Best Children's Books

My good friends John & Kim Cook asked me which kid’s books I liked the best. I thought that I would start to capture a list of the ones that I like and the kids like.

I will try to keep it up to date from time to time.

Note: at the time I am writing this, my boys are three and five.

Also, the list is in no particular order…

Jez Alborough

Jez is a wonderful illustrator. His writing is pretty fun and clever too. I highly recommend him.

• My Friend Bear
  • Rhyming story about a boys and a bear looking for friendship and find each other.
• Duck in the Truck
  • A Duck gets stuck in the muck and people help him get out…

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

These are all great. I don’t even mind reading them again and again. We have even seen a the Gruffalo as a play.

• Room on the Broom
  • Cute story of a nice witch that gets into trouble with a dragon and her friends help her out.
• The Gruffalo
  • A very clever mouse proves he is the king of the forest.
• The Smartest Giant in Town
  • A generous giant nearly ends up with nothing, but an army of friends
• Monkey Puzzle
  • A little monkey need help finding his mom.

Nick Butterworth

Nick’s stories are really fun to read and occasionally interactive (i.e. you have to find the gold coins, or there is a maze). The Percy books are in a wonderful make believe world of humans and talking animals.

• Stories Jesus Told
  • This is a great book, obviously Christian, but several parables brought to life that make sense to teach.
• Percy the Parkeeper
  • The boys love all the Percy books… I think some are better than others, but they are all readable.
• Q Pootle 5 in Space
  • An extremely silly space story that they boys love. Angela hates it, I think its fairly cleaver.

Mick Inkpen

The boys love all the Kipper books. They have tons of them for all ages, so choose carefully. I am just giving one pointer, you can browse for the rest.

• Kipper

Dr. Suess

You can not go wrong with Dr. Suess, our favourites are:

• Cat in the Hat
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Yertle the Turtle
• Horton Hears a Who!
• Horton Hatches the Egg
• The Lorax
• And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

For Younger Kids

• The Foot Book
• Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You
• Ten Apples Up on Top!

Roald Dahl

He is for older kids in general… but always entertaining.

I only picked my top three… and always get the Quentin Blank illustrated versions.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• James and the Giant Peach
• The Enormous Crocodile – for younger kids with my favorite line… “clever plans and evil tricks…“

Arnold Lobel

These are some of the best stories ever. I seriously choke up reading some of them.

• Owl at Home
• Mouse Tails
• Grasshopper on the Road
• Frog and Toad Are Friends

Shel Silverstein

These books of poems were my personal favorites in the 3rd grade. I am very glad that my boys love them.

• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• A Light in the Attic
• The Giving Tree

Richard Scary

Angela and I feel the same here. Huckle Cat ( see ‘The Best Mistake Ever!’ ) is great… all other books are painful. But the kids love them… just wait until they are old enough to do it themselves. If you have to … just look for goldbug… makes it a little better.

• The Best Mistake Ever! and Other Stories
• Best Storybook Ever!
• Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

OTHER GOOD ONES

• Something Else by Kathryn Cave We even saw a play of this. A good story with a great message.
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff A perfect circle and very cute and fun.
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone I think this is the best version of all.
• Mr Men Books by Roger Hargreaves We own the entire box set. They are cute and quick reads, each teaching about something good.
• Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino For younger kids a fun, rhyming story.

Anthologies

• The 20th-Century Children’s Book Treasury I think this is the best purchase ever. It has all my old favourites and many new ones… for kids of all ages too.
• The Animals’ Bedtime Storybook The boys love this one and we read it from end to end. Its loosely based on Noah’s Ark, each night a different animal tells a different story. It isn’t religous at all, but very fun.