Your Favorite Childrens Book - Page 2

[klt]

Why moves this from Childhood Years?

I wish this thread didn't get moved to Media. I never check that place, it seems it's about adult books.

I wish threads wouldn't move so often out of the Childhood Years into these sub-specialty places that moms may not be checking. We miss out on useful discussions on things related to our kids.

My 2 cents but I would like this to be considered before threads get shuffled around. Thanks.

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by andreac

Meh, maybe that IS the point. But I don't like the message. I think there is a difference between loving someone and wanting the best for them and just giving and giving and giving to someone who never seems to want to learn to stand on their own two feet and is rude and ungrateful to boot. I don't think that kind of giving does anyone any good. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Shel Silverstein fan, but that one is definitely not my fave.

I think this is the classic conversation people have about The Giving Tree....they either totally love it for the purity of the giving or balk at the selfishness of the taking.

I love book for the kind of conversations this duality can provoke between parents and children.

[AndrewsMother]

Originally Posted by klt

I wish this thread didn't get moved to Media. I never check that place, it seems it's about adult books.

I wish threads wouldn't move so often out of the Childhood Years into these sub-specialty places that moms may not be checking. We miss out on useful discussions on things related to our kids.

My 2 cents but I would like this to be considered before threads get shuffled around. Thanks.

I did not even know that this forum existed.

[Periwinkle]

Oh man. I can't stand Skippy Jon Jones. It's like an overstimulating nightmare Nickelodeon cartoon put into book form. And The Giving Tree is on my top 5 most hated children's books list. :

uh okay, to try to redeem myself, here are our absolute all-time top favorites (enjoyed by all three of my kids, ages 3-6) that I would say every child should own if possible or get from the library a zillion times:

* Circle of Friends (the power of selflessness and giving)
* When I Was Young In The Mountains (possibly one of our favorite stories, simple and lovely about Appalachia and enjoying the simple things in life)
* Little Country Town (still one of our favorite bedtime stories - again, simple country life and the pleasures of nature)
* The Sleeping Porch (family pulling together when their new house leaks... sweet and lovely)
* Night of the Moonjellies (a must-have for any New England people - has to be read with a deep Boston accent for the dialogue parts, lol)
* The Day the Babies Crawled Away (hilarious and kind of dark, as only this author can be... she also wrote Goodnight Gorilla)
* Snow (best children's book about the wonders of snow EVER... yes even better than The Snowy Day imo)
* The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (Molly Bang's finest book IMO... a wonderfully imaginative story)
* Bread and Jam for Frances (our favorite of the Frances series)
* Pelle's New Suit (Elsa Beskow classic)
* Fireflies (message of caring for nature with a wonderfully engaging story)
* Seven Silly Eaters (best book ever)
* Crossing (if you have a son (or dd) into trains, you HAVE to get this book - a classic Philip Booth poem set to amazing 40's era illustrations)
* Apple Picking Time (the value of working together and hard work)
* Hey, Al (great for children's books connoisseurs and lovers of hidden (and not-so-hidden) values lessons)
* A Tree Is Nice (the crunchy alternative to The Giving Tree - same message without the abject insanity, lol )
* When Vera Was Sick (little girl gets the chicken pox... my kids LOOOOVE the Vera books)

These books deal (gently) with death but in a really amazing way... my kids went through a phase of wanting to talk about death and these books were awesome, and now that they're through it, they still make wonderful stories to read over and over:

* The Bug Cemetery (all is fun and games when kids play funeral with their dead bugs until one of the little boys cat dies - the children understand then that "Funerals aren't any fun when they're for people you love".)
* The Growing Up Tree (an apple tree is planted when a baby boy is 1 year old... the tree and the boy, then man, grow up together, until one night in a storm both the apple tree and the old man die, but the story continues with the hope and circle of life as a seed from the tree sprouts in its place just as the old man's grandchildren are happy and growing)