59 replies to this topic

[Agrimorfee]

It's probably too early for me to start a "recommend good childrens books" thread, so I'll post this here. This thing is awesome:

so CC said in the Anticipated Movies 2008 tangent.

Nonsense. Think about it NOW. Scour the used books stores and garage sales when the weather gets nice. Get the things you remember fondly from your childhood. Pester your relatives to hand-me-down their grownup kids' lit.

Get Shel Silverstein, for starters. Get The Golden Books (we got Disney's Mother Goose, The Monster At the End of This Book, The poky Little Puppy).
Get those thick "board books". Danny loves a 5-page book we got from Target for a $1 featuring a squeaking Snowman embedded on the back page. (watch for the holiday sales)
Get Maurice Sendak.
Get the ball rolling with bigger books from Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, etc.--they'll grow into 'em.

If you don't have the kid yet, just pop the books into a milk crate or a handy box and shove them over to the side. Then, when you do have your new beloved, read to him/her once a day, for up to 15 minutes or until they get bored (we have not been able to do this once a day thing YET, but we do it when we can). And when you narrate the book to them, use your most excited voice, even if it's the most pussiest claptrap in the world or dull as the Wall Street Journal.

[undo]

http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/0064440389

[Agrimorfee]

Dr. Seuss y'all

[crease]

miss nelson is missing sylvester and the magic pebble hippos go berserk (sandra boynton)

[biggie mcsmalls]

Books our five month old likes to have read to him and look at:

















Plus a bunch of Dr. Seuss, general fairy tales, Kippling, etc. edit: Where the Wild things Are. Runaway Bunny. We read with him a lot.

[norton]

Get Shel Silverstein, for starters.

Yes, my kids both loved ...

Get Maurice Sendak.

Yeah, it's a children's book cliche, but it's still a whole bunch of fun to read to a child if you do it right ...

Get the ball rolling with bigger books from Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, etc.--they'll grow into 'em.

This was the first chapter book I ever read to my son. It also happened to be the copy I had as a kid ...


Other favorites:

[biggie mcsmalls]

This one is great, too:

[Seamus]

I'll try to quickly recall some of my three-year old son's favourites...in chronological order:

• Goodnight Moon
• Ten Little Ladybugs
• Cat in the Hat
• Hop On Pop
• Moongame (by Frank Asch)
• Where the Wild Things Are
• The Mitten (or just "Mitten"--this one's by Alvin Tresselt, I believe...cool book about a bunch of increasingly larger-sized forest creatures who take shelter in a discraded mitten...our current favourite)

Edit: Oh yeah, the Boynton books are all pretty good...Pajama Time, etc.

[biggie mcsmalls]

Other favorites:

Nice one. I completely forgot about this book.

[Damo Suzuki]

David Petersen's Mouse Guard is excellent, appropriate for children and adults. Get the hardcover which is just beautiful.



Petersen is a decent guy. Support his work. Check out excerpts here

[TJENZ]

Wiesner writes some great books for your emerging reader. These books have no words, just some great art work that tells a complete story. Your tyke can make up the dialogue and try to predict what happens next.

Here is a list of Caldecott Medal Winners. You can hardly go wrong w/any book on their list.

[norton]

Forgot about this one. Beautifully illustrated, it's a great way to help your kids learn the alphabet.


The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts by Chris Van Allsburg

[Saskadelphia]

As for recent stuff, I just love this one:



And the Olivia series is great, too:

[velocity]

For older kids:

All the Frog & Toad books are sweet



Anything by Chris Van Allsburg


Anything by Richard Gorey

[Duff.]

Harold and Mudge books are good for grade school kids. Judy Moody for the more Roald Dahl age reader (not that it's anything like Roald Dahl, really). The guy who created the old Cartoon Network show Sheep in the City has some real clever children's books, too. Can't think of his name right now....

[undo]

THANK GOD NO ONE'S POSTED ANY OF THE "IF YOU GIVE A _____A ______" BOOKS. TOTALLY WORTHLESS.

[TJENZ]

Every kid loves

Walter the Farting Dog


seriously, kids love it.

[held]

As for recent stuff, I just love this one:



And the Olivia series is great, too:

mo willem is gold. have a bunch of his stuff. Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct, All the pigeon books are fab.

Olivia's good too. The Christmas one kills me.

Not a great ending but 'Duck In A Truck' is another good one.

Also, if you don't own 'Love You Forever' by Robert Munsch. Then you don't own a copy of the largest selling childrens book of all time which will make you cry if you have any heart at all...

[held]

For older kids:

All the Frog & Toad books are sweet

Please. I read these to my two year old. How old do they have to be?
(well, I suppose it depends on whether they'll sit still but our lil man loves to read.)


edit- The Lois Lenski 'Mr Small' series are all timeless as well.

[Saskadelphia]

The Mr. Men series is a guaranteed kid pleaser, too.