Home The most wonderful children''s books...

[Independent Gal]

In the movies thread, San Diego Lady mentioned she wished there were more great books for her children that didn''t involve farting dogs.

(And so she wrote her own! How cool is SDL? Very cool!

)

So, all you moms out there, and those of us not-yet-but-hopefully-someday-moms who just happen to have a passion for kids books, what are your all time favourites?

 

[Miranda]

For my 4 yr old DD I love anything by Dr. Seuss. She loves all things girly so we read a lot of princess and fairy books. For my big guys (11 and 12) they LOVE Harry Potter. We've read and re-read those. Our middle school has a book club and we recently read Stormbreaker...It was pretty good. The boys just saw the movie, it was good as well. The Chronicles of Narnia are always good and easy to read. DS is getting ready to read Eragon. I want to read it when he is done.

ETA: HeHe...Is there something wrong with farting dogs??? With 11 and 12 yr old boys there tends to be a lot of farts in our conversations.....LOL

 

[diamondfan]

The Eric Carle books, the busy spider etc, have lovely art.

The Caldecot and Newbury winners are usually great.

 

[monarch64]

Not a mom yet, but I already have a list compiled (on various scraps of paper, lol) of my faves which include:

Anything by Shel Silverstein (The Giving Tree, etc.)
The Little Prince by Antoine St. Exupery
The Velveteen Rabbit
J.R.R. Tolkein books (Lord of the Rings, etc.)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Dr. Seuss of course


Those are all I can think of right now but I know there are a ton more buried in the back of my mind.

 

[Independent Gal]

OK, for little kids, my all time favourite is Maurice Sendak''s "Where the Wild Things Are" I also love anything by Robert Munsch, but particularly "The Paperbag Princess" and "I love you forever" And Dr. Seuss of course! Of course!

Florence Parry Heide''s Treehorn books (illustrated by Edward Gorey) are also FANTASTIC. Particularly "The Shrinking of Treehorn" which still makes me laugh every time. Particularly when the school bus driver insists shrunk Treehorn must be Treehorn''s little brother... "And what''s YOUR name little boy?"
"My name is TREEHORN!"
"That''s funny," said the bus driver. "I guess they couldn''t think of anything after they thought of Treehorn."

(Or something like that.)

Sandra Boynton makes super cute board books for really little ones. I especially love the "Personal Penguin" book:

"I like you a lot. You''re funny and kind.
So let me tell you just what I have in mind... [says the Penguin to the Hippo]
I''d like to be your personal penguin...." etc. How cute is that? I want a personal penguin!

For slightly older children, I think Peter Sis writes wonderful, transporting stories with beautiful illustrations.

For even older kids (8-10?) nothing beats Roald Dahl. Particularly "The Witches" and "The BFG"

 

[jcrow]

i don''t have kids, but i love "harold and the purple crayon"

 

[Independent Gal]

Me too! I love Harold and the Purple Crayon.

 

[diamondfan]

I love the Velveteen Rabbit, it is sad but sweet too!

The Giving Tree is great, a bit more for an older kid but a wonderful story.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I never had children, but my favorite children''s books are:
The Winnie the Pooh books by A A Milne
The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
Beautiful Joe by Margaret Marshall Saunders (might upset younger children)
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
An Edge of the Forest by Agnes Smith
The Black Stallion and the Island Stallion books by Walter Farley

 

[Independent Gal]

Wow! I loved "The Incredible Journey" when I was a kid. I read the whole thing in one sitting. And "Black Beauty" is another wonderful one I just remembered. And "Anne of Green Gables"

This thread is bringing back nice memories.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 4/11/2007 5:42:07 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

I can't think of anything else right now.. I know there are more.. but.. I'm suuposed to be working..

I can't stand the Madonna written books..

You have intrigued me with the Madonna comment. Why? Just curious; I have not seen it.

 

[KimberlyH]

I LOVE Walter the Farting Dog, I don''t think there are enough great books for boys, and they crack me up. Some of my faves:

Any Ramona Quimby book
Shel Silverstein
Love You Forever
All the Captain Underpants books
Tacky the Penguin (the perfect book for any kid who dances to the beat of a different drum)
Winnie the Pooh
The Jester Has Lost His Jingle

Oh I could go on and on...

 

[TheDoctor]

There is an Australian author and illustrator, Graeme Base, who has at least a few children''s books which are a joy to read and to look at. The poetry-based stories are brilliant, and the illustations are incredible.

Animalia
My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch
The Eleventh Hour (This one is particulary good, in my books)

Link to Penguin Book''s website for a bio:

http://www.penguin.com.au/authors/author-author-profile.cfm?AuthorId=0000000113

 

[Independent Gal]

I loved Ramona Quimby too! And I remember Animalia from my bookseller days.

OK, I have missed the boat on this Walter the faltulant dog... never heard of him. Guess I better hit a bookstore.

Another great one for kids who are 11 or so is all of Conan Doyle''s original Sherlock Holmes stories. I used to read those ravenously.

 

[Miranda]

Date: 4/11/2007 8:31:58 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 4/11/2007 2:31:22 PM
Author: Miranda

ETA: HeHe...Is there something wrong with farting dogs??? With 11 and 12 yr old boys there tends to be a lot of farts in our conversations.....LOL

Oh my stars no.. it just struck me funny.. Steve always tells me when I spend time at B&N in the children''s book section if a farting dog book can get published, I should. lol

As a Mother of four, and especially three young men, believe me.. passing gas or the discussion of it is not a quiet concept in my house. lol

LOL!!! Farts are a large part of life with boys...And girls, too, I guess! My mom got a book about a farting dog and it is the dumbest thing I''ve ever read. It''s not very funny at all. I''m sure your book is much better SDL!!! I have a good friend up my way that recently published a children''s book. For her, it was a fairly simple process. How was it for you?

 

[Kaleigh]

I loved Dare Wright's books, The Lonely Doll, and Holiday for Edith and The bears. Great photography, and Edith is so endearing.

My favorite book growing up when I was little, was titled A Palace for Alice. My real name is Alice, this book made me feel better about the name. Although I was never called Alice, it was always Lisa


M kids loved all the Dr. Seuss books
Curious George
Shel Siverstein
Goodnight moon


And most of the classics that have already been mentioned.

 

[poptart]

"The Giver" I read it when I was 8 or 9 and it still sticks with me today. Great moral in it, too.

*M*

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 4/11/2007 2:32:42 PM
Author: diamondfan
The Eric Carle books, the busy spider etc, have lovely art.


The Caldecot and Newbury winners are usually great.

ditto, also Mercer Mayer. I took a children''s lit. class in grad school and really enjoyed the Caldecot and Newbury winners in all the age catagories..

 

[akw94]

One book I loved for my son and love to buy for others is : Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It is so much fun for young kids!

There are so many others but too tired right now to list them.. will have to come back when I''m not so sleepy!

 

[diamondfan]

I love Amelia Bedelia.


Office Buckle and Gloria is great, and I love Princess Smartypants and the McDuff series, about a Westie.

I also loved Alexander and the no good very bad horrible day (something to that effect!)

 

[iheartscience]

I have no kids (except kitty ones) but I love Roald Dahl''s books. (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, etc.) I haven''t read them since I was a kid, but I want to go read them again just thinking about them!

I also loved Madeline L''Engle books (A Wrinkle in Time and all those other ones). And the Ramona books!

For more little kid books I like the Velveteen Rabbit, The Little Prince and anything Dr. Suess!

 

[diamondfan]

I LOVE Roald Dahl but find they are a bit creepy and scary sometimes. Matilda and James and the Giant Peach have terrible characters and stuff, but I still love them. Did you ever read Danny the Champion of the World? Amazing book too.

I always loved Judy Blume books too...

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 4/11/2007 11:52:19 PM
Author: diamondfan
I LOVE Roald Dahl but find they are a bit creepy and scary sometimes. Matilda and James and the Giant Peach have terrible characters and stuff, but I still love them. Did you ever read Danny the Champion of the World? Amazing book too.

I always loved Judy Blume books too...

Loved the Judy Blume books too, gosh they were great!!!

 

[diamondfan]

I think I read them all over and over, they seemed to capture pre teen angst so well!

 

[Kaleigh]

Yup!!!!

 

[diamondfan]

SDL, I still read Amelia and laugh!

 

[Ellen]

Justa few that come to mind.


The Wind in the Willows

Stuart Little

James and the Giant Peach, which I didn''t find creepy really, but rather, with some very unusual, rather eccentric characters. LOVED that book.

 

[katebar]

I love this thread and had such a passion for chlildren literature. I loved to read child and did a couple of years of early childhood teaching and I did a big elective on children''s picture books.
when my son was born i read to him from the day he was born and picture books were essential parts of both my kids lifes.
My favourites of the top
Where the wild things are
the jolly postman
The greedy caterpillar
Hairy Mcclary
Any shirley Hughes but particularly Dogger
The madeleine series
Are you mymother

but my own from my childhood
Wind in the willows
Charlotte''s web
Heidi
What Katy did
The borrowers
Velveteen Rabbit

 

[Independent Gal]

Awwww... talk about memories! "Are you my mother?" was the first book I ever read cover to cover all by myself. I read it to my grandaddy, sitting on his knee.

I can''t wait to read all these things to my future kiddies!

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 4/11/2007 11:52:19 PM
Author: diamondfan
I LOVE Roald Dahl but find they are a bit creepy and scary sometimes. Matilda and James and the Giant Peach have terrible characters and stuff, but I still love them. Did you ever read Danny the Champion of the World? Amazing book too.


I always loved Judy Blume books too...

I know, DF! They''re definitely creepy...I guess they''re probably better for kids that are a little bit older or not the type to get scared easily! It''s funny, because when I was a kid, my parents didn''t let me watch hardly any television and they were really strict about what movies I could see. (No rated R movies until I was older, etc.) But I could read pretty much anything I wanted!

I have read Danny the Champion of the World-it''s so good! I think I''ve read most of Roald Dahl''s kid books, and I''ve read some of his books/stories for adults, too. I also read his autobiography a while ago and it''s a really good read. All this talk about Roald Dahl is going to send me to the library and the bookstore!