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

My Friend Bear

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

Room on the Broom

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

Nick Butterworth

Stories Jesus Told

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

Kipper

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.

Dr. Suess

The Cat in the Hat

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

For Younger Kids

  • The Foot Book
  • Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You
  • ” Ten Apples Up on Top!”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679892478/qid=1110468414/sr=1-26/ref=sr_1_26/103-7362928-1760618?v=glance&s=books

Roald Dahl

The Enormous Crocodile

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

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

Arnold Lobel

Owl at Home

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

Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends

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

Richard Scary

The Best Mistake Ever! and Other Stories

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.

OTHER GOOD ONES

Anthologies

  • The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury 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 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.