My Three Favorites
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The Lorax
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The Butter Battle Book by Dr Seuss
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The Giving Tree
I would have my parents read these three over and over again
Maybe a nitpick: Isn’t the “Butter Battle” thing part of Fox in Socks? I seem to remember “If tweedle beetles had a battle in a puddle with paddles and butter, it would be a tweedle beetle butter paddle battle.” or something like that.
No no no. The Butter Battle Book is a book that is about two people “The Butter-Side Up” people and the “Butter-Side Down” people who are opposed to the other much the same way the capitalistic USA people were opposed and opposed by the communist USSR people.
There was no butter in Fox in Socks, which I forgot to nominate as one of my favorite books. One I still pull out to read.
I’m not really familiar with Fox in Socks so I don’t know if the story was originally told in that book or under that name.
The Butter Battle Book was published in 1984 and is it’s own story. The story is about two societies separated by a big wall. One society eats it’s bread butter side up and the other eats it butter side down and they end up going to war over it. I realise that’s a bit vague but my copy is at my parents house at the moment, I hope this helps.
How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen (1974) and A Near Thing for Captain Najork (1975) by Russell Hoban.
Here are a few my kids and I like the best:
Good Night Dinosaur, by Jane Yolen (The one book that can take my 2-yo from screaming to silence as soon as I open it. I can’t recommend it enough, the pictures are fabulous!)
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (and all the others)
Olivia
The Mr. Men Books
Click Clack Moo and Giggle Giggle Quack
My favs as a kid were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Richard Scarry books, The Donkey Prince, and The Seven Chinese Brothers.
AHHH! NOW I remember the Butter Battle Book! Thanks for straightening me out. The story is really very similar to the Sneetches, too. The “Tweedle Beetle Battle” is part of Fox in Socks, which is just a lot of tongue-twisting silliness.
And how could I have forgotten these?
Pickles the Fire Cat
Harry, the Dirty Dog
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel
I’d like to add the Berenstain Bears books and the Sweet Pickles books, but I can’t remember any individual titles.
I’ll stick with three :
But not the Hippopotamus
The Lorax
Miss Spider’s Tea Party
I was gone for the weekend and the thread took off!
I think that Dr. Suess seems to rule kids books, but not without Margeret Wise Brown, Shel Silverstein, and Robert McCloskey sharing the throne.
All these authors were part of what anyone who was a kid is today.
I nominate books by William Steig, including Dr. DeSoto, The Amazing Bone, and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; the Martha series by Susan Meddaugh (Martha Blah Blah, Martha Speaks, and Martha Walks the Dog), and my all-time favorite (it still makes me cry at the end): The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg.
I think these all fit in the contemporary category. For the classic category, I nominate The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams Bianco – although I think it’s not really a picture book. Still, it’s a great book for reading aloud to your children.
I have had this book since I was a kid and my grandkids love it.
**Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls by William Cole. **
I really not trying to warp them…
coincedence? Yes. Parade magazine had a good article today with several of our favorite picture books.
My pics (classics only - too old to be a kid and too young to have one!):
Go Dog, Go!
Goodnight Moon
The Runaway Bunny
Hop on Pop
All Bearnstien Bears books
The Sneeches and Other Stories (esp. “Too Many Daves”!!!)
There’s a Monster at the End Of This Book
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
All four of these contain very simple text, teach zen lessons and have extraordinary artwork.
A few more I thought of:
Little Lost Lamb, by Leonard Joseph Weisgard. The illustrations are just gorgeous.
Duck and His Friends, the Little Golden Book