It’s no surprise that someone like me, someone who works for a Children’s Publisher, someone who writes and edits and researches children’s books, would love books. books of all kinds. board books. picture books. chapters books. what have you. i love ’em.
and they are everywhere. i don’t have enough storage space to keep all of them.
they are in Emily’s room:
they are in Joshie’s room (this is actually how he sleeps. books in bed):
in the family room:
in the basement (what you can’t see is that these shelves are each three rows thick full of books):
they are also in Isabella’s room, but she’s napping. wasn’t worth the risk. sorry.
this is what it looks like when i come home from work on fridays:
what are your favorite kids’ books?
these days i’m loving the heck out of:
Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?
Chrysanthemum, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Sheila Rae, the Brave, Lilly’s Big Day….just about anything by Kevin Henkes. i think he’s a genius.
anything Robert Munsch. my most favorite? The Paperbag Princess. my least favorite? Love You Forever (too creepy for me)
Fancy Nancy. Where the Wild Things Are. Angelina Ballerina. Tessa’s Tip-Tapping Toes. Toot & Puddle. How I Became a Pirate.
i also love the Canadian staples. Phoebe Gilman. Barbara Reid. and the series books. Clifford. Franklin. Arthur. Magic School Bus.
what about you? any favorites? kids’ favorites? any books that you can’t understand the hype? i’ve got one…The Very Hungry Caterpillar…in my humble opinion is not a very good book.
song of the day: Fix You by Coldplay. I’ve been playing this song on repeat this morning. It’s really quite amazing. the quiet organ. the slow beat. the lyrics. really one of their best. leave me a comment! if you’re a lurker, let yourself be known. don’t forget the word verification, though! leave me a comment on my other blog too. i love to know who’s readng.
i love books.!my fave childrens books are;where the wild things are
the velveteen rabbit
the flower fairy books by cicely mary barker
the miss spider books&
babys boat. i of course could go on and on,but i’ll
stop here.
i want to thank everyone for your comments. they are GREAT! i love to hear what people’s children like and don’t like.
i didn’t mention the baby books that we love – including brown bear, brown bear (the all-time favorite) and Sandra Boynton and i didn’t mention the older books – like junie b. jones and amber brown and anything by LM Montgomery…
…mostly because i ran out of room. i could talk books FOREVER! and perhaps i will. it’s my blog and i’ll fill it with books if i want to.
i hope to get back to each of you today.
I *knew* there was a reason that “Love You Forever” was just not quite right, LOL…stalker mom…love it. Anyway, I think you need to be a parent and read the story metaphorically, not literally.
Anyway, we LOVE Dr. Seuss (esp. my 3.5 yo daughter) and my nearly 6 yo daughter loves the “Diary of a Worm/Spider, etc.” series although I DETEST them. Dunno why…I just can’t stand ’em.
“Good Night Moon”: I read it to them lots as babies, and could never figure it out myself, but they went GAGA for it. Must be the rhythm and the simple colours & artwork. Oh, and Charlotte loved to look for the mouse on each page 🙂 As for “My World” and “The Runaway Bunny”…meh.
Some faves we’ve had:
Good Night Gorilla
Hug
Charlotte’s Web
Charlotte’s Piggy Bank
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Oh! The Places You’ll Go
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Anything Robert Munsch (we have Munschworks 1,2,etc.)
Jillian Jiggs
The Fish Who Could Wish
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Junie B. Jones books… They’re a little annoying – but when my daughter was younger she ADORED Junie B. Jones books. Since then, she’s moved on to Nancy Drew and some other chapter books for an older audience. When she was around 7, I bought her an Anne of Green Gables book adapted for young readers. She fell in love with it and has now read the entire adult series that I’ve had since I was a young teenager. We live in PEI so it wasn’t long before I took her to the play itself at the Confederation Centre. My oldest son loves Hardy Boys, Harry Potter and many other series of books, and the baby (6yo) loves anything that anyone will read to him, especially Dr. Seuss!
Can’t wait till the ‘randa is old enough to read the Shoes series by Noel Streatfield, loved those as a kids.
She’ll be old enough for Angelina Ballerina soon enough though LOL.
We have 100’s of kids’ books at home, it is driving me crazy LOL.
We have the ENTIRE Spot series, Maisy, all the Eric Carle books, the Anthony Mitton (Terrific Trains, Amazing Airplanes, etc.) series, Franklin, Clifford, Elmo, loads of dinoasaur/truck/Disney books. Narnia, LM Montgomery (those are my old ones), etc.
Jeremy loves anything fantasy/superhero ATM, Toby loves trucks/trains and Miranda loves Dora, Spot, Elmo.
Plus they all love Hairy McClary to death.
You lucky duck, you.
You can’t have too many books.
Our favourite right now is The Way to Slumbertown, by LM Montgomery.
I love Kevin Henkes! LOVE. And, Eric Carle — the monkey loves Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See…. I also love Goodnight Moon…Runaway Bunny….I love the last two because of the art. So beautiful….Too tired from my fast to tell you what else I love–it’s on my sidebar at the cheaty monkey, anyway. Check it. 🙂
The Groucy Ladybug by Eric Carle. Carle has not been a big hit at our house, though the Caterpillar one, and now, finally, Tim likes the Brown Bear and the Polar Bear. But I hadn’t even heard of the grouchy ladybug, and when Ben reads it, it’s just priceless. Soooo cute! I could die.
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Richard Scarry. They don’t read it, though. They just look for Goldbug.
The Napping House by Audrey Wood. Ben glommed to it, which really surprised me. He likes to re-enact it with stuffed animals. I play the granny.
Go Dog, Go. Dr. Seuss. That’s Tim’s.
Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. Those are Ben’s. I liked them as a child, but the second time around, much more than before!
Another non-fan of Love Me Forever…
Well, being if a book has pink on it or contains a Disney princess – Taylor needs it. Her fav book right now is Fancy Nancy though. I too, love this book. Rylie is big into the Clifford series books. Some of my favs also include Sandra Boyton’s books – I love Moo Baa La La La!
a side note: My “boss” just created and illustrated her first children’s book – “Sassafras: The True Confessions of a Poodle Princess.” She actually got her best friend on as the writer (which has since ruined their relationship) but it comes out this week I believe and it’s cute – right up the Fancy Nancy alley if anyone likes that one. Anyway, Penquin Young Readers Group is the publisher (any inside competitor info to share?!) and there is a second book to follow it!
“The Going to Bed Book” by Sandra Boyton. “Pigs” by Robert N. Munsch “I Have To Go” by Robert N. Munsch “Blubber” by Judy Blume.
I also love when the kids out together their own creative works with the best illustrations of our family. I’ve never looked so good!
Some of my little one’s favourites:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? – Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle (Polar Bear and Panda Bear too)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
The Red Eyed Tree Frog – Joy Cowley and Nic Bishop (this one is awesome; real photos instead of illustrations)
Guess How Much I Love You – Anita Jeram
Good Night Gorilla – Peggy Rathmann
Moo, Baa, La La La! – Sandra Boynton (actually most of her books are hits)
Hug – Jez Alborough
And she really loves Love You Forever, although I think a big part of it is the fact that my wife and I actually sing the little song instead of read it (my daughter loves music).
Ok, I’m going to stick my neck out here…way out.
I just wrote and published a children’s book, and I’d like to invite anyone who’s interested to visit my website and see what you think. The address is: http://www.JoanneFrances.com, which is the name of our publishing company.
The title of the book is “Imagine This!” and it’s an illustrated book of original poetry all about the imagination and playing make-believe.
The book was actually started by my mother (an artist) when I was a kid. But — like so many women, she got super busy with work, family, etc., and put her dream of having the book published on indefinate hold. Over the years, she pretty much forgot about it — but I never did.
Having raised two boys (now teenagers and avid readers) I must have read a zillion books to them when they were little. But when I look back, I realize there were very few that held the honor of being among their “favorites.”
“Where the Wild Things Are”, “The Giving Tree,” “Aesop Fables” and most Dr. Suess books were among the standouts. But that’s not many when you figure we were reading 365 days a year!
What was remarkable to me then, and still is today, is how mundane so many kids books are. Sure, they tell a story; beginning, middle, end, but most don’t seem to offer surprises or inspire children to think beyond what’s on the printed page. Reading should do that, no matter how old you are.
I felt the book my mother started — the one she envisioned, offered surprises and inspiration, which is why, last year, I decided my mother and I should work together to complete and publish the book.
With me writing poetry and my mother illustrating, we finished “Imagine This!” and brought it to market. The official release date was August 1st.
So far we’ve gotten some good publicity and gotten it on the shelves of local bookstores, Amazon, etc., and now it’s making its way into libraries.
And while we know we haven’t written the next best seller, we also know that our book will touch and inspire some children. Some are really going to like it, and remember it…And that makes it all worthwhile.
I like “Love You Forever” but do see the creepy side. A few of my faves “Where the Wild Things Are”, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” (both my kids loved this one although it does grate after a while), “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” (and all the other Fudge books), “Charlotte’s Web” (BAWLED reading with my son until he said “OK Mom. Take a little break so you can get back on track.” Love it!).
We also loved reading “Anne of Green Gables” and the Harry Potter books up to #4 when they got too scary. We are currently reading “The Three and Many Wishes of Jason Reid” which we are really enjoying.
I LOVE “The Paperbag Princess”. She Rocks!
You’re the first person I’ve known to admit that Love You Forever is creepy! I totally agree. Everyone keeps giving me this book–it started when my son was born and hasn’t stopped. The giver always tells me how I will weep as I read it–instead, I’m creeped-out. There are so many beautiful children’s books out there–how did this one about the stalker mom become so popular?
Also didn’t like the Rainbow Fish one–why does it have to give away it’s beautiful scales and be just like everyone else in order to have friends? Why can’t it just be nice? I don’t this the leseson should be make less of yourself–the lesson should be Stop being obnoxious!
Love Big Red Barn, anything by Sandra Boyton and Hug! Now that my kids are 8 and 10, we’ve torn through Harry Potter, currently reading Eragon and loving that I can introduce my daughter to my old faves–Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden.
I love that books dominate my children’s rooms. I’ve always dreamed of having a library in my house–oooh, like the one in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast! We finally took a wall of the basement and built floor to ceiling bookshelves and it’s already filled!
WE LOVE BOOKS!! I’m so envious of your children to have so many books. They are lucky to have a Mom who works for a Children’s Publisher. Any time you want to discard those books, please send them our way. 😉
This summer, we read (I read to my children) over 80 books that we loaned from the library. This is a new tradition for us. I’d loan 12-15 books every two weeks, and here are some of our favorites:
Anything from Jane Yolen, Good Night Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas,Sylvester The Magic Pebble by William Steig, The Giving Tree, and I just bought Who Moved My Cheese for Kids-but haven’t read it yet. This is only a few of our favs.
The overrated children’s book I can’t get is “Good Night Moon”. Not sure of the hype. As for me, I’m still trying to finish “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. I rarely read non-fiction, but my hubbie raved about this book. I like to read the fantasy genre, the kings, queen and dragons kind of story, like
Eragon series, Harry Potter etc…