Vote the best children's books of all time.

Cafe Society
1

The have been many threads about literature and favorite books. I don’t really recall seeing this done.
I want to see the choised for the best childrens books. I mean picture books, not Judy Blume of Bevrely Cleary.
THE RULES:
Once a book has three nominations, it’s in.

THE CATAGORIES
Classic children’s books and newer, contemporary childrens books.

My first nominees:
For classic:
Green Eggs and Ham- Dr. Suess
Time of Wonder- Robert McCloscky
Contemporary:
Jubal’s Wish-Audrey Wood

okay someone take this

2

I think these are contemporary:

The Lettuce Leaf Birthday Letter-by Linda Taylor
and
Bunnys Night Out-by Roni Schotter

3

I’m not exactly sure where these fall, but I’ll try to seperate them into categories:

Classic:
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm - Provensen
The B Book - Stan and Jan Berenstein
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel - Burton

Contemporary:
Arrow to the Sun - Pueblo Indian Tale, illustrated by George McDermott
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day - Viorst
The Wump World - Bill Peet
Whose Mouse are you? - Kraus

4

Classic

Cat in the Hat — Suess
(Second) Green Eggs and Ham — Suess
Where the Wild Things Are – by Maurice Sendak
Good Night Moon — Margaret Wise Brown

Don’t have many ideas on contemp.

5

Classic:

**The Snowy Day

Go Dog, Go!

Where the Wild Things Are

Yertle the Turtle

The Giving Tree**

Contemporary:

No David!

6

Classic: books by Munro Leaf, especially the “Can be Fun” series, such as Manners Can Be Fun, Geography Can Be Fun, etc. Leaf also wrote The Story of Ferdinand. These are collectibles, having been writting in the '30’s and '40’s, I believe.

7

Contemporary
Where the Wild Things Are
Really Rosie
Chicken Soup With Rice
The Z was Zapped
The Rainbow Goblins (dull story, but the pictures are so damned gorgeous, I’ve just made up my own stories to go with the pictures.

Classic:
Katie Many-Pockets
Mike Mulligan and His Steam-Shovel
Bread and Jam for Frances
On Beyond Zebra
Barthomew And the Ooblek

Fenris

8

I guess I should have thought more about the difference between classic and contemporary.
A classic is something read to you as a child, contemporary, more recent, perhaps something you read to yeour shildren
ieces, nephews ect.

9

Jumanji

Where the Wild Things Are

10

Classic: Goodnight Moon the rhythm of the words, the warm, slightly mysterious illustrations, a perfect kid’s book

Little Blue and Little Yellow written/illustrated by Leo Lionni
he does so much with so little, and the kids love this story

I will second Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm fascinating illustrations and a real feel for farm life

and third Where the Wild Things Are
I have this book memorized

a new one the kids love: The Cinder-eyed Cats

11

Good heavens! Ten posts in and no ** Charlotte’s Web? ** Who are you people?

I’ll jump on ** Where The Wild Things Are. **

My personal favorite, which I have read at least 20 times, many of those long since becoming an adult, is ** The Little Princess. ** (Please don’t watch either of the movies made from it. While the second one is miles better than the Shirley Temple monstrosity, neither does anything like justice to the book. And if you have daughters, make sure you get this one for them.)

12

Very Hungry Caterpillar

There’s a Monster at the End of This Book

and, a bit more mature but still children’s lit…

Where the Red Fern Grows

13

Where the Wild Things Are has its nominations, so I’ll suggest:
Curious George
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
The Lorax

14

Oh it’s The Giving Tree all the way, baby!

That’s the only picture book ever to make me feel any real emotion (yes, I cried… ;))

  • Wind
15

Sticking to picture books as per the OP I have these nominations.

Classic

(2nd) The Cat in the Hat - To limit myself to just one of his books.
(1st) Pua Pua Lena Lena and the Magic Kiha-Pu
(1st) Kahala - These two by Guy & Pam and Buffet, great stories taken from Hawaiian legends and incredibly illustrated by the pair.
(1st) Pat the Bunny
(1st) Tikki Tikki Tembo

16

The Hundred Dresses, timeless classic.

17

Caroline & Her Friends – Ripping adventure yarns with a little girl and her eight animal friends. Hard to find since not often translated from French.

Yertle The Turtle – Teach your kids how to stage a workers’ revolution!

Tinker & Tanker – Little known Richard Scarry series about a pair of fix-it-up guys. Kind of like McGiver for toddlers.

18

What’s with the “picture book” limitation? I can’t see any reason to discriminate. Heck, if I ever have a kid, I probably would disallow picture books, they stifle imagination and thought. Roald Dahl, Beverly Clearly, CS Lewis, those were the authors of my youth. I didn’t think picture books were really given much regard, and I’m amazed to see so many titles listed here. Do kids today read these books rather than written works?

19

Ever tried reading the Chronicles of Narnia to a two-year-old … ?

Picture books are primarily for reading aloud to kids too little to follow an involved plot. And for kids just learning to read so they need a book with very few words so they don’t get bogged down and discouraged. And for parents who want a story they can read from start to finish in ten to fifteen minutes as part of a bedtime ritual.

You know, my wife and I used to have lots of “if I ever have a kid” theories. They pretty much all fell by the wayside once we actually had a baby. Television’s not that bad for you … neither is Captain Crunch. Happy meal toys are a pretty good deal. We buy toy guns for our son and let our daughter dress up as a pretty princess. We own a zillion picture books and read them to the kids all the time cause they’re fun. We figure being crotchety about what the kids consume is more likely to screw them up than a few episodes of Scooby Doo or a few volumes of Dr. Seuss.

20

Heh heh, perhaps you’re right pochacco. I still think Teletubbies rot the brain, though. Anyways, your practical experience trumps my speculation, so prepare to resume learning in 5, 4, 3, 2…