Friday, October 30, 2009

Which Books?

This evening while I was at the bookstore, I was lamenting over the fact that there are so many wonderful children's books yet not enough time to read them all...especially before our children leave home.

Which works of literature would you like your children to read (or have read to them) before they leave your nest? Let's try to limit it to the top ten or less. You may also want to list the ones that were most influential to you as a child.

8 comments:

Sweet Polly Purebred said...

I need more time to think on this, but I'll start with these: Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers, Little House in the Big Woods, and A Christmas Carol.

Eldon and Janeil Olsen said...

The Great Brain series was fun. Trumpeter of the Swan by White.
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Secret Garden
A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle
Margaret Anderson's books

Eldon and Janeil Olsen said...

Thinking back to books I remember fondly as a youth I'd have to include Alcott's Little Women, Bronte's Jane Ayre, and Porter's Freckles.

Chuck said...

I just saw this cool article in the WSJ paper at work today. My favorite part was Jay Leno like Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel because it validated him showing off. I remember 'Where the Wild Things Are" and "Mike Mulligan..." and "Millions of Cats" and one about a bear and kid picking blueberries. Bits of "A Wrinkle in Time" sunk in. I just recently read "The Giver" and think that book was awesome. I'd trust the Caldecott and Newberry award books.

Sweet Polly Purebred said...

Carl, thank you for the article! I can't wait to get my hands on the books it mentioned.

Are you thinking of Blueberries for Sal?

When Steph was little I read Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House. I fell in love with it and it is still one of my favorite picture books to read aloud.

Sweet Polly Purebred said...

I just remembered this site...
ReadKiddoRead

Unknown said...

I liked Dr Seuss. Made me look at things differently not so much with logic.

Gail said...

Other than already mentioned:
The Monster at the end of this Book (Grover)
Storytime Tales © 1950 (The Cap that Mother Made; King Midas and the Golden Touch; The Magic Pot; The Sorcerer's Apprentice; The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean; Little Old Country Car; Mr. Nobody, etc.)
The Land of Oz, Baum, © 1904, ill. Neill
The Frog and Toad Treasury, written & ill. Lobel
Little Black Sambo (the one that glowed in the dark)
The Velveteen Rabbit, Winston
The Red Shoes, H.C. Andersen
Where the Sidewalk Ends, Silverstein

The "packaging" matters. I wouldn't want to read say The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean, or the Frog and Toad books if they were a newer version or illustrated differently.