Lots of familiar titles and authors here - and a few I didn't know about. I really enjoyed reading this and am thinking I might have to make up one of my own. (We'll see...)
One of my favorite picture books is The Clown of God by Tomie de Paola. It's hard not to tear up reading that one. Oh, and Adelita by Tomie de Paola. It's a "Mexican Cinderella" story and I read it with voices, speaking in an exaggerated snooty tone when I read the step-mother and step-sister voices. It's great fun!
You should make your own-I’m always looking for more quality recommendations. And I adore Tomie DePaola, he almost made the list but I figured he was so widely known already. Adelita is one of my favorites of his, I also love his retelling of the Poinsettia legend. We briefly lived in Mexico when I was very young and those two always bring me back
I love this kind of list! Thanks for putting it together. We, too, have loved many of these (like Brambley Hedge, Greek Myths, and Pegasus).
Looking forward to your chapter book recs. I have been reading aloud to my children since they were babies (they are now 9, 7, 6, and 1). I agree that he Magic Treehouse are grating for many reasons. My 7 year old just finished reading the Amazon book (I think it was the 6th?), and we are stopping the side by side read aloud of this series. I said he could carry on on his own, but I won't be listening to it any more. "Oh man," said Jack. :)
I have very vivid memories of the Flower Fairies book. The house we lived in when I was 9-12 ish had a long driveway lined with climbing trees and a grassy hill on one side. I used to bring Barker out with me and lie on the grass, often with an afternoon snack. It was enchanting.
I recently rediscovered it while nannying for some little girls with a love of fairies, and was so thrilled to be able to introduce them to the art and the poems. So beautiful!
Those sorts of memories are so important. And how fun to introduce a new generation to books you loved-it’s one of my favorite parts of being a parent!
We love and own so many of these! "Frog went a' Courtin" by Langstaff and Rojankovsky is also great. And "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night" from Peter Spier is another excellent folksong-picture book. I've never heard of Ernst but just the cover screams my taste haha! I'm going to put a library hold on it stat. And Moon Mouse is another one I've never heard of but looks so lovely.
Ooohhh can’t wait to grab both of those. And I hope you enjoy them! I found out through this post that there are other Ernst books so I need to look into that
This is such a lovely list! I love all the ones you included that are my favorites and a few new (to me) like the illustrated "The Frog Princess." We have the hardback version of Brambley Hedge (that includes all stories), and my daughter LOVES reading it at night. Like you, I missed out on it as a child, but I am so glad to have discovered it.
Thank you! Glad you found some new favorites. And the Brambly Hedge books are such great read alouds; they definitely pass the CS Lewis test that a good children’s book can be enjoyed by adults.
I stumbled upon this list and I literally yelled out loud - Rapunzel!!!! This is the version of Rapunzel I had as a child that I’ve been searching for for years!!! We currently like the one illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman but the Zelinsky version is the one imprinted in my mind.
I’ve been obsessed with CMB’s flower fairies since I was about 10 (and D’aulaire’s Greek myths was one of the first gateway drugs to my ultimate pursuit of a classics degree. I can’t wait to look into the titles on this list that I’m not familiar with!
It’s one of those series I have such clear memories of discovering and being delighted by. They formed my imagination so much. And that’s wonderful-I strongly considered a classics undergrad (had a fantastic freshman history class with a classics professor) but ultimately chose my great books major-ultimate choice for someone who loved everything and couldn’t pick what she liked best! I hope you find some treasures!
Im lucky that my local library has a few Beskow and Von Olfers books so I can wait to purchase them until my kiddo is a bit older and will appreciate them more. He does love the story of the root children-he calls it the “wake up! Wake up!” Book.
That’s excellent-we discovered then thanks to our excellent children’s library in MI. We moved though and our local library doesn’t have nearly as good of a collection, so we’ve been taking serious advantage of birthdays and the like.
So many titles we love! My favorite Elsa Beskow books are "Emily and Daisy" and "Peter in Blueberry Land", oh, and "Pelle's New Suit" and "The Sun Egg". Okay, maybe, we just like them all.
I have special fondness for "Mama Do You Love Me?" It reminds me how big I might look to my children! And it feels helpful to repeat that even when Mama is frustrated, she still loves you.
We have the big Brambly Hedge collection book. Maybe harder to hold, but those illustrations of cooking and picnics!
We love Paul O. Zelinsky's Rapunzel and Rumplestiltskin.
We like Sibylle von Olfers' Butterfly Children and Princess in the Forest.
Your Magic Treehouse drinking game made me laugh. We've audiobooked those so often too. Annie exists to keep the books short by always running off before Jack finishes reading about the location where they landed. 😅
My very favorite Mother Goose Book is The Very Best of Mother Goose illustrated by Rosemary Wells. Not as detailed as Brambly Hedge, but, boy, do her ducks and hedgehogs look cuddly!
My daughter loves Emily and Daisy. We have all of those-every single one is a treasure. And that’s so sweet-I love that idea (especially since I’m so short haha). I want to eat all the food in the Brambly Hedge books-they remind me of the Redwall series in that way. The Rumplestiltskin is also great. My daughter and I like picking out the dresses we’d wear. We haven’t got Butterfly Children yet-definitely going on a Christmas list! And haha thanks-It’s the little jokes like that that keep me sane. I’ve been wanting a good Mother Goose-thank you for the recommendation. And I haven’t seen that list-can’t wait to check it out!
Pegasus!!!! My oldest daughter used to ask to read that book every single day! Also I do recommend the single copies of Brambley Hedge. Way more expensive but the hold up way better in the long term. I just did surgery on our anthology and it was rough!
We have a set of 4 separate, and then a compilation of the other 4. I can imagine all of them together is rough-our big falling apart anthology is all the original Curious George books so I can imagine!
Lots of familiar titles and authors here - and a few I didn't know about. I really enjoyed reading this and am thinking I might have to make up one of my own. (We'll see...)
One of my favorite picture books is The Clown of God by Tomie de Paola. It's hard not to tear up reading that one. Oh, and Adelita by Tomie de Paola. It's a "Mexican Cinderella" story and I read it with voices, speaking in an exaggerated snooty tone when I read the step-mother and step-sister voices. It's great fun!
You should make your own-I’m always looking for more quality recommendations. And I adore Tomie DePaola, he almost made the list but I figured he was so widely known already. Adelita is one of my favorites of his, I also love his retelling of the Poinsettia legend. We briefly lived in Mexico when I was very young and those two always bring me back
I love this kind of list! Thanks for putting it together. We, too, have loved many of these (like Brambley Hedge, Greek Myths, and Pegasus).
Looking forward to your chapter book recs. I have been reading aloud to my children since they were babies (they are now 9, 7, 6, and 1). I agree that he Magic Treehouse are grating for many reasons. My 7 year old just finished reading the Amazon book (I think it was the 6th?), and we are stopping the side by side read aloud of this series. I said he could carry on on his own, but I won't be listening to it any more. "Oh man," said Jack. :)
I have very vivid memories of the Flower Fairies book. The house we lived in when I was 9-12 ish had a long driveway lined with climbing trees and a grassy hill on one side. I used to bring Barker out with me and lie on the grass, often with an afternoon snack. It was enchanting.
I recently rediscovered it while nannying for some little girls with a love of fairies, and was so thrilled to be able to introduce them to the art and the poems. So beautiful!
Those sorts of memories are so important. And how fun to introduce a new generation to books you loved-it’s one of my favorite parts of being a parent!
We love and own so many of these! "Frog went a' Courtin" by Langstaff and Rojankovsky is also great. And "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night" from Peter Spier is another excellent folksong-picture book. I've never heard of Ernst but just the cover screams my taste haha! I'm going to put a library hold on it stat. And Moon Mouse is another one I've never heard of but looks so lovely.
Ooohhh can’t wait to grab both of those. And I hope you enjoy them! I found out through this post that there are other Ernst books so I need to look into that
Oh joy! Have you read Crictor by Tomi Ungerer? That's another really charming picture book featuring a reptile who is full of personality! :)
This is such a lovely list! I love all the ones you included that are my favorites and a few new (to me) like the illustrated "The Frog Princess." We have the hardback version of Brambley Hedge (that includes all stories), and my daughter LOVES reading it at night. Like you, I missed out on it as a child, but I am so glad to have discovered it.
Thank you! Glad you found some new favorites. And the Brambly Hedge books are such great read alouds; they definitely pass the CS Lewis test that a good children’s book can be enjoyed by adults.
I stumbled upon this list and I literally yelled out loud - Rapunzel!!!! This is the version of Rapunzel I had as a child that I’ve been searching for for years!!! We currently like the one illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman but the Zelinsky version is the one imprinted in my mind.
I’m so happy I was able to help you rediscover it! It’s such a fun feeling rediscovering those childhood books!
I’ve been obsessed with CMB’s flower fairies since I was about 10 (and D’aulaire’s Greek myths was one of the first gateway drugs to my ultimate pursuit of a classics degree. I can’t wait to look into the titles on this list that I’m not familiar with!
It’s one of those series I have such clear memories of discovering and being delighted by. They formed my imagination so much. And that’s wonderful-I strongly considered a classics undergrad (had a fantastic freshman history class with a classics professor) but ultimately chose my great books major-ultimate choice for someone who loved everything and couldn’t pick what she liked best! I hope you find some treasures!
Im lucky that my local library has a few Beskow and Von Olfers books so I can wait to purchase them until my kiddo is a bit older and will appreciate them more. He does love the story of the root children-he calls it the “wake up! Wake up!” Book.
That’s excellent-we discovered then thanks to our excellent children’s library in MI. We moved though and our local library doesn’t have nearly as good of a collection, so we’ve been taking serious advantage of birthdays and the like.
So many titles we love! My favorite Elsa Beskow books are "Emily and Daisy" and "Peter in Blueberry Land", oh, and "Pelle's New Suit" and "The Sun Egg". Okay, maybe, we just like them all.
I have special fondness for "Mama Do You Love Me?" It reminds me how big I might look to my children! And it feels helpful to repeat that even when Mama is frustrated, she still loves you.
We have the big Brambly Hedge collection book. Maybe harder to hold, but those illustrations of cooking and picnics!
We love Paul O. Zelinsky's Rapunzel and Rumplestiltskin.
We like Sibylle von Olfers' Butterfly Children and Princess in the Forest.
Your Magic Treehouse drinking game made me laugh. We've audiobooked those so often too. Annie exists to keep the books short by always running off before Jack finishes reading about the location where they landed. 😅
My very favorite Mother Goose Book is The Very Best of Mother Goose illustrated by Rosemary Wells. Not as detailed as Brambly Hedge, but, boy, do her ducks and hedgehogs look cuddly!
Did you read the Tara Ann Thieke's book list article on Mere Orthodoxy? Several of these make an appearance! https://mereorthodoxy.com/cats-sixty-foot-whales-reflections-childrens-books?hs_amp=true
My daughter loves Emily and Daisy. We have all of those-every single one is a treasure. And that’s so sweet-I love that idea (especially since I’m so short haha). I want to eat all the food in the Brambly Hedge books-they remind me of the Redwall series in that way. The Rumplestiltskin is also great. My daughter and I like picking out the dresses we’d wear. We haven’t got Butterfly Children yet-definitely going on a Christmas list! And haha thanks-It’s the little jokes like that that keep me sane. I’ve been wanting a good Mother Goose-thank you for the recommendation. And I haven’t seen that list-can’t wait to check it out!
Pegasus!!!! My oldest daughter used to ask to read that book every single day! Also I do recommend the single copies of Brambley Hedge. Way more expensive but the hold up way better in the long term. I just did surgery on our anthology and it was rough!
We have a set of 4 separate, and then a compilation of the other 4. I can imagine all of them together is rough-our big falling apart anthology is all the original Curious George books so I can imagine!