Great childrens books?

[jadekat]

I'm thinking about buying my kids more books (or checking them out from the library). What are some good books that don't involve licensed characters? BTW my kids are 2 and 4.
Thanks!

[Oriole]

How about...

Leo Lionni's Frederick (about a mouse that wrote poetry).

Velveteen Rabbit

Where the Wild Things Are

I also love If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

If I was building a library for my kids I'd get a good collections of fairy tales, folk tales and fables... Something like this would be a must.

[merpk]

Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings. And Caps for Sale. And Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.


Absolute classics. Just off the top of my head.

[Thalia the Muse]

For two and four-year-olds:

The Carl series
Knuffle Bunny
The Paper Princess
Anything by Lois Ehlert (my daughter loved these!)
ditto Tomie De Paola and Leo Lionni
Fairytales and folktales -- three little pigs, the gingerbread man, little red riding hood, the three billy goats gruff
Goodnight, Moon
Harold and the Purple Crayon
How I Became a Pirate
Ten Timid Ghosts
Miss Suzy

Happy reading!

[Norabella]

I second the vote for Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal, (as well as One Morning in Maine, by the same author).

Others I can think of (without looking at my mom's book shelf):

Grandfather Twilight
Miss Rumphius (I used part of this book when giving the "Student Response" speech at my University's commencement ceremony last spring)
Flossie and the Fox
Stellaluna, Pinduli, and Verdi (all by the same author, whose name I can't recall)
Peter in Blueberry Land and others by that author (I think it is Elsa Beskow)
The Frog and Toad books, and the Owl Book by the same author (I think it is called Owl at Home)

And, even though these were mentioned in the "Awful Books" thread:
for little kids I think the Eric Carle books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, etc are great. Also, The Runaway Bunny.

And we loved the "Frances" books, Bread and Jam for.., A Baby Sister for.., A Bargain for.., In fact, these were such a favorite for my family that when my adult siblings and I are at home and something isn't how it used to be/we expect it to be we joke that "things aren't very good around here anymore, no clothes to wear, no raisins for the oatmeal, I think I'll run away" (from A Baby Sister for Frances).

I am sure there I will think of more, so I maybe back...

[Luvmyboyz]

By, Audrey and Don Wood:

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub
The Napping House

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
by Judi Barrett

I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan


Sneetches and Other Stories, Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Suess

Corduroy by Don Freeman

HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics: A Child's First Collection by Tegen Katherine

[jadekat]

Thanks for all the responses! This should be a good start considering our library will only let you check out 5 books per card.:

[jadekat]

Originally Posted by merpk

Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings. And Caps for Sale. And Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.


Absolute classics. Just off the top of my head.

I checked out Blueberries for Sal and DD loves it! Thanks for recommending it!