• Something From Nothing  (Rep. & R) – An Jewish Folktale of a little boy and his blanket; there is also a great picture story on the bottom of each page.
• Jillian Jiggs Series (R ) esp. Marvelous Pigs
• Balloon Tree

Eileen Christelow

•   Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed  (Rep. & R)

Eric Carle

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?
• Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you See? North American Animals
• From Head to Toe
• The Very Busy Spider

Sam McBratney

•  Nutbrown Hare Series – A cute series of a bunny learning about life with his daddy.

Jez Alborough

• Where’s my Teddy? – “Eddie’s off to find his teddy, Eddies Teddy’s name is Freddy…” There is a second book but we have only read the first. (R )

Karma Wilson

• Bear Snores On (R and Rep.)- This is also a series.

Nancy Van Laan

•  So Say the Tiny Monkeys  (R and Rep)
•  When Winter Comes (R and Rep)

Nancy also has several other books that we really enjoy, most of them about different cultures and countries ; the stories are very interesting.

Elsa Beskow

•   Pelle’s New Suit – a little boy needs a new suit so works his way from raw wool to suit.
•    Emily and Daisy– a little girl helps her mother by watching their cow and has an interesting adventure.

Elsa’s books are translated from Swedish but for the most part translate well. She has many that we have read, some are at too old a level for a three year old but I really enjoyed them. And her art is lovely!

Dr. Seuss  (Rep & R)

• Oh the Thinks You Can Think One of those going to sleep books!
• Green Eggs and Ham  Great for encouraging trying new things in our family!
• ABC’s

Robert McCloskey

•  Make Way for Ducklings
• Blueberries for Sal

Bruce Degen  (R )

• Jamberry : be sure to read Bruce’s little note at the end!

Annie North Bedford

• Farmer Brown’s Birthday (R )

Janet Morgan Stoeke

•   Minerva Louise Series – a funny little hen mistakes objects for other things, such as a school for a barn. The bright pictures and few words of her mistakes are very humorous to toddlers/preschoolers.

Donald Hall

• Ox Cart Man – goes through the seasons and work of an early nineteenth century New England Family (Well-loved by both Aneliese and Daddy).

Pamela Allen

• Belinda – how will Old Tom milk Belinda the Cow?
• Who Sank the Boat? – when several animals clamor into a boat, who sinks it?

Pamela has at least 30  children’s books and is a very humorous writer.

Ludwig Bemelmans

• Madeline Series– the first book published in 1939 and they all begin, “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines….the smallest one was Madeline” .  The simple themes are written all in rhyme and some take a couple of readings to know how the words need to be said to rhyme, but so much fun!

Candace Christensen

• The Mitten Tree – Elderly Sarah notices a little boy waiting at the bus stop with no mittens and so begins that mystery of the mittens appearing on the blue spruce tree.

Jan Brett

• The Hat– Hedgie the Hedgehog finds a stocking that he decides is a hat much to the amusement of the farm animals.

Jan has many titles, some that we like and others that we haven’t got into yet but will in the future. The Scandinavian style of her illustrations are very appealing. Brett incorporates small pictures in her borders to give the reader clues to what is going on in other parts of the story, adding interest for older children but a often little too much visually for very young children.

Margaret Wise Brown

• The Big Red Barn  A rhyming story about barn yard animals.

Margaret Wise Brown is considered a favorite children’s classics author. We really like the above book but for the most part, I find her writing somewhat choppy and awkward to read because sometimes it flows smoothly and then has a word or two abruptly out of place. Just my opinion though.

Virginia Lee Burton

• The Little House A little house that “may never be sold for silver or gold” begins out in the country on a hill all alone and over the years becomes surrounded by the city. Great illustrations and is a captivating story of change.

Burton also has some other books that I have heard are good but haven’t read; Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Maybelle the Cable Car are two that come to mind.

What are some of you and your kids favorite books? I actually have another list of books suggested by others when I asked on facebook that I am looking forward to going through once we are settled in our new home and have time to discover the library there.

* If you are interested in reading my previous entries on reading, I have given an intro, some reasons for the library, some tips on reading with kids, and a fun memory from last summer. Next, I will be sharing a list of older children’s books as well as some of the authors and books that I loved as an older child/teenager.