# What are your favorite children's books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth\ **Created:** [January 22, 2024, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509 "2024-01-22T19:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/81 "2024-01-24T01:56:45Z")
**The Pushcart War** by Jean Merrill. I think this was the first story I ever read that was set in New York City. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/82 "2024-01-24T03:41:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Shelob isnt in the Hobbit, she is in LotR- perhaps you mean the spiders in the forest? Probably so. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/83 "2024-01-24T04:17:55Z")
Phantom Tollbooth, Mike Mulligan, Make Way for Ducklings, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Through the Looking Glass, Henry Reed to name a few missing from the list. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/84 "2024-01-24T05:57:21Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Elizabeth Enright! **Gone-Away Lake** Excellent choice. The sequel wasnt quite as good tho. Oh, and LM Boston and her wonderful _Green Knowe_ series. I believe there are 6, ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/85 "2024-01-24T11:12:58Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Farmer Giles of Ham by Tolkien. …where i first heard of the Blunderbuss !! Also … The first books i remember reading were from a series called [The Three Pirates.](https://schoolreading70sbooks.weebly.com/the-three-pirates-griffin-and-little-dragons.html) and [The Family from One End Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_from_One_End_Street) about a working class family in England in the 1930s. This is bringing back lots of memories ! ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/86 "2024-01-24T15:48:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Chronicles of Prydain series > The Danny Dunn series > Blueberries for Sal (and also Make Way for Ducklings and One Morning in Maine). Chronos listed the first two I was going to add: The Chronicles of Prydain and Blueberries for Sal (I also read Danny Dunn, but it isn’t on my favorites list) I’d like to add the works of Zylpha Keatley Snyder, especially _The Velvet Room_ and _Black and Blue Magic_. Also _All-of-a-Kind Family_, which I loved because it’s a Jewish family _I Can’t Said the Ant_ and the _Ant and Bee_ books, which have no connection, but always went together in my childhood mind ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/87 "2024-01-24T17:10:35Z")
Of the books on this list, how are some of them ‘childen’s books’? Little Women, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia are tough sledding for many adults. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/88 "2024-01-24T17:26:26Z")
Chronicles of Narnia is absolutely kidlit. LotR is really not. Little Women? I confess I’ve never read it, but I think it is, given the ages at which my kids had it as a readaloud. A lot more good oldies have been added. My previous post recommended a bunch of recent books by authors of color. Here are some really good recent ones that aren’t: -_The Tale of Despereaux_: most of Kate DiCamillio’s works are too twee or too Newbury-bait for my tastes. This book about talking mice in a castle won the Newbury, but I still love it. It’s got some really interesting emotional depth, and its metaphors about storytelling as a light in the darkness resonates with me. Far and away my favorite book by her. Don’t see the movie, dear god. -_The Graveyard Book_, by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman’s just magical, and this book is my favorite of his kidlit, narrowly edging out _Crazy Hair_ and _Coraline_. It’s a very solid adventure. The chapter about the ghouls is some of the best Lovecraftian fiction every written. -_Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus_: there have been a bunch of interactive picture books, but this one is the best. Mo Willems is the hero we need. Plus, unlike _Knuffle Bunny Free_, it doesn’t make me cry. I once wrote new lyrics to _God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman_ with the plot of this book (“But this pigeon has failed at every ploy, cumbersome ploy, now this little bird has failed at every ploy”), and now my kids say they can’t hear that song any other way. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/89 "2024-01-24T17:47:44Z")
I wish I’d had the internet back when I was young (I was always a voracious reader). Example, reading ‘Little Women’, there were some words (charabanc, blancmange) I had to guess at from proximity to the rest of the sentence. (a vehicle and a pudding). I was horse crazed and read ‘National Velvet’, set in England in the 20’s or 30’s, and that, too was puzzling to an American teenager (but it was a wonderful book) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/90 "2024-01-24T18:06:35Z")
**The Little Red Car by Bernice Orawski** It’s not a great book, it’s not long, it is just the book that means the most to the small kid still inside Sitnam. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/91 "2024-01-24T18:41:21Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > _Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH w_as one of my favorites. > > Also _The Great Brain_ series by John D. Fitzgerald Both of these! I have read the complete “Great Brain” series to all children under my care as an adult, as I had such fond memories of the shenanigans in the stories when they were read to me by my fifth grade teacher. He would read from the series as a break from the regular classroom grind, and we loved it. When my daughter was in 4th grade she made a very cool diorama of the Kitchen Scene from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/92 "2024-01-24T22:17:28Z")
Yes. This is my favorite Dr. Seuss book. It’s too weird for a lot of people, but I had one student (now in high school) who loved it as much as I do. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/93 "2024-01-24T22:20:22Z")
Many years ago I managed the library he frequented as a kid in East New York, Brooklyn. No, he was deceased by then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/94 "2024-01-24T22:21:01Z")
Two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books from childhood that I seldom hear mentioned are _Bartholomew and the Oobleck_ (which I now think is a little reminiscent of James Thurber) and _Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose_. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/95 "2024-01-24T22:24:07Z")
The former (as well as The 500 Caps of Bartolomew Cubbins) are notable for not rhyming. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/96 "2024-01-24T22:26:49Z")
The King’s Stilts also does not rhyme. I loved both Cubbins books as a kid; my own kids were fond of them too. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/97 "2024-01-24T22:35:47Z")
Another book I loved as a child I have NOT seen mentioned is _Harriet The Spy_ by Louise Fitzgugh. Also _Homecoming_ by Cynthia Voigt and _One Child_ by Torey Hayden. (_One Child_ is really not a “children’s” book–there are mentions of severe child abuse and rape) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/98 "2024-01-24T23:02:08Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Several of Sandra Boynton’s board books, such as _But Not the Hippopotamus_ and _Moo, Baa, La-La-La_. “Pajama Time” was a _BIG_ hit with my boys. The “I Stink” / “I’m Dirty” books by Kate and Jim McMullan were also huge hits. So were “Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site” by Sherri Duskey Rinker, and Tom Lichtenfeld, and “No David!” by David Shannon. “Calm Down Boris” by Sam Lloyd was another popular one. “Go Away Big Green Monster” was also a favorite. "Who Said Moo? by Harriet Ziefert, and all the Karen Katz books as well. Byron Barton’s machine books (Planes, Machines at Work, etc…) were fun. Leslie Patricelli has some really fun ones like “Yummy, Yucky”. Tony Mitton’s books about vehicles were must-reads as well. And of course, the Richard Scarry books. (How could you leave those off?!?) Once we got out of early childhood, my kids really liked the Chronicles of Narnia, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit books were all much loved. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/99 "2024-01-25T01:28:50Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > _Half Magic_ and other books by Edgar Eager. Yes!! > [@terentii](#): > > _ **The Mad Scientists’ Club** _ and its sequels, by Bertrand Brinley. > _ **Andy Buckram’s Tin Men** _, by Carol Ryrie Brink. These, too. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509/100 "2024-01-26T05:50:46Z")
I, too, liked the _Mrs. Piggle Wiggle_ books. I also liked another book that was illustrated by the same artist: _Eloise_. And just about any Dr. Seuss book, with the exception of _Bartholomew and the Oobleck_–that one freaked me out a la _The Blob_! _Hop On Pop_ made such an impression on me at such a young age, that I still find myself spontaneously remembering, “STOP! Do not hop on pop!” and “Snack, snack, eat a snack/ eat a snack with Brown and Black.” Our family also had some comic strip collections that I enjoyed such as the _Peanuts_ books, _L’il Abner,_ and _MAD Magazine_ anthologies. There were also some illustrated joke books that I liked, eg, _Bennett Cerf’s Book of Laughs_. Basically, anything with fun, goofy illustrations, which I enjoyed even more than the stories. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-childrens-books/996509.md?page=6)