After railing on Eric Carle and Winnie the Pooh, I figured it would be nice to tell you about the children's books I actually like. This being my love-themed week and all. These books aren't as popular as Knuffle Bunny
NOTE: I do not take my book recommendations lightly. I made sure to read each book a few thousand times before giving them the official "thumbs up".
1. Iggy Peck, Architect
Iggy is a boy who loves to build with anything he can get his hands on (chalk, pancakes, diapers, etc.) much to the chagrin of his uptight second grade teacher who has a fear of heights.
If there is one book you should buy out of all the books I'm about to mention, it's this one. The illustrations, the story and the ridiculously advanced rhymes (Young Iggy Peck is an architect and has been since he was two, when he built a great tower in only an hour, with nothing but diapers and glue) are just as impressive as any important piece of literature. I say this with all seriousness and also as a person who hasn't read an important piece of literature since college.
2. Up and Down
This is a classic story about a boy and his chess-playing penguin friend who dreams of flying. The deceptively simple illustrations and dry humor make for the perfect bedtime book. And any book featuring a poster that reads "Ever dream of flying? Are you short and fat? The traveling show is looking for a new living cannonball!" scores high honors with me.
3. For Just One Day
We've been reading this book for awhile and Mazzy has the whole thing memorized. It's about imagining yourself as different animals (If I could have a spiky spine, I'd get to be a porcupine!) but ultimately wanting to be that special someone that is "me". It has gorgeously whimsical illustrations and the rhymes roll off the tongue in a way that makes it super easy for your child to rhyme along.
4. Foxy and Egg
Foxy Dubois is thrilled when a mouthwatering egg shows up on her doorstep. She takes it in, entertains it all night with hopes of scrambling it for breakfast in the morning. ("You simply must stay over," said Foxy. "I have something even more wonderful planned for breakfast!") I don't want to spoil the ending for you but let's just say— things don't work out for Foxy as planned.
The story is fun, if you like things slightly macabre, and the illustrations are amazing with fun details like poultry themed knick-knacks strewn about Foxy's fabulously decorated mansion.
5. Itsy Mitsy Runs Away
Mazzy was obsessed with this book from the second it entered our home. It was a gift and I was a bit nervous about it at first because it's about a little girl who runs away because she doesn't like bedtime. Why give a kid any ideas? So far, I don't think the true meaning of the story has sank in. But I suppose it's only a matter of time before Mazzy's packing her belongings in a hankerchief and hanging it on the end of a stick, ready to take on the world. Wish me luck!
6. Art
Art loves art. That's pretty much the story. As an art lover myself, I love the ode to creativity juxtaposed against the simple childlike illustrations. Every phrase rhymes so it's fun to let your child easily fill in the last word of each sentence.
My favorite part though is at the end. After successfully reciting each rhyme throughout the book, Mazzy always get the last word wrong. It ends:
And when he awakes
(a little bit later)
Art sees his art
on the refrigerator
held there by magnets
(stars and a heart)
Put there by mother
'Cause mother loves Art.
Mazzy always mistakenly subs the last "Art" with "me". Rhyme or no rhyme, she just can't fathom mother loving anyone or anything but herself.
That cocky little shit.
(She's almost right.)
What is your favorite lesser-known children's book?
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In continuation of my "love-themed" week, I posted "10 Opportunities for Dads to Demonstrate a Little Romance" on Babble today. It all starts with some folded laundry. Check it out here.
‘how a dinosaur says good night’ and ‘old bear and his cub’, and ‘all kinds of families’ are a couple of my, and parker’s favorites.
That is great that you provided the links! When it first came out it was unknown though now a major motion movie … Mars Loves Moms … I never watched the movie because simply could not fathom that the fabulous message and emotion would be possible to replicate in an alternate format – the last page still makes me choke up! I gave it to a couple friends who are not mushy moms, and they both choked up too! Otherwise I have no lesser knowns as my kid is obsessed with ” Papa Bear” books aka The Berenstein Bears – only golden touch there is at least we have the originals!
We *loved* the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. My favorite was the first one that we received, Are You Ready to Play Outside (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Outside-Elephant-Piggie-Books/dp/1423113470/ref=pd_sim_b_8). The illustrations cracked me up!
Okay- so you HAVE to swear to read these two. I love them and even when my kids get tired of them I am good to read them more. The first, “‘Stand Back,’ Said the Elephant, ‘I am going to Sneeze!'” LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Second, The Hiccupotumus.
Both are rhyming books, and both are so much fun to read. The first may be just a touch too long for Mazzy, but I wouldn’t know. The second is short, sweet and super cute. I do love them. In fact, I may have to go find and read them right now.
If you hadn’t started with Iggy Peck I might not have looked at the rest since we are moving on to chapter books here. But Iggy is one of our FAVES and I had not heard of the others so now I feel like I’m missing out. We’ll be checking them out! Thanks for the recommendations!!
I totally judge a book by its cover. And these books? I’m in love already.
my two year old son loves Sergio the Penguin. The story is cute (about a penguin learning to swim) and the illustrations are modern and fantastic.
We love Grace Lin’s books, especially “Thanking the Moon”, “Bringing in the New Year” and “Dim Sum for Everyone”. Baby and I both love the illustrations!
And we have read “Bear Snores On” everyday for the past 7.5 months… never gets old.
A. I’m now sad that my kids are too old (probably) to read any of these and my days of fabulous children’s books are over.
B. I’m now sad that you apparently have time to read to Mazzy in addition to all of the other amazing work you do each day.
C. I’m actually glad for you and Mazzy that you are superhuman enough to fit time in for reading.
D. Change B. from “now sad” to “now impressed”.
E. Except I’ve always been impressed with you. I mean Art. I mean mother.
I mean, crap. Mazzy is smarter than I am. And this is why I don’t write children’s books.
Probably.
Honestly, our favorite books are from the Target $1 Spot. They’re cute, and always so short that I don’t mind reading them a million times. Plus they’re only $1, so if one actually does end up sucking (which only happened once, with a Busy World of Richard Scarry book [surprising, right?]) I don’t feel bad about throwing it away.
“I love you through and through.” Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak and Caroline Jayne Church – and Miss Boo Boo La La is in LOVE with the lesser read Maurice Sendak book “In the Night Kitchen” –
Have you heard of PJLibrary? It is an organization providing free Jewish-themed kids to Jewish families. Some are better than others, Rebecca adored the “Challah Time” book about baking Challah, and the Tu B’Shvat book called “Dear Tree” about thanking trees for all they do for us. And hey, the price is right 🙂
http://pjlibrary.org/
oh and “I Love My New Toy” by Mo Willems is good – SpongeBob ripped it off though in an episode called “Waiting”
These are great! I don’t have any of them. One of our faves around here is “How to Catch an Elephant” but it is (very sadly) out of print or something! You can get them used, though. http://www.amazon.com/How-Catch-Elephant-DK-Publishing/dp/0789425793/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1329416092&sr=8-1
My kids LOVE this book. It was a gift from a friend whose kids adored it.
LOVE Iggy Peck!
Edwina the Emu…hilarious!
Sadie (2-y-o) loves a book called, “What do you do with a kangaroo” – we have a 1973 copy that was handed down by a cousin. http://www.amazon.com/What-You-Kangaroo-Scholastic-Bookshelf/dp/0545169097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329418141&sr=8-1
How does a dinosaur say good night was my son’s, and now my daughters favorite book too 🙂
OOH, We love Every Day, Every Where…. that is really cute..
The Big Orange Splot! Mr. Plumbean lives on a “neat street” until a seagull drops a can of orange paint on his house. His house is DIFFERENT which upsets his neighbors…so he goes on to make his house look like all his dreams. Love this book and I give it to anyone I know who buys a new house.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=the+big+orange+splot&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=18208396354682631441&sa=X&ei=r089T8O3KJK-2AW9s5GCCA&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAQ
Thank you for posting this list, I’m definitely going to check these out! My little guy asks for Stellaluna every. single. night and I am so completely sick and tired of hearing it.
Some of Little Miss Adventures and Mr Bean’s favorites are:
Frederick By Leo Lionni and Swimmy by Leo Lionni
and
Dog and Butterfly. It’s out of print now and I couldn’t even find it on Amazon. It’s is not the one by Heart. I loved it growing up so that may be why I never get tired of reading or hearing it.
One book that was my favorite as a child is “Gordon the Goat” by Monroe Leaf. It’s a very simple book with sweet simple illustrations, but the story is great. Gordon is a goat who, like the rest of the goats, follows this one goat who is the leader, even though this particular leader seems pretty dumb (takes them to a place where the weeds are bad, etc.) Finally the leader walks the goat herd right into a tornado, and Gordon gets sucked up into it. After he lands, he decides that from now on he is going to think for himself instead of following leaders that aren’t making sense. It’s a great story about independent thinking!
We just discovered Oliver Jeffers. ….LOVE HIM! One of our tried and true favorites is HOW MANY KISSES DO YOU WANT TONIGHT?
These books look great! I’d totally buy (and use your links!). I think most my books are mainstream but we really love Sandra Boynton
I love all the Beverly Cleary books, but my favorite children’s picture book is AMELIA FRUMP AND HER PEANUT BUTTER LOVING, OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION.
My children are scared of the dark, and this book (I got it off Amazon. com)seemed perfect. My children love it! The main character is a spunky little girl who reminds me of Ramona Quimby in the Beverly Cleary books. She’s hilarious.
God, I love children’s books. Well , my children are too old for these, but the cat will read with me. ::cue crazy cat lady music::
Grumpy Bird was a big hit here for a few months, and then we followed up with Boo Hoo Bird. Both by Jeremy Tankard – I believe he is a Canadian author.
Okay , you got me. I will get them both. Books wit smart rhymes are my favorite.
Iggy Peck is my absolute favorite. It’s just brilliant. The others are brilliant too but not in the same wonderfully pretentious fashion.
I’m a designer so books with great looking covers are the entry point. Although I promise these are all good past the cover as well!
Mazzy would never let me get away with a day of not reading to her. But don’t feel bad, Mazzy is smarter than me too.
Mazzy has a book called Hanukah Hop that she loves. It makes Hanukah almost sound as fun as Christmas. I’ll find the link for you.
I love all Mo Willems books. SpongeBob can SUCK IT!
I can’t stand when Mazzy gets into horrible books. She’s also obsessed with these flap books that drive me out of my mind. Like ten flaps on a page. They take forever to get through and they are written horribly.
Love a story with a good moral.
He’s awesome. I want to get Lost and Found, the fist boy and penguin book. I’ve heard it’s great.
A favorite book no one has heard of for me is “once I Ate A. Pie “, but maybe It is only for dog lovers….http://www.amazon.com/Once-Ate-Pie-Patricia-MacLachlan/dp/0060735333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364731789&sr=8-1&keywords=Once+I+ate+a+pie
Enjoyed your list and reading the comments! Some unusual favorites in our list include The Whale and the Snail, A Visitor for Bear, and Library Lion. Iggy Peck has been a long time favorite in our house.