Children's Books - Favourites? (poetry, letter, classic, authors)

[ontheroad]

Now that I have two grandchildren, I am having double trouble: what books to give them? Of course, I've already bought them lots, but am running out of good titles.

What are your favourites for younger children? What do you think are the classics that will never fall out of favour?

[taigagirl]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Now that I have two grandchildren, I am having double trouble: what books to give them? Of course, I've already bought them lots, but am running out of good titles.

What are your favourites for younger children? What do you think are the classics that will never fall out of favour?

Curious George series, Robert Munsch (sometimes these could be annoying) Beatrix Potter series. Winnie the Pooh is a much loved series as well.

[BlueWillowPlate]

How old are the kids? I'll start with under age 10.
I am typing up my absolute never-fail faves; am doing this by memory because all our books are in storage.

For the very young, age 1-3: Oh What A Busy Day by Gyo Fujikawa, in boardbook form, for 1-2 year olds.
Richard Scarry's books, especially What Do People Do All Day?
Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny (basically anything by Margaret Wise Brown) Little Yellow and Little Blue, as well as Swimmy by Leo Lionni (he's done others, those are the best). Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day.
I love Robert McCloskey's Blueberries For Sal. Other authors: Frank Asch, Robert Munsch (he is indeed a bit zany, but the kids love him). Frank Asch's Halloween book (Popcorn) is a crackup 12 months a year. There is the "P O O P" book, I think it's called Everyone Poops, by Taro Gomi. A.A. Milne's rhythmic poetry can indeed be very pleasurable for little ones. the more it snows (tiddly pom) the more it goes (tiddly pom) the more it goes (tiddly pom) on snowing...

Age late 3's into 4-5:
Anything by Maurice Sendak, esp Where The Wild Things Are.
The Arthur books by Marc Brown.
Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs? by Bernard Most
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson (Johnson has other good ones as well, but not all of them seem to be in print)
Judith Viorst's books, esp Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
Tomie de Paola's books
Mem Fox's books, esp Koala Blue

Beginning to Read:
I loved the Cynthia Rylant books, especially her Henry and Mudge Mastiff series
David McCauley's The Way Things Work series
Anything by Aliki
Dr Seuss can of course begin sooner than kindergarten, but it's fun for kids who are beginning to read to sound out Hop on Pop, etc

Books I never really liked that much: The Berenstein Bears--they were kinda preachy and I didn't much like the illustrations

[ontheroad]

The grand-babies are just that. The eldest will turn 3 this June, and the new one, well she will be 2 weeks today.

The elder is a bright little pup, and has many, many books, including quite a few her mother saved from her own early childhood, some classic, others just plain perty or personal.

One of the reasons I asked is yesterday, we were sitting outdoors and the big girl was talking about trees (they were gardening) and I couldn't remember the name of that thoughtful book, "about the tree that gave." Now, is that it, "The Giving Tree?" **

I'd love to hear more recommendations as I am about to journey away from these fine gals, and will be communicating with them with the written word (books, letters and telephone calls).

Many thanks!

** Yep, that's it, Silverstein! How the mind, mine, grows weary that I couldn't remember this wonderful, telling tale of the tree that gives it all!

[BlueWillowPlate]

The Giving Tree always kind of depressed me.
But of course I tend to take these things to heart.
I can barely read Love You Forever (by Munsch) without breaking down in tears in front of the kids.
Silverstein's other books were a hit with my kids. You do know that he wrote the song "A Boy Named Sue"?

PS Congratulations, Grandpa!

[domergurl]

Congrats!

I've been buying every Saxton Freymann book I can get my hands on. He does children's book illustrations by carving vegetables into the most interesting things! check it out:

http://www.rit.edu/~ksh8863/saxtonfreymann.html (broken link)

and:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxton_Freymann

It actually makes kids want to eat fruits and vegetables!

[BlueWillowPlate]

Domergurl
A preschooler brought one of Freymann's books into school, those carvings blew me away. I tried to reproduce a couple with some success, but they aren't easy.

Another book that is very old but always seemed to strike a chord with my kids:

The Fire Cat
This is an easy reader book that works okay for preschoolers, but you can't read it all at once with little ones.
Pickles is a bad cat who wants to do big things. Just look at his paws!
Joining the fire department channels his ambitions in a positive manner.
The thing about this book is that in some parts it is almost (unintentionally) funny, but it is so earnest, and it *always* seems to resonate with kids.
Kids like books that have conflicted anti-heroes.

Another one kids always like:

Baby Rattlesnake
This is a Native American tale. I love the illustrations.
Once again, we have a naughty protagonist. But he learns his lesson.
This one is fine for older 3's.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for the added recommendations.

One of the books I picked up, somewhat randomly, last year that the nearly 3 year old loves is

Alice Nizzy Nazzy The Witch Of Santa Fe
Author: Johnston, Tony; Illustrator Depaola, Tomie; Illustrator: De Paola, Tomie
ISBN: 069811650X


I can't tell you why she loves it, but for weeks or perhaps even months, it was her favourite. She, herself, is a border-line naughty-girl!

And I sent her the mini-books, and tape to Sendak's books, and she can almost remember all the words to several of the songs. These kept us quite busy the day the new g'daughter was born: Pierre, that naughty I don't care boy had her in stitches!

I thought Marlo Thomas' "Free to be you and me" would be a bigger hit (it was with her Mother) but it is coming in as a slow starter!

[baby_firefly]

when i was little i loved any fairytales especially cinderella
cuorduroy bear was cute
the velveteen rabbit
goodnight moon
thumbelina
the little golden book series
the bernstein bears
'love you forever' was a really nice story i looked it up its by robert munsch

i loved goosebumps by r.l. stine but i got to that when i was like 11
and then later fear street

[lorelei2873]

When I was young, I really loved the Betsy/Tacy/Tib books. Does anyone remember those? I sound like I'm ancient now, but really I'm not. I didn't read them when they originally came out.