After reading the exhaustive list of books and reading material suggested on the other book threads, I began to feel bad about the number of books I have read over the last few years (very few). Then it came to me....I have read probably 200 books over the last 4 years - 200 children's books read to my daughter that is. Since there are several posters with young children, I thought it might be fun to share some favorites.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein - Probably my favorite book to read to my daughter. A simply drawn and well written story about unconditional love. There may be deeper meanings in the story, but my bottom line is that I always get a special feeling after I read it.

Love You Forever by Sheila McGraw (Illustrator) and Robert N. Munsch - All-time, tear-jerking story for children. Not tears from my daughter, but tears from me. If you don't well up the first time you read this story, you are a cold-hearted bastard. Covers the parent/child life cycle in simple sweet verse.

Curious George series by H.A. and Margaret Rey - My daughter loves that naughty monkey. The series covers everything from the ABC's to going to the hospital to just having fun.

The Last Basselope by Berke Breathed - I was pleased to find that one of my favorite comic strip authors had written a book for children. Things aren't always as they seem as Opus, Bill the Cat (Ack!) and others go in search of the Last Basselope. Vivid colors and engaging pictures carry this book.

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg - Like most books made into film, the book is better. Excitement, tension and several scary parts all very well-drawn in pencil.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg - A story about the magic of Christmas and a trip to the North Pole. Good for all year reading in my daughter's opinion.

There were many others but these stand out in my mind probably because I enjoyed reading them (over and over in many cases) as much as my daughter. As she gets older, I am looking forward to reading the Chronicles of Narnia and maybe even a little Tolkien when the time is right.

If you know of any good children's books, I am always looking to boost my daughter's library.

-DavidCPA

"Love You Forever by Sheila McGraw (Illustrator) and Robert N. Munsch - All-time, tear-jerking story for children. Not tears from my daughter, but tears from me. If you don't well up the first time you read this story, you are a cold-hearted bastard. Covers the parent/child life cycle in simple sweet verse."

Still, it creeps me out to no end when the old mom climbs through the bedroom window to cradle her adult son. Great idea, but that still really gets me.

Let me also add... Goodnight Moon sucks. But kids do indeed love it. At my home we're all about Theodore Geisel.

-Andrew

Man, I love Goodnight Moon!

Some favs at the three boy infested Long home. You'll pardon me if I forgo authors with this quick list...

Arthur books (any, though Arthur's Computer Disaster is a great one).
Goodnight Moon
Guess How Much I Love You
Sheep in a Shop
Sheep in a Jeep
If the Dinosaurs Came Back
Parts
Green Wilma
Polar Express (but only at Christmas!)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Clifford, The Big Red Dog (any)
The Rainbow Fish
Just about anything Seuss...

There's TONS of kids books in my house. We read to the boys quite a bit. My middle son Isaac, 1 year 3 months now, sits down and pages through them on his own often. His Mom's a heavy reader so he definitely got that from her. I like reading, but mostly newspapers, magazines and uh, web forums. :)

--Dave

I must be getting old,
to be so bold,
to forget that my tot,
likes Dr. Seuss alot.

Cat in the Hat, Left Foot, Right Foot, Green Eggs and Ham, The Grinch Stole Christmas - all very high on the list.

Andrew...Remember it's a book for children. They don't think it's creepy that mom will still check up on them when they are older. It is probably very comforting. From a parent's perspective, don't tell me that you can't imagine still wanting to watch over your child even though they are grown. Actually doing it is creepy, wanting to do it is natural.

-DavidCPA

Strongly recommend "The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip," by George Saunders. I don't have kids, but I do have the book.

"The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg - A story about the magic of Christmas and a trip to the North Pole."

Beautiful book. Every Christmas, our town's park district charters a couple of cars on the local commuter railroad and runs a "Polar Express." The train actually just goes from Downers Grove to Aurora, IL. But, of course, we tell the little ones that the Aurora station is the North Pole and they have the inside of the station done up as Santa's workshop. Santa's there to give every kid a bell (which makes sense if you know the story).

Every family brings their copy of the book along and reads it on the trip out there. Every family that is, except this Mom last year who brought her kids and then completely ignored them for the entire trip while she conducted her real estate business on her cell phone. It was all I could do to suppress the urge to grab the damned thing from her hand and throw it out the door of the train.

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Quote:

It was all I could do to suppress the urge to grab the damned thing from her hand and throw it out the door of the train.

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I only remember two books from when I was a kid -

Basil Brush Gets a Medal
and
Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

"That's really cool though, Jason. That's a fantastic idea and I'm sure the kids absolutely love it. Even gives out a bell...wow...."

Yeah, somebody at our park district was really inspired. It's so popular that they now charter cars on two separate trains. We figure we have this one last season to do it. Clara, who is just turned 6 is still into it. But our son, John, is 9 now and has made it clear he's only going along for the treats they pass out. Hopefully the parents sitting by us this year will be a little more into it.

Daniel Pinkwater:

Fat Men from Space - "Through his radio tooth, William learns of an invasion by spacemen who are taking all of earth's supply of junk food."

Lizard Music - "When left to take care of himself, a young boy becomes involved with a community of intelligent lizards who tell him of a little known invasion from outer space."

The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror - "Walter Galt, Winston Bongo, and their female friend Rat have an adventure involving a beatnik poet and a werewolf."

Pinkwater's a great children's writer, and fun for adults too.

And, in a strange bit of synchronicty, I went to the Pinkwater page to get the above descriptions and while there checked out the forums. I saw this post:

"Hello Mr. Pinkwater,
One day I was surfing this abandoneware site (abandoneware is games that are not made any more so they are free to download) and I came across a game called the superhero league of Hoboken. I read a lot of your books and my fav was the Hoboken chiken emergency. I found the game zany and additive like your books. So I thought you might have fun playing it. You can get it at www.theunderdogs.org/game.php?name=Superhero+League+of+Hoboken I hope you enjoy it cause I know I did!"

Strange, considering we just had a thread about that site on the boards today.

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Quote:

Love You Forever by Sheila McGraw (Illustrator) and Robert N. Munsch

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Good thread. I guess I spend a good amount of time reading children's books these days, too.

Goodnight Moon is an all time favorite at my house too. My son is really into the moon for some reason. Whenever he sees it, he points and lets out a long wailing Moooooooooonnnnnnnnnnn! He cracks me up.

I can't believe no one mentioned Runaway Bunny. Great story about unconditional love and being a parent. Wasn't it written or illustrated by the same person who did Goodnight Moon? I see an illustration from Runaway Bunny appears on a page in Goodnight Moon.

Jamberry. Another favorite of mine, but the kids are getting too old for it. It's very lyrical and lots of fun to read, just to feel the words roll off your tounge. Not much adult poetry has that sort of musical quality.

Ah... I forgot the "If You Give a _____ a ______" books like "If You Give a Moose a Muffin". Those are great reads with great illustrations. My kids really dig those.

--Dave

Let's not forget, "Where the Wild Things Are." I remember enjoying that when I was a kid. Let the wild rumpus begin!

Speaking, for a moment, as a teacher: For older children, one cannot go wrong with books by Jerry Spinelli (Maniac Magee, Space Station Seventh Grade), Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia, Jip), Louis Sachar (There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom, The Boy Who Lost His Face), and Lois Lowry (The Giver, Number the Stars).

Anything by Roald Dahl I loved when i was younger. Shel Silverstein was pretty fun to read. And Grimms fairy tales , mythology stuff i was addicted to as well... at about the time i discoverd DnD... oh yeah and CS Lewis Narnia stuff and Lloyd Alexander, I particualrly remember Taran The Wanderer with his finding out about his father... was the sadest moment reading that chapter.

etc

"The train actually just goes from Downers Grove to Aurora, IL"

Hey J, I know that area, and thats the metra Burlington line... i live in willwobrook... so i know the area well! Did you go to high school around here?

etc

"Hey J, I know that area, and thats the metra Burlington line... i live in willwobrook... so i know the area well! Did you go to high school around here?"

Well we're neighbors! But no, I didn't grow up around here. Oddly enough I went to the same suburban Cleveland high school that Erik went to.

Okay, so I'm a bit late on this thread, so ignore me if you like. But how was I to know you guys were talking about GOOD books in here!? A few comments:

Goodnight Moon. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but now I love it. Like Joyce's Ulysses, it really benefits from further readings. Okay, so I'm exaggerating, but how can you hate a book with the lines, "Goodnight Nobody. Goodnight Mush."?

I, of course, am a Dr. Seuss fan from way back in my own childhood. Without a single doubt, his best work in my opinion is "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" Not a well-known one, I don't think, but one of his most intricate in terms of meter, rhyme, content, and fun. Pants Eating Plants, for god's sake!

I'm glad Mark mentioned Daniel Pinkwater. Some of the best books I ever checked out of my local library when I was young. Hooray for him!

I'm raising an 8-month old right now, so every book we read to him is over his head. But there are certain ones he seems to really connect to. Anything Blue's Clues seems to work.

Finally, I really had to share a couple recent "finds". If you can get these, I guarantee you (and, you know, your kids too... if you want to pretend you're buying these for *them*) won't be disappointed:

Ken Wilson-Max. Does a whole series of brilliant pop-up, moving-part books. Big Silver Space Shuttle, Big Blue Engine, etc. etc. Some really ingenious mechanisms, surprisingly sturdy bits (still, watch your kids when they play with them), and a style that's whimsical but somehow kinda technical. Really cool.

Bang on the Door. That's the name of the company that writes and draws this other series of books that make me wet my pants, they're so good. And I've only got one book, called "Bat". They have a whole series of animal-themed books. Great art, clever premises, and just plain goofy sensibility. Besides Bat, there's Spider, Slug, and... oddly... Brain Cell. I've been looking for copies of these books but they seem to be out of print in the US. The UK seems to have plenty, though. If anyone has leads on where to find these books, please let me know.

Okay, I'm done. You caught me on a subject of recent obsession.

P.S. For older kids, don't forget Captain Underpants!

If you can find it, there's a book by one of the Monty Python lads, Michael Jones, I think, and I also think it's called Fairy Tales.

They're just fairy tales that he made up, but they're a lot of fun. My kids loved them.