Monday, October 05, 2009

Great Picture Books

Books that are not to be missed:

Margaret Wise Brown - Color Kittens.
Virginia Lee Burton - The Little House.
Virginia Lee Burton - Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
Marjorie Flack - The Story of Ping.
H H Swift and Lynd Ward - The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.
Robert McCloskey - Make Way for Ducklings.
Robert McCloskey - Blueberries for Sal.
Robert McCloskey - One Morning in Maine.
Watty Piper - The Little Engine That Could.
Beatrix Potter - Peter Rabbit.
Richard Scarry - Storybook Dictionary.
Richard Scarry - Please and Thank You Book.
Assorted Dr Seuss.

and for the very young:
Goodnight Moon
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

8 comments:

  1. Excellent list, Susan (although I'm not a Seuss fan), and reminds me I've been meaning to get new copies of a couple favorites that have been loved to bits.
    I just read Jesse Bear this noon, before a little guy's nap.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, The Little House! One of our all-time favorites :)

    More recently, The Seven Silly Eaters is one that I'm glad I bought. I read it to my youngest so many times, but the awesome illustrations (takes place in my dream house, lol) kept me from getting bored.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would add Mr. Small books by Lois Lenski.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Earthquack!" by Margie Palantini, illustrated by Barry Moser.

    It's a joy to read outloud (I've not tired of it yet) and an absolutely hilarious take on the Chicken Little story. Furthermore, the illustrations are both full page finely done watercolors and are extremely wonderful and whimisical works of art.

    Another fantastic children's illustrator is Mark Teague of "How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight." His twisted use of perspective is delightful and oh, so fun.

    I always loved the Color Kittens. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glenda, I agree with you. We didn't bump into Farmer Small until we were on kid#5. I didn't know until a couple of years ago that there was a whole series. I wish I'd known earlier -- they're great.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We never did Richard Scarry with the first two--it was part of the Sonlight curriculum for preschoolers so we got it this year (we are using preschool even though Evan is in kindergarten because I just loved the list). The book is What Do People Do All Day? Evan loves it, and it is so informative. All kinds of stuff, like how to make bread, how roads are built, how a house is built (with stuff about the plumbing and wiring and such), etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cheryl, we liked a lot of Richard Scarry, but those two on the list are the ones that I see as absolutely necessary. In no other place have I seen a "dictionary" that had character development in so many cute little ways as a person proceeds from A to Z. :-)

    And when the WWJD craze came out, my children thought it silly, because our motto had been "What Would Lowly [Worm] Do?"

    ReplyDelete
  8. Barbara, that Little House is one of my shameless attempts to indoctrinate children! It's definitely my favorite Burton book, and I like a lot of her stories. It also explains to children much of the geography they see around cities, and where the car lots are located, and why there is one house in a neighborhood that looks so much different from the others, and all the other consequences of urban sprawl.

    ReplyDelete