The Little House + The Dot + The Little Engine That Could
Whistle for Willie + The Diary of a Worm + Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Not A Box + The Jolly Postman +The Popcorn Book
The Rainbow Fish + The Giving Tree + Love You Forever
The Lion and The Mouse + Olivia + Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild!
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type + Skippyjon Jones + Miss Nelson is Missing
The Tale of Peter Rabbit + Koala Lou + Library Lion
Goodnight Gorilla + Stone Soup + Goodnight Moon
The Stinky Cheese Man + Where the Sidewalk Ends + Strega Nona
Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse + Zen Shorts + The Story of Ferdinand
The Runaway Bunny + The Story About Ping + Art and Max
The Kissing Hand + Fancy Nancy + Harold and the Purple Crayon
Bear Snores On + The Mitten + The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Green Eggs and Ham + Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs + Curious George
Tikki Tikki Tembo + If You Give A Mouse A Cookie + Make Way For Ducklings
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The teacher in me needed to do SOMETHING to recognize Read Across America Day.
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday (yesterday!), and since my Monday-Fridays are filled with books and reading, I thought it might be nice to add to my list of what (I think) are some of the best books around. Lots of these are old classics, many you may recognize or be nodding your head, “Yes, I remember that one!”, and some are newer, and just as fun and/or lovely as the ones written many years ago.
As a teacher and lover of stories for young children, I could go on all day about why these are so wonderful, but next time you’re in a book store, I urge you to stop in the children’s section for a bit to find one of these and see for yourself. I guarantee it’ll make you smile.
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For more favorites:
My Favorite Children’s Books: Picture Book Edition // v. 1
{I hope to post a favorite children’s chapter book edition in this lifetime, too.}
HAPPY READING!
Yay for all of these amazing books!! I’ve never loved more books in one post before in my whole life :) The Giving Tree? Be still my heart. xoxo
And you NEED to read The Relatives Came. So good, so good.
Goodnight Moon my mom and I’s book that we read every night of my childhood! It is now Cooper and I’s book! Tikki Tikki Tembo is a favorite, favorite of mine!!
Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo.
I love saying that still to this day!
I ALWAYS love these posts! Makes me so excited for children…I want to fill our house TO THE TOP with books. And there are so many here I haven’t read yet…wish I could spend all my time doing that.
But you also got a few of my big favorites. You know I love Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Rainbow Fish was one I loved too! Plus…oh, I could go on and on, so I won’t…
You know, if you ever want to blogger date in the children’s section of Brookline Booksmith, I’d be up for that. Just saying. :-D
LOVE YOU FOREVER MAKES ME CRY. I’m also a big fan of the Olivia series. My oldest niece is named Olivia, so she has lotssss of those and loves reading them.
Oh, it SO makes me cry. Love that one.
And Olivia! She cracks me up!
AHHHHHHHH So many of my favorites there!!! And you have reminded me of SO MANY!!Ferdinand, Goodnight moon (read EVERY night), Strega Nona, Miss Nelson is Missing! LOVE LOVE!!!!
Books! GLOOOOOOOORIOUS BOOKS!
So many great books here! I love surprising my little kiddies with new books at circle time, so I’ll check around thrift stores for some of these…maybe one day I’ll splurge for full price ;)
Yes! Thrift stores and yard sales are great! Also, sometimes libraries sell or give away old books. You should look into that!
jolly postman and cloudy with a chance of meatballs are THE BEST.
Jolly Postman was SUCH a favorite when I was little.
This will be such an awesome reference for so many – thanks for taking the time to create this, Anna! You really go above and beyond on all of your posts
Thanks, Jenna! Love how you appreciate it! :) :)
First off, THE JOLLY POSTMAN! Loved that book as a child and still do to this day. I’m definitely going to have to pin this post, because you have wonderful taste in children’s books and I’m going to have to keep this list in mind when I get a classroom of my own someday!
p.s. You should definitely do a chapter book edition. Can’t wait to see what books you include on the list! :)
I will! I’ve been collecting my favorites for awhile now!
oh anna, YESSSSS! this makes me working in the children’s section of a bookstore. whenever no one was looking, i was always reading all of these books. and gosh, isn’t library lion the actual best?! you should read the new jon klassen books, i read the crap out of those at story time. i think i bored the mother of the children to death, but who cares! those books crack me up every time. ;)
LOVE Library Lion. SO GOOD.
Did Jon Klassen write this year’s Caldecott winner book? I think he did. Need to get into him! I know I’d love his stuff!
The Jolly Postman!! I seriously remember how exciting unfolding each one of those letters was. I adore children’s books…you’re making me want to fast-forward and have kids so I can jump back into this world!
Yes! I remember loving opening every envelope! It was the most exciting thing as a kid!
Hi Anna!
Love your blog and had to respond to this post! I love so many of your choices and also read your first post on favorite children’s books as well. Some of my favorites that are not on the list are “Inch by Inch” by Leo Lionni, Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton, “A House for Hermit Crab” by Eric Carle, “Thunder Cake” by Patricia Polacco and “Owen” by Kevin Henkes!
There are so many good childrens books out there and I love giving them as gifts. Have you been to the Eric Carle picture book museum yet? I know your in MA and it is a great place to visit.
Every single one of these I LOVE. There are just so many! I could seriously go on for years!
And no! Have not been to the Eric Carle Museum! But now I have to go!
Also, thanks for saying hi and commenting! :)
OH I just love this. So many great ones!!! Seeing a collection like this makes me happy and inspired to be a teacher! I still remember reading and making “Stone Soup” in first grade – it’s one of my most favorite memories. I have such a vivid picture in my head of going outside to pick out the “tastiest” rock for our soup! Ahhh, to be living the first grade life again. Which reminds me – now that I’ve been student teaching in first grade for 5 weeks, I totally want to pick your brain about it. Let’s get together soon!
5 weeks ALREADY? WHAT.
Time flies, gosh.
I hope you’re liking it! And yes! Let’s make a date! I miss you!
I forgot to mention another one I love- “Stellaluna”!
Yes! LOVE!
Rainbow Fish, The Giving Tree, and Olivia are some of my favorite children’s books! I really need to read more of them. There is just something so magical about a children’s book. I don’t even know how to explain it.
MAGIC is right.
No more explanation is needed!
ohh this post brought back so many good memories of reading these books when i was a kid! kids’ books are my fave. i have a collection going on the bottom shelf of our big bookcase (for easy access for the nieces and nephews, obvs), and i cannot wait to continue to add to it. by the time we finally have kids we will probably not have any of the nursery stuff or suitable clothes for the seasons, but we will have BOOKS! i pinned this so i can come back and reference it :)
Books never die! Old toys definitely do.
Love that you’re starting a collection. There are so many wonderful ones aren’t there?