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We have a very special subset of children's picture books. When our son was 22 months old, we moved to Germany for a year. We took along every book he owned at the time, including a Sesame Street alphabet collection, a few other board books, and several inches' worth of picture books (fewer than 50). Our son became a huge fan of reading, and we read those books over and over - probably 8 to 15 a day. Today I am going to share some of our favorites with you.
Of course we loved all the books we had by author/illustrators like Eric Carle - I may wallpaper a room with those pages someday! We had Polar Bear, Polar Bear, the followup to the classic "Brown Bear Brown Bear." We also enjoyed Leo Lionni - especially Tico and the Golden Wings - all of Mr. Lionni's books have a little lesson subtly included in them. Of course, all the Seuss books were favored as well. We didn't have any of the "real" books at that age, but we did have a few Seuss picture books, many of which we acted out. The Foot Book and There's a Wocket in my Pocket! were especially good for this.
When our son was between 1 and 2, he was in daycare, and his teacher there processed Scholastic orders. I ordered from Scholastic as a child (and I am quite sure I am not alone in this). I do think it's hilarious that the first published offered "Harry Potter" turned them down, and Scholastic ended up with that contract. Anyway, this is an affordable way to acquire children's books, and it benefits the person ordering too.
After the big 3, I also tended to order Caldecott Winners. Frog Went A-Courtin' won in 1956 - and it was so enjoyable. I did not know how famous it was when we first started reading it. Also, Owl Moon's tender story of parent love and love of nature was very appreciated.
No toddler's book collection is complete without some alphabet and counting books, and I think I could write an entire diary on alphabet books. Love each and every one! I know we had "10 Apples on Top" in board book, but our two favorite counting books were "Ten Dirty Pigs/Ten Clean Pigs" by Carol Roth and Pamela Paparone, and George's Store at the Shore. This set of I Spy board books is similar to ours - we had letters, numbers, animals, wheels, and bunnies. Walter Wick took the photos, and Jean Marzallo wrote new rhymes for the younger kids.
I had an decided preference for books with very good art, and a variety of styles. I really dig picture books wherein the author explains the illustration methods. David Frampton uses woodcuts very cleverly in The Whole Night Through, one of our bedtime stories. Woodland Indians inspired Lois Ehlert's illustrations of Mole's Hill, and she implemented the ideas of ribbon applique' and beadwork magnificently. There are a lot of quilt motifs in Sally Rogers's Earthsong, illustrated by Melissa Bay Mathis. Marianne Berkes adapted Ms. Roger's song in Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef, and Jeannette Canyon used polymer clay to construct the scenes, which were then photographed. Really spectacular, this one! Finally, a very special book to me is titled To Every Thing There is a Season. Using the famous Ecclesiastes verses, Leo and Diane Dillon incorporated a different traditional art style in every spread, then explained everything in the back!
Stories of parent/child togetherness are important too! Hardie Gramatky's classic Little Toot and Jan Carr's Big Truck, Little Truck both became beloved daddy-son stories for us. Other family-oriented stories include Little Bunny Bobkin, Look Out for the Big Bad Fish!, and the very tender Have You Got my Purr?. Looking at the various reviews for these books, which include "a counting book", etc., it seems like there are multiple themes in them.
Sometimes the simple books are best! Simpler pictures or a more simple storyline - we enjoyed both. Tomie De Paola has many books in his long career, but it was ANDY - That's My Name that charmed us. The little boy with the wagonload of letters of his name, the big kids using his letters to spell - it was so much fun to read. John Prater wrote this kind of odd book called "Once Upon a Time" where he blended famous scenes of a variety of fairy tales together in a contemporary foreground. It really left a lot of room for branching off into the other stories! Minerva Louise is the most daft, silly, empty-headed hen evah! We even found a Minerva Louise book published in German, that I could read! She is really a riot!
Humor books are very important. They are a great stress relief for the parent, and a good way for the child to develop a sense of humor. There are many knock-offs of traditional fairy tales, but the only one that really caught on with us is Dusty Locks and the Three Bears. Maybe it was the western setting? Underwear!, with orangutans, zebras, and egrets all wearing underwear, is a ROFLOL funny book! And can lead to silly games too. The Caterpillow Fight, by Sam McBratney, is LOL with tears running down our faces sometimes.
April is Poetry Month, and poetry is good for babies and toddlers too. Our favorite poet is Jack Prelutsky, and we enjoyed Awful Ogre's Awful Day for humor with poetry, and The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders was excellent for poetry with humor and geography!
This little book didn't seem to fit into any other categories, and I don't want to leave it out. Tikki Tikki Tembo came alive to us, retold by Arlene Mosel with Blair Lent's illustrations. Of course, we were waiting for our daughter from China while we were in Germany that year. :-D And it is an excellent story with great pictures.
What I am Reading:
Collapse, by Jaren Diamond: I am about halfway through, and trying hard to read one chapter a day. It is well-referenced, and goes along quite well with 1491. The author was right to warn us of the length of the first chapter. I am alternating with chapters of an old favorite:
The Two Towers. I am finding great pleasure in re-reading classics and favorites very slowly. I am a voracious reader, and I can read quite fast. I tried this with Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, and enjoyed it so much, I am applying it to the Tolkien books too. I read one or two chapters every two or three days, and I try to hear the words in my mind, maybe picture some scenes, to slow myself down.
After those are finished, I have two Star Trek novels I was in the middle of when Lent started. I am going to finish those while I sort through the books I've read this year and select from my "waiting" stash for the next group to read.
The Bookflurries and WAYR diaries have improved the quality of my reading - both in terms of the books I am reading, and what I am getting out of them.
Please share your favorite picture books - from your childhood, your children's or grandchildren's childhoods, or just picture books you like. We have an extensive library, and it was very lovely to focus on the beginnings of our children's collections for this diary.
And share what else you are reading too!