything by E.L.Konigsburg
- everything by Barbara Robinson ( Molly's Pilgrim)
- everything by Jane Yolen
- absolutely everything by Charlotte Zolotow
- there are some great books illustrated and written by Anita Lobel
- King-Smith - Babe
- everything by Cynthia Rylant
- absolutely everything by Andrew Clements
- everything by Richard Peck
- Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and some of her other books.
- The saturdays series by Elizabeth Enright

Here are some illustrators of children's literature that I love (some of them are authors too)
- N.C Wyeth
- Maurice Sendak
- Babette Cole
- Steven Kellogg
- Barbara Cooney
- Demi
- Chris Van Allsburg
- Jan Brett
- Trina Schart Hyman
- Paul Zelinsky
- Jean De Brunhoff ( Babar)
- Peter Spier
- Bill Peet
- William Pene Du Bois ( 21 Balloons)

obviously I could go on , but I will stop for now, and add on as I think about it.

[Betsy]

one must have the Stinky Cheese Man in one's library.

[Angela]

i've always loved laura ingalls wilder, specifically "Little House in the Big Woods".
also lousia may alcott, i'm not really a big fan of "little women" (too much chick drama) but i do love "jo's boys" and "little men"

[Oh! Susanna]

Children's books?

I could go on and on and ON!

here is the beginning of a list off of the top of my head. Some of my favorites have already been mentioned. Some of these are more recently written than others, and therefore probably less familiar to some people, but highly recommended. A couple of them are great AHA! books that are so much fun to read out loud to children. I loved to watch the gears turning in my kids' heads when I read City of Ember to them.

definitely Olivia by Ian Falconer
I can't believe that Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne has not been mentioned yet
Whistle for Willie and Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
I second anything by Margaret Wise Brown-it is a must that anything written for very young children be well written, since they get read over and over. I never get bored with any of her books. My favorite is The Color Kittens
Hello people? Where the Wild things Are, of course!!! And anything else by Maurice Sendak
anything by Mercer Mayer
the Frances series is a must by Lillian Hoban. Love them.
Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
I love the illustrations of Gyo Fujikawa
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox (the illustrator for this book is also fabulous, anything illustrated by her is worth owning. She does a version of the Nativity that I LOVE). Warning-I always choke up when I read this one to my kids.
The Dark is rising series by Susan Cooper
The Princess Academy and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (and all sequels).
anything by Diana Wynne Jones, but especially Howl's Moving Castle (the movie is totally different). I really enjoyed the Dalemark Quartet.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Most of the Oz books by Frank Baum
You may not have heard of them, but just in case--dont' bother with the Harry Potter series. Blech. Hated 'em.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
For older girls, A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. One of my favorite books as a teen and pre-teen.
I loved the Madeleine L'engle books as a kid
The Lightning Thief and all sequels by Rick Riordan (this one is great, it's a modern day interpretation of Greek mythology. My kids loved it)
The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Wow. I told you I could really take off with this. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could fill a book

If there is a baby shower planned I would love to hook you up with a few of my favorites. I believe in the spreading of good kid's lit.

[Aunt Betsy]

Oh good, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, but really, anything by her and especially all the Moffat Family books.

Even just reading the titles of all these wonderful books that have brought so much goodness to our lives makes me happy.

Easter is coming pretty soon, so don't forget The Golden Egg Book, my other most favorite Margaret Wise Brown (but find the Leonard Weisgard illustrated edition).

The name of the illustrator Susanna mentioned who did The Nativity (from Luke, KJ version) is Julie Vivas; it is simply splendid.

The Relatives Came might be my favorite Cynthia Rylant.

Thurber's The 13 Clocks is worth having.

Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark affected me a lot when I read it as a child, and it still holds up well.

The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed.

Cress Delahanty by Jessamyn West, also The Friendly Persuasion.

The Hank the Cowdog stories by Erickson are fun.

The entire Little Britches series, and especially the first one, Father and I Were Ranchers, by Ralph Moody--just great. If you liked Wilder's Little House books you will like these too I think; like hers, Moody's are autobiographical.

I enjoy Gary Paulsen--Hatchet, River, Dogsong, et al.--very much. I haven't read Will Hobbs, but he's supposed to be good also.

Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series.

The pseudonymous James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and its sequels.

That's it for the moment, but amen and amen to those already mentioned. I mus'say, tho, that even loving Little Men and Jo's Boys more than Little Women as I do, I still love Little Women too. And Susanna loves Harry Potter; I know this for a fact.

[John]

When I was very young I loved the Lois Lenski books, both for her stories and for her charming illustrations.

One of my most powerful memories from my school days was when Mrs. Frank, my 4th grade teacher at Wainwright Elementary School in Tacoma, read us "Uncle Tom's Cabin." I remember being deeply affected by it, and ever after, being grateful for having it as a reference for understanding the civil war era better.

[Ian]

we went to another scholastic book fair yesterday... we got some great deals (though maybe we got a little carried away this time). at this point angela and i are getting pretty much anything illustrated by jan brett, eric carle or lois ehlert... we are also getting just about anything written by andrew clements or jerry spinelli. we also like the charlie and lola books, and we've been slowly accumulating hardy boy books at the local goodwill store... soon our collection will be complete (we only have three to go!)

[Angela]

ok ian said that we're getting "just about anything" by jerry spinelli and andrew clements, what he meant to say was literally everything we can find. Also, all of the miss spider books (simon is obsessed!) and anything by Dr. Seuss. I hate finding lookalike written by Theo LeSeig or whoever.

[Edward]

Where is Matilda?!?!?

[Tuly]

Edward you are right . Pretty much everything Roald Dahl wrote is delightful.

[Angela]

I beseech the ghost of Roald Dahl to forgive us. I'm a HUGE fan of everything written by Dahl.