Children's Books We Love

By request, and as a follow-up to my last post:

(Side note: books simply cannot be rated absolutely on a pass/fail or good/bad scale. These are just books *I* love and that my family loves. If you see inconsistencies in my recommendations of some of the below books, but in my rejection of Dr. Seuss, that's because I'm human. I have inconsistencies. The below books are *my* idea of worthwhile kids' books. They are not an absolute list, nor are they a complete list even from my own perspective. Nor do we limit our home library only to these books.)

Before I list my own recommendations, here are some recommendations of recommendations ;-) for you. You know, people older/wiser/more-experienced than me who have done this sort of recommendation thing. Books Children Love is a great starting place. I've heard from many people that Honey for a Child's Heart is another great source.

And also, for a free online list, try Ambleside Online's recommendations. Although I'm not technically a Charlotte Mason-ite, I'm a serious stalker, and AO is an AMAZING free curriculum resource for ideas, both for books, but also homeschool ideas in general. (Charlotte Mason is heavily into reading, so the books ARE the curriculum, not a supplement.) They have week-be-week options for study, for those who want to follow AO exactly, but I just use their site for book ideas as supplements, because like I said, I'm not a Charlotte Mason-ite, just a stalker :-).

Onward to book suggestions! I'm sure we've read many more great ones, but I gotta admit my memory is shot, so these are basically the ones we own or I happen to remember :-). Also, I'm focusing on picture books for two reasons: (1) I'm giving alternatives to Seuss, and (2) although my children - especially my 6yo - love and enjoy "chapter books," I've definitely spent more years as a mom reading picture books :-). You'll notice a variety of reading level in the books I list, from short books like "1 is One" and "Sheep in a Shop," to much more involved books like "Paddle-to-the-Sea."

If you notice that these are in a weird order and random groupings/pairings, you are right. I decided to go the lazy way. My OCD-ness may get the better of me later and I may go into convulsions, but my desire to finish this post and go read my Agatha Christie book is currently winning the inner battle :-D.

Picture Books

• A is for Annabelle and 1 is One (easily the most beautiful introductions to the alphabet and numbers) 
• Paddle-to-the-Sea  
• The Book of Jonah and Noah's Ark 
• Madeline books 
• Lullabies and Goodnight (artwork of Mary Cassatt) 
• My Big Little Golden Book about God 
• Ox-Cart Man 
• I Spy books 
• The Rich Man and the Shoemaker 
• Prayers for Children 
• Baby Animals on the Farm and The Poky Little Puppy (there are many great Little Golden books 
• Bedtime Book (Tasha Tudor's amazing illustrations) 
• First Prayers (Tudor again - we really like her illustrations :-D) 
• Waddle, Waddle, Quack, Quack, Quack 
• Owl Moon 
• Paddington Bear books (he has some picture books, some chapter) 
• Annie and the Wild Animals and The Mitten 
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel  
• Poems and Prayers for the Very Young 
• 1001 Animals to Spot (a very easy way to develop search skills and learn names of animals at the same time!) 
• John Henry  
• The Jesus Storybook Bible 
• The Children's Illustrated Bible  
• Hush, Little Baby (I LOVE this take on the classic nursery rhyme, very sweet) 
• King Arthur's Very Great Grandson 
• Scuttle the Stowaway Mouse  
• The Pineapple Story 
• One Morning in Maine, Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings, and Lentil (Robert McCloskey is one of our favorite children's picture book authors) 
• A New Coat for Anna  
• Amos and Boris  
• A Handful of Beans  
• The Lord is my Shepherd  
• Peter Rabbit and almost anything Beatrix Potter wrote :-) 
• The Original Winnie the Pooh stories (A.A. Milne - there are two story books: "Winnie the Pooh," and "The House at Pooh Corner") 
• The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree  
• A Child's Garden of Verses  
• The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge 
• The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy 
• Little Toot 
• Sheep in a Shop 
• Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin 
• My ABC Bible Verses (Susan Hunt - I liked this one better than the Genesis one she wrote) 
• Snow Bears 
• Snow 
• No Nap for Benjamin Badger 
• The Adventures of Reddy Fox (and so many other great stories by Burgess) 
• When I Was Young in the Mountains 
• A Porcupine Name Fluffy 
• Dr. Seuss's ABC (see, I actually like a Seuss book - call me inconsistent :-D) 
• Going to Sleep on the Farm  
• Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep 
• The Year at Maple Hill Farm  
• Island Boy 
• The Rag Coat 

We also love original fairy tales by Grimm, Anderson, et al. Lots of goodies there. But our versions are actually very picture-sparse. I'm sure there are great retellings out there with more pictures :-).

Now please share YOUR favorite children's books! (Even if they are Seuss, we can still be friends ;-).)

Why Dr. Seuss is not my idea of a great children's literary experience. . . (A post to inspire, not to judge!)

This is not a moral issue. This post is meant to inspire, NOT to judge. And I truly mean that. Please read and ponder, and know that you can read Dr. Seuss to my kids AND let me visit your house without hiding Dr. Seuss books from your shelves :-D. But here's why you won't find much Dr. Seuss around our house. . .

~~~

I grew up reading a number of Dr. Seuss books and loved them. And I can remember many fond memories of reading Dr. Seuss to young kids who I babysat. They're light years better than "Captain Underwear" and other similar wastes of paper that appear on library shelves and book stores everywhere :-P. Quite frankly, most of the kids' literature out there today is just trash. If it isn't obscene, it's just gross, or trite, or P.C., or dumb. So Dr. Seuss is better than a lot of options :-). And I speak of both early children's books and general elementary literature.

But leaping to the conclusion that Dr. Seuss is great literature (because it's better than Captain Underwear) is like saying that Subway is great food because it's better than McDonald's. (I could make similar potshots at modern art, but I won't.)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with exposing kids to Dr. Seuss. We own a select few, and I have absolutely no problem with my kids getting read Dr. Seuss by others, just like (allergies notwithstanding) I don't mind if they have the occasional fast food french fries or chicken fingers (gag!) as a treat, but that would not be a regular standby in their diet. And just like there are zillions of movies I would let my kids see at someone else's house (and many, of course, that I wouldn't), but not many of them would I want us to own. Ken Myers, who wrote All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes, has some fabulous things to say about the difference between "main diet," and occasional exposure/consumption. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the book on hand (a friend is borrowing it), so I can't give any exact quotes. But definitely read the book! It's fabulous.

But back to Dr. Seuss. He is not great literature. Seriously, folks. Stop trying to pretend he is the end-all, be-all of fine literary experience for kids! Agh. The drawings are medicore at best, most of the text is nonsensical (and not even in a witty nonsensical way, for the most part), and the plots are limited in scope. There is a reason, though. Dr. Seuss was written for early readers.

Let me say that again:
Dr. Seuss books were written as early readers. 

^That is what they should be used for. They are fabulously great and fun early readers, and when my son first finished phonics and we were looking for early readers, I reached for Dr. Seuss as a primary source. Dr. Seuss is fabulous for early readers! And so much better than 2/3 of the early readers in my local library. We read, we laughed, we enjoyed (for the first few readings, and then I was like "moving on," PLEASE, to a better plot), and then thankfully we returned them so I didn't have to have all my brain cells die slowly from Dr. Seuss overdose ;-).

My son would have been quite happy to remain reading Dr. Seuss books ad nauseum forever and ever, but he was also quite happy to move on to bigger and better things. I'm not talking Dickens and Tolstoy. I'm just talking about children's literature that is great stuff. And I do think his reading ability, his attention span, his reading comprehension skills, and his mother's sanity are the better for the short duration of our tryst with Seuss :-D.

Read The Cat in the Hat or One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Laugh, enjoy. But there is nothing to keep thinking about.

But read a kid the original Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne (not the trivialized Disney adaptations). They are so accessible to young kids (once again, I'm not trying to force my kids to read Dickens novels at the age of 3 or 6). They are hilariously witty and complex, but simple for kids, all rolled up into one. I can read them again and again and they do not get old. There are layers of complexity and brilliance in there. The illustrations are fantastic but not over-the-top and distracting.

Next read Beatrix Potter. (Did you know she wrote many more stories than just Peter Rabbit??) Charming illustrations that are unmatched in children's literature. Beautiful tales for children and adults to enjoy. Try A Child's Garden of Verses next. And anything by Robert McCloskey. Move on to The Adventures of Reddy Fox, and then anything else by Burgess. My kids have spent hours and hours acting out their own imaginations from these books. There is so much "scope for the imagination" in them. I could go on and on with more recommendations, but those are some starters :-). Read Island Boy. Owl Moon. Paddle-to-the-Sea.

Okay, fine. I really will stop with the recommendations :-). It's just so easy to go on and on!

But to sum up, try reading the books I mention above. Soak yourself and your kids in them for a few months. (To make this really work, spirit away Dr. Seuss so they're out of sight and out of mind. In the same way that to make a change in diet, you don't try to convince your kids to eat vegetables and fruit while a box of cookies is on the counter.)

After soaking in good books for a few months, go back to Dr. Seuss. Yes, really. Go back! And see if Dr. Seuss resonates with you in the same way. Is he still just as witty? Just as hilarious? Just as great? If so, please enjoy Dr. Seuss with my compliments. (And feel free to read him to my kids.) But if he seems hollow, trite, and "eh, okay," then that's okay too.

And I would be happy to smother you with more book recommendations if you need Dr. Seuss alternatives ;-).