Your Favorite Picture Book
Decatur Metro | October 12, 2010
All the talk of picture books this past week riled my curiosity about other people’s favorites.
Which are YOUR favorites and which are your KIDS’ favorites?
All the talk of picture books this past week riled my curiosity about other people’s favorites.
Which are YOUR favorites and which are your KIDS’ favorites?
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When I was 100 years younger, it was ‘The Story of Ping the Duck’ and ‘The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins’…
Now it’s any Olivia book…
Gosh, I forgot about Bartholomew Cubbins! Adding it to the reading list! :0)
Mine:
Ditto on ‘ The Story of Ping the Duck’–I loved it as a girl but my children also loved it.
Also, ‘The Story of Ferdinand’, (aka in our house as “Ferdinand the Bull”, sort of a parallel construction to ‘Thomas, the Tank Engine’), ‘Make Way for Ducklings’, ‘Blueberries for Sal’, “The Color Kittens”.
Have to ask the kids about theirs. I know what I liked to read to them but that may be different from what they remember most fondly.
Oooh, Karass– me, too, with the Ferdinand story. Do you remember the scene where he’s in the ring, and he won’t fight? Instead, he just lifts his nose, and smells the flowers being worn by all the ladies in the crowd? Man, I actually cried when I read that for the first time!
And the matador gets so angry that Ferdinand won’t fight that he cries!
Caps For Sale
The Mitten
Harold and the Purple Crayon series
Tom and Pippo series
Mr Putter and Tabby series
Blueberries For Sal
Make Way for Ducklings,
Sheep in a Jeep
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Cat in the Hat
… that’s just the short list.
We are almost empty nesters but these books remain on our book shelf. Every now and then, I catch one of my teenagers taking a nostalgic peek at them. Both my kids love to help me shop for baby gifts. We always give picture books. They usually end up sitting on the floor of the bookstore trying to choose from a huge stack of favorites.
Since I don’t have young kids I have no current experience here but I am skeptical about the conclusions of the NYT piece. If, in fact, these books are losing popularity I think the fault lies with parents and teachers. If children are properly introduced to classic (and newer) picture books, I am certain they will cherish them for life.
I have no recollection of the picture books I loved as a child, beyond Make Way for Ducklings. In college, in a children’s literature class, we were read Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; that’s been my favorite as a grown-up.
I do remember explaining to my mother, very earnestly, that the best books in the library had this gold thingamajig on the cover. She listened to my advice very gravely and thanked me for telling her about it.
At the time she was the librarian at our local public school–she certainly knew what the Caldecott and Newbery Awards were. I still gravitate toward award winners.
Wow, I wouldn’t know where to begin to list favorites. We have hundreds of picture books. My youngest takes a stack to bed with him every night and looks through them by the light of his Spiderman lantern until he falls asleep. My older two, even my middle-schooler, still love to read them. I will say we own a LOT of Eric Carle books, but as far as a favorite…i just don’t know.
My favorites as a child were “Are You My Mother?” and “The Best Nest” by P.D.Eastman.
The Wedding Procession of the Ragdoll and the Broomstick and Who Was in It by Carl Sandburg
Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
Kitten’s First Full Moon
Blueberries for Sal
Bark, George
Julius, Baby of the World
It’s a Spoon, Not a Shovel by Caralyn Buehner–my kids (H.S. and college now) still laugh about that book–funny picture book about manners!
“Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories” by Dr. Suess is still my very favorite. Wish more folks were like Mack!
Curious George books are also at the top of the list. (Why yes, I do still have my stuffed Curious George.. and a mini shrine… um, for when the little kin visit!)
Follow this blog but not sure if I’ve ever commented before. Had to jump in on this one. I fell in love with the books by Jane Hissey when my daughter was young. Harder to find, but so worth it. “Old Bear”, “Little Bear’s Trousers” and more, absolutely enchanting. We still keep a number of picture books on our shelves, hers and mine from 35ish years earlier.
The Babar & Celeste series
Curious George
Where The Wild Things Are
Ferdinand (The Bull)
Little Bagatelle
I looooved the books that had great stories to accompany the pictures– all of the above fall into that category…as for now, my favorite “picture books” are what are known as “graphic novels”. LOVE the Hellboy & Watchmen stuff (yes, I’m a complete nerd & proud of it– flame me if you must).
“Goodnight, Moon” is such a sweet lovely little book.
I like a lot of the ones already mentioned, too.
Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman. Excellent story/poem, but it’s the illustrations by Marla Frazee that make it a classic.
“If You Give a Pig a Pancake” and its fellow books in the series.
Also, Dr. Seuss’s “Gerald McBoing Boing”
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! by Bill Martin Jr, and any “Carl” book, by Alexandra Day, although we particularly loved “Carl Goes Shopping”
Also, the wonderful “The Mitten”
Flotsam
Tuesday
Pinkalicious
God Dog Carl
Where The Wild Things Are
Good Night Moon
Good Night Goon
In The Night Kitchen
Monster at The End of The Book
There’s an Alligator Under My Bed
Professor Wormbog
The Napping House
….this list could go on for a while….
The Sunset Switch. It’s illustrated by Lindy Burnett, an artist from Madison, GA. She is amazing!