Think Fast! It’s another Tuesday where I will require that you think fast or don’t think at all. I want your favorite or current favorite children’s book of all time. Don’t think too hard, just suggest one. Just one.
Okay, just this once, in my grand beneficence, I will allow you to give two suggestions. Here are mine:
1. Big Bad Bruce by Bill Peet — This is a favorite from when I was a child. I could not get enough of this book.
2. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault — We use this book as a warm up for our Daring Family freestyle rap battles. We wore out the copy Grammy sent us and I bought a new one… at a real bookstore… at full price. I know. I am insane. It was worth it.
As you can see, I only like books by people named Bill.
Your suggestions can be by people with other names… I guess… if they’re REALLY good. You can include anything from board books to Young Adult reads. Go!
My favorite has to be
“Love You Forever” by Robert N. Munsch and Sheila McGraw
All time favorite, still can’t get all the way through it without tearing up.
DS’s current faves are “Big Red Barn” and “Jamberry”
I love ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?” by Bill Martin, Jr (Bill!) because kids can memorize it so easily and pretend they’re reading it, and “One Fish Two Fish” by Dr. Seuss because it’s so wonderfully zany.
Not my favorites of ALL time, but two that I just love so very much and thought of first are:
“Skippyjon Jones” by Judy Schachner
and
“Blueberries For Sal” by Robert McCloskey
We are primarily board book people, at the moment. Among our favorites are:
– Pat-The-Bunny
– Peek-A-Boo Kisses
– Goodnight Gorilla
– Dear Zoo
– Where’s Spot
– Brown Bear, Brown Bear … this same author also wrote “Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You See”.
– All of the books from the *baby signs* collection. It’s not an exaggeration to say our kids will spend the better part of a day flipping the pages and looking at pictures of kids in those *baby sign* books.
** I’ve discovered that pretty much any book with flips are a sure-fire-winner in the board book category**
From the “non-board book variety” … our current favorites have to be:
– What A Wonderful World
– Whoever You Are
– You’re All My Favorites
Hey Willy,See The Pyramids, by
Maira Kalman
She looks at the world the way I do.
“Love you For Ever” by Munsch and “The Place You Will Go” by Dr. Suess.
When he was a baby, my son’s favourite though was “Good Night Moon”
Can my favorite be a series?
I love The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. All of them!
My kids and I have also enjoyed the books by Mercer Mayer/”Little Critter”. Probably my favorite of those is “I Was So Mad” It is a classic for any parent of 2 years and up.
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown – I think we’ve been through 6 or 7 copies of this, and all of our children have made sure that we know it by heart. I can recite the pages for them while I stand at the stove cooking if necessary. And it *must* be read in a soft, lilting, dreamy sort of voice so that somebody (besides the bunny) is sleeping by the end. Unfortunately, it’s usually me.
Our second-most-favorite: Dragon Gets By, by Dav Pilkey. 4 short stories about a dragon’s day as wakes up, cleans house, shops for groceries, etc. There’s something deadpan and off-the-wall in these stories, like a Far Side for kids. We laugh every time.
Only one?? But there are so many we love…
when the kids were small we read –
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown,
Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Helen Berger,
and The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn,
now that they are older we like –
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
any of the Lois Lowry books, especially the Giver, Eragon series (forget the author), Little House series, and all of the Tennis Shoes among the Nephite books.
I have so many favorites, try these- Paddington Bear, Russian folk tales (i had a beautifully illustrated book), bedtime stories of Enid Blyton, The 12 dancing princesses.
And for slightly older readers, the Billy Bunter series (it’s a British boarding school series), the William series (a little boy who’s always getting into trouble), and of course, Harry Potter!
I always loved Winnie the Pooh and of course, the Nancy Drew series…
I can’t really pick just one…
Our favorites right now…well MY favorite, the 11 months old doesn’t really care so much….
‘Click Clack Moo…cows that type’
and ‘Giggle, Giggle, Quack’
Both by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.
When I was a little girl my two favorite books were
‘Millions of cats’ by wanda gag and ‘The fire cat’by esther averill.
Of course I don’t think the baby enjoys the stories in her books nearly as much as I do!
“Goodnight Moon”
“If you were my bunny” – kids can sing along…
and for older readers
Little House series
Harry Potter (of course!!)
The Amazing Bone by William Steig. Great vocabulary builder for the young school-age child. (anything by Steig is like that)
“Hello, God – It’s Me Again – Margaret” by Judy Blume
Also any Ramona B Quimby
well, since we can do Young Adult… “Jacob Have I Loved” by Katherine Paterson.
favorite kids book: Well, Hop on Pop is a current favorite around here.
“Paddle to the Sea” by Holling C. Holling. My youngest wants to get get him more books by the same author.
Great topic DYM! We love Bill Peet’s books too. I can’t wait to check out the other titles suggested.
One of our favorite board books at the moment is Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth. It coordinates the alphabet and zany fly antics with an ending babies and toddlers love. Plus – the illustrations are incredible.
Our favorite series for older ages (4-7ish) is the Billy and Blaze series by C.W. Anderson. My boys love these books. If you have a son who adores horses and adventures… save on shipping and purchase the whole series!
“If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” by somebody is a must. read. And the Amelia Bedelia books? Probably as funny for adults as they are for kids.
And I really identified with Ramona series, by Beverly Cleary (I think). Nancy Drew was good, but Trixie Belden was SO much more realistic! 😉
For Fun:
Where’s my Teddy?
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
For Sentiment:
Guess How Much I Love You
Lizzy’s Do’s and Dont’s
For getting new readers excited about independently reading:
Henry and Mudge Books
Magic Tree House Books
All Time Favorite:
The Complete Works of Winne the Pooh by AA Milne – Accept no substitutes!
I posted a list of my favorite children’s books on my blog back in February. I LOVE children’s books! I just ordered about 24 new ones yesterday *blush* (the perk of being a teacher and having a ton of bonus points from my kids buying books – I didn’t spend any money to get these 24!).
http://teachergoingmad.blogspot.com/2006/02/for-love-of-books-thirteen-thursday.html
YA: Under the Haystack by Mary Engelbrecht.
Childrens: Any Dr. Seuss
We are currently into “Frog in the Kitchen Sink” by Jim Post and “Ten Little Ladybugs” by Melanie Gerth
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch
Oh oh oh, Paperbag Princess is probably my favorite children’s book of all time.
I also really love the Serendipity series (Leo the Lop, Morgan and Me, etc.) The stories are moral and very relatable to young children.
my oldest son was named after the main character in “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, and we also like “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn and “I Love You The Purplest” by Barbara Joosse. Also, my younest son and I read a Junie B. Jones book each night.
I haven’t seen my favorite. Amelia Bedila. Her stories are so fun and it makes you think how silly our English language really is sometimes. We love anything Dr Suess and the little critter books.
Our current must-reads: “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” by Mo Willems (We like “Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!” too, but that doesn’t count as the second suggestion…) and “No, David!” by David Shannon. Henry (age almost 2) likes to yell “no!” at the pigeon on every page, and Calvin (age 3 1/2, who recently graduated from yelling no at his parents and now reserves it just for his little bro) likes to “read” No, David! and describe what David is doing wrong on every page. Super cute illustrations in both books.
“Love You Forever”, The Giving Tree”, “Give a Mouse a Cookie”. There are some little chunky books by Candy Cane Press that that are called “The Story of…” insert Gettysburg, Lincoln, Washington, etc. Hubby and I are huge history buffs, so it is a fun way share our interest with our 16 month old son, who is mostly interested in eating the book.
“Daddy Got His Orders”” by Kathy Mitchell is an awesome book for military families. We are a military family as are most of our friends, and we have passed that book around more times that I can count as the daddies get deployed.
I LOVED the “Anne of Green Gables” series when I was younger. I also grew up reading the Trixie Belden series. My mom actually had all of the original hardcovers, so they are antiques now. But I am rereading them again now.
We’ve loved these for a long time. I never get tired of reading them:
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Bear books by Karma Wilson (Bear Snores On, etc.)
Toes are to Tickle by Shen Roddie
Zin!Zin!Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss
Shhhhhhh! Everybody’s Sleeping by Julie Markes
Beautiful illustrations, and great bedtime book 🙂
Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! by David McPhail.
It’s such a wonderful, funny book.
The book I loved when I was a kid was, “Never tease a Weasel”
“Diary Of A Worm”…adorable!
Pajama Time and all the rest from Sandra Boynton
This post has been removed by the author.
My all time favorite book to read to my children is “Guess How Much I Love You” By Sam McBratney. It is a sweet story of a father rabbit and a son rabbit having sort of a contest telling each other how much they love each other.
My other favorites ALL of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.
Where the Wild things are, No David and Goodnight Moon.
We love “Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington. This is pretty new. She has done a few in this little series that explain the profession of the main character, and I love the colorful pictures. Also in the series:
“Firefighter Frank”
“Zinnia’s flower garden” and
“Crepes by Suzette”
Easy. Our favorites, by far, are:
“Hooway For Wodney Wat” by Helen Lester. I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did when I read this for the first time. And I still laugh. Every. Time.
“Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. What can I say? It’s a classic. And with so many wild things at my house, it really fits.
We have plenty other favorites, but if our family were stranded on a desert island, these would be the two children’s books I’d pick.
My favorite board book is “The Runaway Bunny”. It makes me cry 🙂
Young adult would have to be the Nancy Drew series and Little House on the Prairie. Oh, and Anne of Green Gables.
Okay, currently our 3yo is really into “I Love You, Stinky Face”. This is how we say goodnite at the moment.
“God Gave Us You” Lisa Tawn Bergren.
“Where the Sidewalk Ends” Shel Silverstein
and…..Anne of Green Gables, of course!
AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Only two you are only going to let me name two books! How absolutely mean can you get. I guess I’m going to have to do a knock of thread of my own just so I can list more!!!!!!!! 🙂
1. Fox in Socks by Dr. Suess. If you have never read that one, it is the biggest tongue twister book out there. My dad had a recording of it we would listen to when I was small and the narrator could say it so fast it was amazing. To this day I try to say fast…. “When Tweetle beetles battle….” Okay you need to read the rest of the book to find out how it goes. Note to self, buy a new copy since you can’t find yours.
2. Kendra’s favorite right now is another Dr. Suess, Mr. Brown can Moo, How about you. It is full of crazy fun sounds and she is trying very hard to make them with me. It is a great book for voice inflection and can really get children involved you read it just right.
I am a book fiend!! I have them all and love them all! Our current favorites (they change constantly) are…
Walter the Farting Dog (there are several different stories to enjoy)
by William Kotzwinkle, Glenn Murray
and
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
My favorite is “Love You Forever” by Robert N. Munsch and Sheila McGraw, I cry everytime I read it.
And “Hugs and Kisses” by Christopher Loupy, and Eve Tharlet. See what happens when you sleep til 10:15? I’m #43 on the list! So early??
Dr Seuss – Oh the Places You’ll Go
Dr Seuss – One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
We love “Little Pear” by Elaine Lattimore. My boys went from emergent to fluent readers on the “Calvin and Hobbes” books. (We especially like the one, “Something under the bed is drooling”.)
First I’d like to second “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.” It’s been my favorite since second grade. It has a great little rhythm that is fun to read.
“Harold and the Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson. There is a whole series of Harold books, but I like the original the best.
“The Owl and the Pussycat” by Edward Lear. I had this one memorized before I could read. It’s a classic!
My favorite You Are Special by Max Lucado
This is a beautiful story about God loving you just the way you are because He made you. It is NOT a Religous book though Anyone of any or no faith could enjoy this book.
My 2 year old’s current favorites:
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss
Peepo Janet and Allan Ahlberg (very cute with lots of old english references)
Hairy Maclaiy all of these are good. My son’s favorite is Scarface Claw
A great juvenile fiction book is “Jacob Have I loved” It really is wonderful.
Probably my all-time favorite kid books from my childhood are:
“The Spooky Old Tree”
“Braer Rabbit”
The book about the substitute teacher Miss Swamp, can’t think of the name!
My 18-month-old’s favorites right now are board books “Olivia Counts” anything by Sandra Boynton, and “Miss Spider’s Tea Party”