I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to AM last night. He probably was around when I read it to Miss M, years ago, but now he really understands it. He made me read two chapters and wanted more. But it was late.
I’m excited to read it again; classic Dahl (like James and the Giant Peach) never wears out its welcome.
But is this the beginning of the end for picture books?
I hope not. Some of them are mind-numbingly bad or boring or stupid, but here are a few of my favorites. I could read these over and over again–and get to more often now, because half the time AM says, “You choose one!” at reading time.
- Miss Rumphius – Barbara Cooney
- Little Blue, Little Yellow – Leo Lionni (I believe he wrote this for his grandchildren)
- The Incredible Book Eating Boy - Oliver Jeffers
- The Hello, Goodbye Window - Norton Juster
- Say Hello to Zorro - Carter Goodrich
What are your favorite picture books?
Have your kids read Officer Buckle and Gloria? You really need to look at the pictures.
And anything by William Steig, pretty much.
Oh, that was good timing! I needed to fill out my Amazon order to get the KeepCup that I posted about on FB, and kids books are always a good way to get to $25! Thanks!
Oh, I might as well respond about the picture books too. Right now we’re especially into “The Pout-Pout Fish” and “Two Little Trains”, although it’s always a conundrum about what to do with the line “and a black man singing in the west”. The book IS from a different time, after all, but I usually substitute “old” for “black”. Don’t know what we’ll do when Yo begins to read, though.
The Seven Silly Eaters!!!
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Anything Mo Willems – Pigeon series and Knuffle Bunny series
Argus – very cute, especially because I like quoting “Now children, don’t be difficult.”
The Legend of the Golden Snail – great story, plus there’s a “Where’s Waldo”-like picture challenge
A lot of my favorite picture books have come from my husband’s side of the family, in New Zealand, and aren’t always available in the US. I have no idea if they’re available in Israel! But, here are some of my favorites, including some that haven’t come from NZ. I’m too lazy/rushed for time right now to go look up all the authors. But I have “Pumpkin’s Book List” on my blog, which has the books she and Petunia have loved over the years.
The Beasties
The Kings Bubbles by Ruth Paul
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown
Knuffle Bunny- all three of them- by Mo Willems
Each Peach Pear Plum
Silly Sally
I love a good picture book! Pumpkin is starting to get into chapter books, so we’ll be dusting off some of my old favorites there, too, soon.
the Day the Babies Crawled Away is just fun and I need to get us a copy cuz we wore out the one at the library, I swear.
My kids love the book Tuesday, but David Wiesner, which doesn’t have any words in it. It’s a beautifully illustrated book, showing you the story about when, one Tuesday after dark all the frogs started to fly. We spend more time on that book, looking at the pictures, discussing what the frogs must be thinking, etc.
My dad bought that for us, but something about the pictures creeped out my daughter and she refused to look at it.